Why I Don't Watch "The View"

Eleven and a half years ago, during my sophomore year at Grove City College (GCC), I decided to become a nurse. When I announced to my friends after Christmas break that I would not return the following year, I received two replies:

1. Oh, I think you'll make a great nurse. I'll miss you, but I'm happy for you.
2. Why do you want to become a nurse? You should finish GCC and go to medical school, because doctors are so much better than nurses.

Statement number 2 is a load of cow manure. (I'm sure you can use another phrase interchangeably, but I will not swear here.) It was hurtful then, but sadly I have become used to the culture viewing nurses as the doctor's gofer. 

Miss Colorado (Kelley Johnson) could have chosen something much more flashy and fashionable as her Miss America talent, but instead she chose to talk about one patient who helped remind her about why she became a nurse in the first place. She delivered an original monologue on her experience as an Alzheimer's nurse. 

Miss Kelly... You are not just a nurse. You are my nurse, and you have changed my life because you have cared about me... I am a lifesaver. I am never going to be just a nurse.

What Kelley said about nursing was needed. As a nurse, I deliver the best care I can to my patients regardless of their background, beliefs, socioeconomic status, etc. I treat my patients (and their family members) with dignity and respect because they are created in the image of God.

Joy Behar and Michelle Collins from The View proved the need for the monologue that Miss Colorado gave. Michelle Collins criticized Miss Colorado because she "basically read her e-mails out loud." She goes on to dig the hole deeper by saying that's not a real talent and others agree. Joy Bahar felt the need to chime in with, "Why does she have a doctor's stethoscope on?"

Joy and Michelle, you need a lesson about the nursing profession. We are not the doctor's gofer. That stethoscope you see around the nurse's neck is her own stethoscope. We are trained to auscultate a patient's heart, lung, and abdominal sounds. We also use it to check a patient's blood pressure. Plus, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret; I have had many doctors ask, "Hey, can I use your stethoscope?" Me, the nurse.

Joy and Michelle, I hope you do not have to be in the hospital anytime soon, but if you do, I hope it will help change your mind about the nursing profession. You will quickly find out the the nurses are there 24/7. Nurses are the unsung heroes at the hospital during the day and night, on the weekends, on holidays, missing church. You will also find out that despite what you said on The View, you will be treated and cared for with dignity and respect, because nurses did not go into the profession for the money.

Joy and Michelle, thanks for the reminder about why I don't watch The View.