"I could do your job"

[Sparky]

Have you ever been at the doctor's office and had a nurse check you in, do your vitals, or take blood? Depending on the state, that might be a real nurse (RN or LVN) or it could just be someone that the doctor hired off the street. In Texas, it's ok to call someone "Nurse Suzie", as long as you don't call them "RN Suzie" or "LVN Suzie" as those are protected titles but Nurse isn't.

Please don't take this to fratching--just be aware that titles don't always mean what you think they do.

Not trying to start fratching either, but this is often because everyone in the doctor's office dresses alike, which is why it's one of my pet peeves that scrubs have become a uniform for everyone who works in heathcare, including receptionists. Nothing against receptionists or secretaries! But they needn't dress like nurses.

By the way, the thing that prompted the question about my daughter's job was that we were discussing what kind of case she needed for her phone. She said "My phone's usually in my scrubs pocket, but I do take it out when I'm working around horses."

[fireheart]

Someone recently said to me "there are plenty of jobs to go around, unemployment is down to people being lazy, there are loads of care work jobs about!"

I can think of several things wrong with that sentence...but here's one I can mention: WHY should someone who was previously working in a decent-level job and had to be let go due to no fault of his own, suddenly be forced into care work because he's having trouble finding jobs elsewhere?

[Sapphire Silk]

No. You could not. Please don't assume that your experience is equal to her intensive two-year college education. You have not had classes in anatomy, pharmacology, pathology, etc. You have not passed a comprehensive test. You have not been trained to insert catheters, and IV lines, or to assist in surgery. You do not have training in radiology and anesthesiology.

Daughter was offended. Can't blame her.

Your daughter is right to be offended.

I have a Master's in Nursing and 26 years of experience in critical care. And I would not even THINK of so much as touching an animal other than to comfort my own pet when at the vet. Cats and dogs are not little humans; their anatomy and physiology is very different; their needs are very different. I am not remotely qualified to work on animals.

The issue with people is that they dont know what they don't know. A very presumptuous idiot she was.

Amen, Amina! I often tell my students that the scariest nurse to work with is the one who doesn't know what she doesn't know.

Ugh, there is a big push in Florida to do away with licensing for many jobs. The thought process is that it acts as a barrier to employment...

If someone isn't qualified to get licensed to be a vet tech (Realtor/CPA), I don't want them to have a job that involves touching my pet (house/money).

What a stupid ass move. But then again, Florida elected the perpetrator of the biggest Medicare Fraud in US History to be its most recent governor, so I can't say I'm surprised.

Licensing IS a barrier to employment . . . for good reason! It's supposed to keep the untrained, the unqualified, and the hacks from working in certain professions that are very sensitive and require great amounts of trust.

Have you ever been at the doctor's office and had a nurse check you in, do your vitals, or take blood? Depending on the state, that might be a real nurse (RN or LVN) or it could just be someone that the doctor hired off the street. In Texas, it's ok to call someone "Nurse Suzie", as long as you don't call them "RN Suzie" or "LVN Suzie" as those are protected titles but Nurse isn't.

Please don't take this to fratching--just be aware that titles don't always mean what you think they do.

Grr. You've hit one of my soap box issues I've had to deal with Medical Assistants who think they are the same as nurses because they give meds in doctor's offices. Most can't find their landmarks properly (as I discovered from quite a few MA's who come through my nursing program) for injections and know NOTHING about pharmacology.

In North Carolina, medication aides have NO training as CNAs, only in how to pass meds . . . yet supervise the CNAs! They're giving heart, blood pressure, and diabetic medications to people with no idea how they work or when not to give them.

And a lot of MA's, CNA's, and med aides like to tell people they're nurses when asked what they do for a living.

Not trying to start fratching either, but this is often because everyone in the doctor's office dresses alike, which is why it's one of my pet peeves that scrubs have become a uniform for everyone who works in heathcare, including receptionists. Nothing against receptionists or secretaries! But they needn't dress like nurses.

Another one of my soapbox issues The only people who should be wearing scrubs are those involved in patient care. Secretaries and office managers should wear professional business attire.

I can think of several things wrong with that sentence...but here's one I can mention: WHY should someone who was previously working in a decent-level job and had to be let go due to no fault of his own, suddenly be forced into care work because he's having trouble finding jobs elsewhere?

Don't sell caregiver work short. It's hard, physical labor and not everyone can do it.

Ones with training, who like what they do, are worth their weight in gold. They aren't as well paid as they should be.

Any in home caregiver should be certified and bonded. But they cost more than Jane Schmoe hired off the street, so you end up with a lot of caregiver problems in elderly care.

[Laund-o-rama Mama]

I've said things like this before! Mea culpa. I need to work on a different phrase that doesn't sound so presumptuous. When I've said "I could do that" I meant "I could WANT to do that", not "I could do that because it must be easy".

Maybe "I'd love to do that" would be a much better thing to say!

[Sparky]

I've said things like this before! Mea culpa. I need to work on a different phrase that doesn't sound so presumptuous. When I've said "I could do that" I meant "I could WANT to do that", not "I could do that because it must be easy".

Maybe "I'd love to do that" would be a much better thing to say!

I did point out to my daughter that "I could do that job" CAN mean "not everyone is suited for that job, but I believe I am and I could do that if I had your training." However, this woman went on to say that she's fostered animals for years, and admitted "well, I can't give IVs yet." She didn't exactly say, but did strongly imply, that she felt her on-the-job experience was equal to my daughter's training.

This is something she's heard before from vet assistants.

[Geek King]

Licensing IS a barrier to employment . . . for good reason! It's supposed to keep the untrained, the unqualified, and the hacks from working in certain professions that are very sensitive and require great amounts of trust.

The licensing they are talking about getting rid of in Florida is for jobs no other state requires licensing in--interior decorating and flower arrangement, for instance. Many of the licensing boards are not acting to insure quality, but rather to keep competition down so those professionals can keep prices up. I can go farther on this, but it would be fratching.

[Sapphire Silk]

The licensing they are talking about getting rid of in Florida is for jobs no other state requires licensing in--interior decorating and flower arrangement, for instance. Many of the licensing boards are not acting to insure quality, but rather to keep competition down so those professionals can keep prices up. I can go farther on this, but it would be fratching.

That's a different story.

[fireheart]

Don't sell caregiver work short. It's hard, physical labor and not everyone can do it.

Ones with training, who like what they do, are worth their weight in gold. They aren't as well paid as they should be.

Any in home caregiver should be certified and bonded. But they cost more than Jane Schmoe hired off the street, so you end up with a lot of caregiver problems in elderly care.

The bolded parts pretty much emphasized my point, that because someone working in a mid-level job and being let go through no fault of his own, may end up being forced into a job that he/she isn't capable to do for whatever reason. (i.e. back/knee problems which impede their capacity to lift)

I'm not necessarily knocking carer work, just that it's irritating how people assume that all unemployed people should be forced into it. One of my aunts is an aged care nurse and is an RN, but she likes her job. 2 of my friends are also studying to be care workers. There's a difference however: all three of them WANT to do their job, they aren't just doing it because someone's told them "you must study this, you must work as this, otherwise you're lazy and stupid and your unemployment benefits will stop".

[ShadowBall]

I hate when people try and say they could do someone's job that they obviously know nothing about OR they make a totally ridiculous comparison. Like how my asshole ex-boss tried to tell me cold-calling was exactly the same as graphic design. Uhh, no, it's not, and you couldn't fucking do what I do.

This reminds me of that horse shit that shows up every May about how stay-at-home-mothers deserve to make like $300K a year because of all their "professions" (like doctor, chef, housekeeper, chauffeur, bookkeeper, etc.) Just because you put a band-aid on a scraped knee does not make you qualified as an RN, and just because you foster animals doesn't mean you've got the same know-how as a vet tech. Or how someone with a pirated version of Dreamweaver fancies themselves a web designer. I've got some sound editing freeware on my laptop - guess that makes me a musician and a DJ, right?

It's such a kick in the face to anyone who actually works in those fields to have some idiot who doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground smirk and say, "Durrr, I could do that!" Odds are, they wouldn't last a damn day in the position they so casually say they could work in. Anyway, don't want to derail or go on more of a tirade. I wish people would fucking think before they speak and make a mockery of someone's profession.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm not necessarily knocking carer work, just that it's irritating how people assume that all unemployed people should be forced into it. One of my aunts is an aged care nurse and is an RN, but she likes her job. 2 of my friends are also studying to be care workers. There's a difference however: all three of them WANT to do their job, they aren't just doing it because someone's told them "you must study this, you must work as this, otherwise you're lazy and stupid and your unemployment benefits will stop".

People who don't love helping others have no business working as a caregiver. So no, the unemployed should not be forced into this kind of work.

In the mid 19th century, nurses were either prostitutes working in hospitals as punishment from the courts, or drunks there for easy access to alcohol and narcotics. They had terrible reputations, and people were afraid to go to hospitals because of it. Dicken's description of Nurse Sally Gamp is a classic example of what those nurses were like before Florence Nightingale modernized the profession.

We really don't need to go there again.

[wolfie]

Ugh, there is a big push in Florida to do away with licensing for many jobs. The thought process is that it acts as a barrier to employment...

If someone isn't qualified to get licensed to be a vet tech (Realtor/CPA), I don't want them to have a job that involves touching my pet (house/money).

The legislators pushing for this need to be asked 2 questions:

1) Would you want your children to be on a school bus driven by a "G" license holder (where I live, that's the ordinary car license - school buses are "E" for under 15 seats, "B" for over) using the same road as gasoline tanker semitrailers driven by "G" license holders ("AZ", with extra training for tank and hazmat)?

2) Would you book a flight knowing that the airline had hired a pilot qualified for a Cessna 150 (2-seater, fixed gear, fixed pitch propeller)?

[Seshat]

We actually get the same thing A LOT as caretakers for the elderly and disabled. We do at least 14 months of very intensive training, i.e. we're qualified and certified - but everybody is always going "anyone could do that, you just wipe old peoples' a**"

Our (govt provided) carer only does basic housekeeping for us - but he needs to be more than just someone with basic housekeeping skills!

If Anna's having a meltdown, or I'm having a seriously sick day .. well, we don't expect him to have medical training (that's not what he's here for), but he MUST have care, understanding, and a reflexive ability to decide if the situation calls for 000. (our emergency #). Not everyone does.

He has to be patient with our inabilities, and with the extremely variable state of our housekeeping - and able to monitor and report to his supervisors whether we're drifting towards squalor (which would be a sign that additional medical or carer intervention - or both - is required).

When Anna and I have both been sick, he's come in and wordlessly cleaned up a house that's in a shameful state. And yes, one that would count as early squalor.

And that's "just" a housekeeper/carer.

I suspect (but because of patient privacy, don't know) that he also does personal care. That's the grooming, bathing, wiping-butts level. And THAT, of course, requires yet another level of human tolerance.

And second of all (and more relevant)...as someone who has a grandmother with advanced dementia, mild Parkinsons, is slightly incontinent and has suffered several strokes in the last decade or so...I don't want just "anyone" looking after her. In fact, as someone who Tridented this sort of work as a teen, I think people who don't want to do the job shouldn't have to do it just because its the only job going- because that will only lead to abuse and neglect of the patient.

I was going to say something here, but frankly, all I can think of now is 'ditto, me too'.

I have a Master's in Nursing and 26 years of experience in critical care. And I would not even THINK of so much as touching an animal other than to comfort my own pet when at the vet.

Don't sell caregiver work short. It's hard, physical labor and not everyone can do it.

If it was you and me there and there was no time to get someone more qualified, I'd choose you to do the most critical stabilising first aid. (I'd happily assist, but frankly, fully trained primate nurse beats out-of-date first aid certification and hobbyist reader-of-medical-stuff, hands down.)

Don't sell yourself short just because you've specialised in the chimpanzee species 'homo sapiens'.


Back to the topic: caregivers, nurses, vet techs .. all undervalued by the ignorant.

[tropicsgoddess]

I think it's dismissive, therefore offensive, to say "I could do your job easily."

I agree. Not everyone can be a vet tech just like not everyone can be in customer service, you have to have the skills, training and be able to handle all the shit that comes with the profession smoothly.