A well respected and highly sought after healthcare profession, nursing is progressing all over the world. All countries are investing in the nursing profession by enhancing their education and training facilities, employment opportunities, and other benefits that come with this profession. For instance; if more international students are being welcomed to enrol for studying nursing in Canada then an increasing number of overseas nurses are also being recruited for nursing jobs in the NHS, UK.
In spite of all these measures to enhance and popularize nursing worldwide, the public knowledge attached to the profession holds many misunderstandings. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that nursing is a globally stereotyped profession. Be it after an excellent improvement of the curriculum of nursing courses in Canada, or the high recruitment of nurses applying for nursing jobs in the UK, many people still have multiple myths attached to this profession.
All these misconceptions have been debunked massively with the contribution of nurses in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. The role played by nurses within the healthcare sector has emerged to be of the vital care providers at the frontline along with helping saving lives on a daily basis.
Regardless of this fact, there are many people who still hold opinions about the nursing profession based on the common misconceptions that surround it. Being a nurse is financially, personally, and spiritually rewarding, but so many qualified healthcare professionals overlook nursing due to the common myths.
In this article, we are going to bust these myths so that it becomes easier for aspiring nurses to make a career in nursing. Given below are 5 myths about nursing that were busted during COVID. Read them through one by one to discover the complete truth behind them.
1. NURSING IS EASY AND ANYONE CAN BECOME A NURSE:
Nursing is not an easy job by any means. It requires commitment, skills, extensive knowledge acquired from nursing courses in Canada, and most importantly a distinct ability to become a caregiver who tends to and looks out for patients. A normal day at work is full of pressure situations for nurses and this was all the more enhanced during COVID-19. If you ask any nurse about their work schedules during Corona then you will understand the difficulties a nursing job entails.
It is a common misconception that nurses are employed for completing basic chores related to patient care when the reality is that there is so much more than they do. Nursing takes a toll on a person physically, emotionally, and mentally. Nursing professionals have stood on guard all through days and nights with little breaks while dealing with COVID-19. More so, they have been directly exposed to catch the virus because they are the first point of contact with patients. Other than this, nurses have been extremely passionate about caring for others while ensuring that the patients recover from the virus soon.
All nursing professionals learn to be compassionate and empathetic towards patients. All these factors speak for themselves and clearly prove that nursing should be considered a job that not just about anyone can do.
It is only with proper education and training that nurses care for their patients with full zeal and become successful. Nurses are an important part of the healthcare system and it is necessary that we recognize the value of nursing by getting rid of the misconception that anyone can become a nurse.
2. NURSING PROFESSION IS MEANT ONLY FOR WOMEN:
There is no doubt in the fact that a large part of the nursing workforce all over the world constitutes of women as compared to men. However, the fact that nursing is for women only is completely untrue. An increasing number of men are and must choose nursing as a profession. However, the trends are changing slowly.
For instance; even though both men and women are open to apply for nursing jobs in NHS UK, male nurses are quite a few. According to the latest figures, there are 11% of male nurses in the UK. This figure is exceptionally low in ratio as compared to the number of female registered nurses and the main reason behind this is that nursing is considered as a job for women only.
This is an outdated and limited viewpoint that does not let men follow the nursing profession because society forces them to believe that nursing is an occupation for women. It is this belief that is the main cause for people having a completely negative perception of nursing as their career path.
The fight against COVID-19 is a good example that busted this myth completely. Men and women both have contributed together in caring for patients who were infected from the virus. Overcoming the fight against COVID-19 has been less about gender discrimination and more about being a caregiver.
3. ALL NURSES DO THE SAME WORK:
This is yet another myth that is very common when it comes to nursing. It is commonly known that doctors study to gain a specialization in different fields of medicine, but so many people are not aware that nurses do the same. The post-graduate nursing courses in Canada enable nursing students to gain a specialization in different fields.
The difference in the role played by nursing professionals is related to education. After completing the Bachelor’s degree, the nurses go for completing a Master’s degree in their field of specialization. The specialized education changes the path of nurses into their level of specialization entirely and allows them to play a distinct role. For example, nurses who study nursing leadership and management in Canada are responsible for managing that nurses do their job, take care of themselves, and report timely while caring for patients.
Nurses possess a distinct set of skills that enables them to perform specific roles across the healthcare industry. This fact makes it clear that nursing is a varied field and we must not view nurses as professionals who do only one kind of work. After the importance of the role played by nurses in overcoming COVID-19, nurses are being recruited for nursing jobs in the NHS UK, Canada, the US, Australia, etc. Since nurses are recruited for a wide variety of positions, this is why becoming a specialty nurse is a highly recommended way to a rewarding career.
4. NURSES WORK AS ASSISTANTS OF DOCTORS:
Unfortunately, this entirely wrong belief has become one of the most common myths related to the nursing profession. Nurses are mostly shown as assistants of doctors on media, television, and movies, which influences the image of nurses in real life. What people don’t understand is that doctors are a part of the healthcare system and play an important role, but other healthcare professionals like nurses, midwives, cardiologists play an equally significant role.
Although it is true that nurses may lend a helping hand to doctors or other healthcare professionals, a significant amount of work done by nurses is entirely independent and significant to patient care. Nurses have been responsible to look out for their own patients along with being in charge of patient education and advocacy as well during COVID-19. This means that it will most likely be a nurse or a doctor who ensures that a patient learns how to care for them after getting discharged.
The fact of the matter is that nurses do not report to doctors, but to other nurses who are in positions of leaders or managers. Students can enrol in nursing courses in Canada to become nurse leaders or managers. In any case, presuming that nurses work to assist doctors is wrong.
5. NURSES WORK TO BECOME DOCTORS ONE DAY:
Yet another big misconception that clouds the nursing profession very often is that students choose nursing as a second career when they are unable to make it to the medical school. This is a myth and stands no factual backup.
Although the doctors are trained to diagnose and treat all kinds of illnesses, the work of nurses focuses on providing compassion and expert care to patients. Nursing courses in Canada are structured in a way that they teach students to become excellent healthcare guardians. In the Corona times, nurses have played a monumental role in empathizing with their patients in a way that differs entirely from that of a doctor.
Generally, nurses are extremely passionate about their work. Although there are a wide number of motives that encourage people to choose nursing as a profession, one certain thing is that nurses have the ability to make a difference in someone’s life and this is commonly seen in all of the COVID-19 cases reported from all around the world.
CONCLUSION:
Choosing a nursing career is individualistic, rewarding, and one of the best choices that a healthcare professional can make. Our fight with the COVID-19 has proven clearly that nurses play an extremely important role in ensuring that patients are all right. It has busted many myths that eventually play as misunderstandings in stopping the potential nurses from joining the field.
Understanding this profession is very important in ensuring high recruitment rates for nurses. After myths getting busted during COVID-19, the nursing profession will open up to many individuals. Students will now be able to think of nursing as a rewarding occupation and an opportunity to focus the efforts on helping those who are sick and suffering.
