tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post7839972265224656645..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Old Girls' NetworkAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-55277171753610094652018-01-09T10:18:17.466-05:002018-01-09T10:18:17.466-05:00It's not just nurses: women used to be relega...It's not just nurses: women used to be relegated entirely to jobs in which the valuable traits were unquestioning obedience: secretary, receptionist, maid--you didn't want these people to be making policy or joggling your elbow or competing for your job, you wanted a loyal sidekick who was 100% on board with your agenda. Guys are generally raised to be uncomfortable fulfilling that role. Women could do it in complete confidence that they weren't any less honorable or valuable for it. They were the auxiliaries, the helpmeets.<br /><br />Things had to shake out a lot when men started to take traditional women's jobs and vice versa. The Doctor is no longer a Godlike infallible figure, for instance. Of course, we often still need that quintessentially traditional male characteristic of invincible self-confident authority, such as in a surgeon who takes on challenges on the frontier of medical science, or an airline pilot in an emergency. We're struggling very hard with how the teams surrounding such stars are supposed to act when they see the great leader heading into an error. We're also struggling hard with how flexible and humble and cooperative the central authority figure is supposed to be.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-55889997609818359572018-01-08T23:54:03.129-05:002018-01-08T23:54:03.129-05:00We are a teaching hospital, so many of the nursing...We are a teaching hospital, so many of the nursing programs do their psych rotations here. For that piece, at any rate, they seem to have grown out of that. In fact, some of the schools seem to have students who want that sort of conscientiousness-is-all approach, and are uncomfortable with what they get here.<br /><br />But that's psych, always an outlier, so I don't know what conclusions can be drawn.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-2759606010608194842018-01-08T23:41:06.603-05:002018-01-08T23:41:06.603-05:00I graduated 2 years ago from a junior college nurs...I graduated 2 years ago from a junior college nursing program which still has most of the characteristics mentioned. Not caps, but we did have a formal pinning ceremony. <br /><br />As a guy, the training methods had a distinctly 'female' vibe that is difficult to characterize. There was an extremely strong emphasis on following strict rules that seemed essentially random: 'Do this not that, because we say so.' The entire process seemed designed to produce fearful young nurses who couldn't make decisions and would obey their superiors. Interacting with other new nurses at work who graduated from other programs I get the impression all nursing schools do this. Tom Bridgelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13098048586042365606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-67894680933442161682018-01-05T23:49:51.062-05:002018-01-05T23:49:51.062-05:00"We few, we happy few," the trial by fir..."We few, we happy few," the trial by fire: bonding is very sweet, well worth the nightmarish conditions that forge the bond.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-69740262478260182992018-01-05T21:48:06.267-05:002018-01-05T21:48:06.267-05:00That seems the likeliest explanation.That seems the likeliest explanation.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-13649719044609266192018-01-05T00:56:40.547-05:002018-01-05T00:56:40.547-05:00jaed, that was my original thought too and I knew ...jaed, that was my original thought too and I knew British nurses were called "sisters". I still think there's something to that, but maybe it was more copycatting the economic system rather than a religious calling. <br /><br />See: https://www.nwhm.org/articles/evolution-nursing<br /><br />"...their lives were indeed similar to those of nuns. Forbidden to marry, they were cloistered in “nurses’ homes” on hospital grounds, where every aspect of life was strictly disciplined. Student nurses were not paid at all, and because too many hospitals valued this free labor over classroom and laboratory time, many spent their days scrubbing floors, doing laundry, and other menial tasks. Curricula improved, however, in part because of the development of a tradition with caps: each nursing school had a distinctive cap that women wore after graduation, and because her educational background was literally visible every day, schools soon raised standards so that their graduates would affirm their quality."<br /><br />Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-1885775160195046922018-01-05T00:08:29.722-05:002018-01-05T00:08:29.722-05:00Wasn't nursing largely done by nuns for a good...Wasn't nursing largely done by nuns for a good long while? Maybe that's where they get the religious-order sensibility.jaedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03328666344764784829noreply@blogger.com