The vast majority of what you see nurses doing in their daily tasks usually revolves around tending to patients, measuring vital information, and keeping busy throughout the hospital. However, while these tasks are a very important part of their daily routine, it is far from being all that they do in this trade. In fact, it is exactly what you DON’T see nurses doing behind the scenes that make up most of their responsibilities. Things like filling out paperwork, assisting the doctors in the OR, or treating emergency patients are just a handful of tasks that you seldom see a nurse perform, but make up an important part of their duties.

Sadly, it is this ignorance of the average citizen regarding a nurse’s purpose that helps foster misconceptions about what these professionals do on a daily basis. Even nursing students are sometimes guilty of propagating these misconceptions, as most of them are not yet experienced in the trade and contribute to spreading hearsay and other rumors about the profession. In the end, all these misconceptions do is help give the nursing trade a negative image, even to those who are studying to become a registered nurse.

In the spirit of shedding some light on the most common nursing misconceptions, we’re going to list a few of the most popular myths perpetuated by the general populace.

Nurses Are Frustrated Doctors

For the longest time, it was believed that nurses only studied the trade and earned their certification because they couldn’t get into med school. Whether due to financial, academic, personal, or other reasons, those who opted to study nursing were put in the same box: discount doctors that couldn’t quite cut it in the big leagues.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

As technology advances, and the role of every professional in the healthcare industry is laid bare on the internet for everyone to see, the importance of nurses in the workplace is more evident than ever. Most nurses are very passionate about their career choices and are a pivotal element in a hospital environment. While doctors are trained exclusively in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of many illnesses, they cannot provide care and empathy in the same manner that a nurse can. In this sense, nurses adopt a more holistic approach to healthcare, helping the patient to make a full recovery while admitted into the hospital. The nature of the patient-nurse bond allows these professionals to not only help in the recovery of the patient but also to improve the quality of their stay.

All Nurses Are the Same

This one goes hand in hand with the myth we mentioned above. Just like all nurses are regarded as doctors that couldn’t make it, they are also all the same, regardless of their training or place of study. However, the truth is that the place where you earn your credentials says a lot about your preparation. For starters, an associate’s degree (the minimum degree required to practice as a nurse) from an accredited institution is much more valuable than the same certification from an academy that has yet to receive their credentials.

When an institution is “accredited”, it means that the professors are certified experts in their field and that the education students receive is on par with the requirements of practicing in a private or public setting. In other words, it is unlikely that nurses who graduated from an accredited institution will commit fatal mistakes due to malpractice or negligence.

Furthermore, not all nurses have the same level of preparation. Instead of conforming with an associate’s degree, some nurses might pursue a masters degree, or even a doctorate in nursing, which certifies them to practice at the highest level of their profession—and make some serious cash in the process.

Nursing Is a Mess

The human body is a perfect machine, capable of compensating for missing parts or unfavorable conditions. However, it’s common knowledge that, just beneath our skin, lies a mess of blood vessels, muscles, organs, and all sorts of fluids. This fact has created the misconception that the nursing trade is messy since they must interact frequently with these substances.

However, while cleaning up wounds, clearing bedpans, and aiding patients is an important part of the nurse’s tasks, they do so much more than simply act as janitors of the human body, as some people like to depict them. Nurses participate in many processes alongside doctors and other professionals in the healthcare industry. This means that they can work in many practices, including private offices far from contact with nasty substances. Nevertheless, those that choose a specialty that is regularly exposed to messy substances usually do so with great pride.

Nurses Work Inhumane Hours all the Time

Sadly, there is a bit of truth to this one.

Just like doctors, nurses often have to work long shifts, especially in understaffed institutions. However, these hospitals that schedule long shifts compensate by giving the nurses the flexibility to pick their schedules, as well as choosing which days to take off. In this sense, while most nurses work in regular office hours, some institutions allow them to choose to work longer 10 or 12-hour shifts, 3 to 4 days a week.

Sure, the shifts are long, but a typical nurse can also choose their days off and get enough rest to prepare for the next day.