Interviewing an Lpn and Lpn Misconceptions

Interview Summary
Last week, I interviewed a licensed practical nurse and a member of the public who has not been taken care of by an LPN. I learned that nursing is sometimes misunderstood by the public especially due to the fact that the career has evolved so much over the years and the public cannot keep up with the changes. Another factor to why nurses are underestimated is because of how media portrays the profession to be easy-going. On the contrary, as I learned from my interview with the LPN, nurses are always working under pressure and the job requires more education and knowledge than some people think.

What I learned from interviewing a members of the public is that some people don't grasp the education, training, and knowledge that nurses acquire, "I think they take orders from doctors, they do a lot of cleaning, and make sure the patient is comfortable". Nursing is constantly changing therefore people still have their mind set on nurses being like a doctor's assistant rather than a doctor's colleague. What many people don't know is LPN's "have their own scope of practice". They are independent licensed professionals, responsible for their own practice. The civilian guessed, "I think [nurses] have to be able to tolerate abuse because they are dealing with a lot of very stressed and perhaps upset patients and they can't walk away and not provide care when needed". Yet, that is incorrect. No one in any profession or any place should have to tolerate with any kind of abuse. Yes, nurses must deal with all kinds of personalities and still have to provide care in a respectful and caring manner. However, nurses do not deserve any less respect than any other person just because their job is to provide care to all clients. When I asked, "what do you think are valuable characteristics of a nurse," the individual replied, "they should be caring, respectful, compassionate, and trustworthy". This statement is quite accurate as based on polls, nursing has been...