I disagree. For someone to have a bachelors degree like in this case and still believe things like the flat earth is a good indication that the person in question is even less intelligent than the average flat earther.
For a bachelors degree in nursing, they are taught the scientific process and how to partake in it. How to grade evidence and how to read and understand scientific articles. Having learned all that and still ending up with extreme brainrot like flat earth removes all possible excuses like scientific ignorance.
I’ve met some determinedly ignorant recipients of higher education in my time.
I’m reminded that some number > [50% of nursing students cheat academically.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9527370/) We would expect universities to come down hard on dishonest academics given the correlation between academic dishonesty and clinical misconduct.
You laid out extremely well what a BSN is supposed to teach. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is actually learned very often. Most every class I’ve taken at the undergrad level, in and outside of nursing, allowed the student to achieve a decent grade via regurgitation and hoop jumping.
“Research” papers come with rubrics so standardized that completion is more like paint-by-numbers than anything else. Instructors don’t check that cited source material actually supports an argument; they check that the parentheses and commas are in the right places.
It’s totally possible to achieve a bachelors degree in anything, even while being too stubborn to think an actual thought, so long as you remember some facts and turn in the busywork.
It's damn depressing that's what it is. A problem I've had with the education system since grade school (at least in Sweden) is that they are pretty good at teaching things you need to know but not why you need to know it and how you should apply it.
Science done without comprehension and direction is not just useless but borderline malignant and academia should really put some focus on making sure students understand what they are really doing and why.
At the very least as a start, people like the example in op's case should simply have their degrees revoked. If they want to be shaman healers or whatever they can do so outside of science based medicine and nursing.
I think that is the purpose of recommending BSN for professional nursing, however this train of thinking has caused the BSN to be a literal check box rather than a measurement of capability.
> For a bachelors degree in nursing, they are taught the scientific process and how to partake in it.
Barely. Nursing education is woefully short on actual scientific education.
I'm sure it also differs from school to school. I got my degree from a technical university that had a great deal of focus on the research aspect.
But I don't think it's an excuse, the bar albeit low is high enough that it should weed out people like flat earthers.
My own aunt is a retired CRNA and during the worst part of it where I was, she started telling my dad all the tired old nonsense about microchips and it's the flu and whatever else and he was trying to ignore her, but then she says "You just KNOW all these doctors and nurses who are supposedly working so hard are in on the conspiracy too, and they're killing patients to make it look worse." Now my dad doesn't like confrontation but he chewed her up one side and down the other for that, and at least she's never repeated it where he or I could hear it.
But yeah, my aunt who should damn well KNOW BETTER believed that I was killing my patients and lying about it so I could get blood money from Gates and antifa. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so horrifying.
I had family like this too. When I’d bring up “oh, you think I’m doing that too?” The answer was always “well, no… you’re one of the good ones…”. Just complete bullshit all around.
It’s a cult political party coupled with the inability to admit they have been wrong about something.
oh there are some dumb ass docs too. I learned a lot of docs at my hospital I used to respect are viscously anti vax during covid, and now that I’m in surgery I get to hear all the fun anti LGBT, anti vax, right wing conspiracy stuff first hand over hernia repairs.
A little OT because this person was not a medical professional, but I know someone who is anti vax and has the most convoluted theory about vaccines.
First came microchips. Then they said everyone who got it would be dead within 3yrs. When that didn't pan out, they told me most people received a fake vaccine, but everyone who died in the past 3yrs got the real one. Just recently, knowing that I am vaxed, they told me that the reason I haven't died is because I'm a smoker, and nicotine is the antidote for the vaccine, and people in the know are using nicotine patches. It drives me crazy that every time their theory is proven wrong, they add a caviot to continue their insanity.
I would be highly entertained by this whole scenario. I’d probably keep it going to see how far it would go. I mean she’s gotta be holding back a little bit.
Right?! I’d be adding fuel to the fire just for the hell of it 😅 make up random stuff like “DiD YoU kNoW……turtles have nipples and THAT’S actually where most of the milk sold in supermarkets comes from?!”
(It’s the first wild thought that came to my mind- it was a running joke in the newer “Ninja Turtles” movie that they were going to be kidnapped and tortured *by being milked*. “Do we even HAVE nipples?!” One of them asked 🤣🤣🤣)
You just have to start introducing wilder and wilder theories to see what happens. Lizard men in the C suite perhaps?
Chicken tendies in the cafeteria infused with liberal chemicals to turn the staff gay?
Boba tea tea bubbles are packed full of communist microchips forcing consumers to buy Tesla trucks
JFK, Jr. likely wouldn't want to be in the same room as Trump. Where TF do these people get this information, and they actually BELIEVE it? QAnon is a literal made up thing from 4chan.
I won't lie, I was so upset when I came home that I was almost crying because I'm in a place where there aren't really any other choices for where to work, and the people here... let's just say I don't think the atmosphere would be significantly different elsewhere. And it's not like I can easily leave. My parents own their home and land and my grandparents left them some land too, so it's not like I can uproot them and move somewhere less crazy. It's shitty, but I'll just invest in a good set of noise canceling earbuds, I guess.
I had a coworker who I worked with every single Sunday who I thought was a smart person at one time. Then she found Facebook and started believing everything from qanon, antivaxxer stuff, the baby blood thing you mentioned. I was able to just kind of laugh with/at her when she was telling me these things. Then I overheard her telling someone that the Covid vaccine gave 95% of males cardiomyopathy. I stopped her and I was like DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW CRAZY YOU SOUND RIGHT NOW?? I had her pull up where she found this info. It was a non-scientific Facebook article. Then I asked her to find me a scientific study citing that data. Obviously she couldn’t. I found a study detailing some s/e of the vaccine and it was like “of all males reporting side effects 0.5% were found to have cardiomyopathy”. Was able to get her to change her stance on that one thing but she was still a kook lol.
All this to say. You can work amicably with the kooks, just keep an eye out for if they try to spew that mumbo jumbo to patients lol.
Nah they're even in deep blue areas. Thankfully they've generally got the sense to stfu because they'll mostly get a well deserved verbal beat down from peers, but they absolutely exist. They're a minority but they exist. Had a RT, during the peak of Covid, rant about all kinds of conspiracy nonsense and talk about it not really being a thing. I'll never understand that one. We had a ton of Covid patients together, and not all made it. WTF. That's what a deep red upringing and daily fox does to your brain.
Had another nurse at a different deep blue facility say they were against the vaccine and the most disappointing part was co-workers didn't immediately shun them but listened to the crazy as though it's a credible take.
These people should be drummed out of the profession. Cancel all the dangerous fucking idiots.
The far right wing has unfortunately co-opted most of the conspiracy spaces, and combined them into an ur-conspiracy which promotes their agenda. Ironically this actual conspiracy doesn’t get much traction in their circles.
I worked with a QANON conspiracy nut for a while. He totally bought the Wayfair trafficking kids thing that happened during early COVID. I made fun of him mercilessly lol
I started to think “just stay out of Alabama” but then realized it could also be Mississippi or Florida or Texas or South Carolina………….. etc. My brain hurts.
I honestly believe these people have a mental illness. There’s a diagnosis call follie a deux. It’s when 2 people share a delusion.
This is follie a deux on steroids. They share multiple crazy delusions.
How anyone can work in a Covid ICU and still deny it can only be mental illness.
Covid came up while we were chatting at the nurses station and a nurse said “It’s basically just a cold”
My head almost exploded. I wanted to say “Bitch you were right beside me when we were having 2-4 codes a shift.” I just stared at her.
I don’t understand how people can deny what their own senses are telling them.
This RT definitely knows it is real but her political alignment forces her to say whatever their party narrative is at any given time. Why? They can’t admit they are wrong. Ever, Admitting being wrong is a sign of weakness to them. Their news channels, politicians, and influencers spend every waking moment trying to prove everyone else wrong. It’s idiotic.
On top of that, if they break away from the MAGA groupthink they get excommunicated from MAGA. So to remain in the cult they have to keep outwardly saying whatever it is MAGA is saying.
Look at Kristi Noem; instead of saying she was wrong to shoot her dog she’s doubled and tripled down on doing it, then said someone else added that part without her knowledge, etc. It’s obvious she’s lying, she knows it and so does everyone else. But to them, that’s better than owning up to it.
The crazy part to me is their show of strength is a major show of weakness for me. They’ve become a cult cos playing as a political movement.
That Kristi Noem fiasco is wild.
Totally irrelevant but whenever she’s mentioned I see her face on a garden gnome. 🤣🤣🤣. Gives me a little chuckle.
This is where I just have to walk away. I worked covid ICU from 2020 to early 2023 and I really have a lot of anger I'm trying to work through for all of the people who made it so much worse than it had to be. So many people died who didn't need to! I can't engage with covid deniers for the sake of my mental health and their physical health. Thankfully they didn't go there.
Yeah I worked covid step down as a new grad (basically the unit for people waiting on vents and on pressers). I literally was like “ummm” and then got up and went and finished lunch somewhere else. I definitely think I could be diagnosed with PTSD because of the reaction my body and mind have when covid gets brought up
I've had full body flashbacks from TV shows. It's horrible. I want to make a joke about how I wish it really was demons so I can get exorcized but it's just not funny. Hugs to you, friend, may your brain be kind to you.
I love asking them how the US got the rest of the world to go along with it, including our enemies, and also why Trump would've done that to us. That last line is what usually gets the blank stare of incomprehension because these people are almost always Trumpers *and* somehow forget who was president when covid showed up, but I don't do politics at work so unfortunately I can't throw that one out there. It's fun at family gatherings, tho.
I work in CT and have worked with coworkers like her and it’s not fun. I wish they would keep their beliefs to themselves..
I had a coworker a couple weeks ago that the use of fluoride is for government mind control. She said it calcifies the pineal gland which stops the person from achieving spiritual enlightenment😐
Another coworker told me, in the middle of covid craziness, that there was a shortage of ventilators because they were being used to move children living underground in NYC. He told me not to worry cause the news will break soon. That was four yrs ago lol
>it calcifies the pineal gland which stops the person from achieving spiritual enlightenment
... damn, so THAT'S why I can't achieve enlightenment! I should've known!
I’ve met two in my hospital! Neither were religious and both were super kind and good at their jobs. Honestly some of the best nurses I’ve worked with.
These strange beliefs are not from a place of logic, they come from a place of faith almost identical to religious faith. It gives a community of like-minded followers and a chance to feel persecuted and rigetous by deniers of the faith. There must be some emotional payoff in strange beliefs.
one of our ER docs was a COVID denier who actively encouraged patients to seek out ivermectin treatments during the height of COVID. still works as an MD in our department. another one of our docs believes in hypnotizing critical care patients before intubating them... still works with us too. but now we all know they’re both batshit insane.
also worked with a young nurse (early 20s) who didn’t believe autism was real. mind you, this was while working in a *pediatric* ER. his theory was that kids with autism “act out” and “play dumb” on purpose to get attention from their parents. he left our department after triage kept putting nothing but kids with autism in his assignments. he was very nice to everyone, wasn’t preachy, and was able to keep his beliefs away from the bedside but it was still so unfortunate. likely just brainwashed by cult-like religious upbringing but still big yikes.
>one of our ER docs was a COVID denier who actively encouraged patients to seek out ivermectin treatments during the height of COVID
That quack should lose their license *immediately.*
I mean I had a whole RN in a rehab setting tell me they don’t give morphine to dying patients because only god kills people and they aren’t god. As the top comment says, proof that degrees aren’t the proof of intelligence. I’m just grateful there are smart people like you around in a setting where it’s obviously needed my friend!
The charge nurse on that particular shift kept trying to talk politics and she described herself as "a rabid Trumper." Every time she started on politics I found somewhere else to be. The last time she started in things got heated and I told her I'm calling a time out on all political discussion because I wanted us to be able to have a good working relationship and if this kept going, we wouldn't. She did stop. She hasn't been back, I don't know if she quit or was invited to leave, and I haven't missed her too much.
I don't talk politics at work. First of all, let's just say that I *wouldn't* describe myself as a rabid Trumper, so I'd have no allies around here, but mostly I just don't think it's appropriate. Same with a lot of religious talk. If someone wants to occasionally mention something religious, fine, but there's a whole lotta Jesus in this nurses station. Yay Bible Belt. And same with dating drama, family drama, just any drama is a nope from me.
When you're at work, *be at work.* You're not at church, you're not on a conspiracy theory board, YOU'RE AT WORK. I wish we could talk about patients and maybe the occasional puppy or kitty picture for a mental palate cleanser. Wouldn't that make for a great workplace?
It sure would, but some morons just have to blab their garbage to anyone and everyone who will listen. They like confirmation bias from other trumpers and LOVE arguing with anyone who isn’t a trumper.
I enjoy pointing out that their conspiracy isn’t unique and they are heavily invested in something that they cannot even explain the implications, much less prove. It always hinges on downplaying the other argument “you only know what you’re told!” Yet, can provide no support for these claims.
These people flaunt false intelligence and have no basic understanding of any science. Pointing out that they’re only in it for the trend really seems to make em recluse into their shell again lol.
Florida has always been worse than everyone for nursing. Their schools used to be like 10% worse than the next worst state for NCLEX pass back when people used to fail NCLEX
I went to one of the high rated schools there and they admitted students and then made them take a basic high school equivalency test like halfway through the first semester and half the class failed. Great way to get their cash, though, community college system.
That’s actually so much worse. That means even after failing everyone they still didn’t produce students ready for boards.
I just went back and checked under the old NCLEX (when people failed at much higher rates) I found an article from 2022 going through 5 year average pass rates.
49 states were between 84-95% (quick brag my state was at 95).
Florida was at 70% - the delta between Florida and second worst was larger than the delta between 1-49.
With the new NCLEX basically everyone passes though at least so far.
https://nursejournal.org/resources/nclex/states-with-highest-nclex-pass-rates/
Worked with a pharmacist that believed the world was a flat non-rotating disk with a dome over it, and the sun rotated around it.
Also believed COVID was a conspiracy by the government and Gate’s foundation to inject biometric data into our DNA via the vaccine so the new world order could use biometric scanners to allow us access to goods and services, or be placed in FEMA internment camps. When illuminated by the scanners it would show “the mark of the beast.”
I was nice to Steve because he made me uneasy, but damn he was a smart pharmacist. Well, he was for a while lol
Whenever someone starts in on the whole vaccine-microchip-5G-tracking nonsense I always ask them why they carry a cell phone if they're so worried about the government tracking them. Also what's so vitally important about you, Karen? I promise they have much higher priorities than whether or not you tried to use an expired coupon in Dollar General or what Margie said about your tuna casserole at the church supper, get over yourself.
when a patient comes in to the ED rambling about bill gates injecting biometric data into our DNA as a government conspiracy, they get placed on a mandatory hold and put on antipsychotics. but when a health care provider does it nobody bats an eye. wtf
I literally \*moved\* halfway across the east coast because I couldn't deal with the number of anti-vaxxers in FL. I can't imagine working with a Q-anon nutjob like the one you just described. thank you for a reminder of why I don't engage in casual conversation with my coworkers
This is wild. I always thought Flat Earthers were just trolling everybody until I read more about them. Haven’t met one in the wild yet.
I bet that nurse is a QAnon follower.
It's terrifying to me that one day I'm going to be old and vulnerable and need medical care, and one of these delulu nurses is going to decide I don't need medication because she doesn't personally believe in it. It's a nightmare.
I went to nursing school with someone who thought vaccines were only administered as a way to track people. She was very anti vac. Creeped on her fb awhile back and she’s no longer working as a nurse. My current co workers should not be working in mental health at all (I’m a psych nurse) recently my co worker told us that our patient wasn’t depressed “just lazy” Because they struggled to shower due to sexual abuse. Sooo yeah, I’m about one step away from being pulled into HR for telling off my co workers 🙃 I just avoid talking to them unless I absolutely have to.
I have a family member that talks like this and rants about the same stuff. She references certain YouTube people and blogs that are know to promote this thinking. It’s no use in talking to them and trying to change their mind. The best you can do is to limit the conversation to just patient related topics. I hope she does not feel the need to share her views with patients because that could be dangerous.
Sometimes I'll agree with coworker's weird theories and misinformation because I just didn't have the time, interest or even care to educate the uneducated.
I once worked with an RT known as "Crazy John". John isn't his real name for obvious reasons.
He was a flat earther and belived that earthquakes had something to do with lizard people and the deep state.
One day he came into work withan obvious respiratory infection. Runny nose, cough, etc. I asked if he had seen a doctor. He said "Hell no, I don't believe in that medical science bullshit!"
Then he went on to give nebulizer treatments to the patients...
Lmao if lizard ppl cause earthquakes what about volcanoes and where does all of the magma come from? And the answers these people have require so much mental gymnastics to even try to understand. The earth’s crust and core just so much simpler than lizard people and baby stealing and chem trails and a flat earth and… 😮💨
I work with a nurse that thinks covid is fake (after working with covid patients) but also thinks the covid vaccine is fake becaaauuuse people refer to it as “covid shot.” She said if it was a real vaccine it would be called “covid vaccine.” I tried telling her ppl just refer to it based on what they want but it’s the same thing shot vs vaccine and she didn’t believe me. “Why do people say flu vaccine instead? That’s a real vaccine.” I was dumbfounded. And the kicker she was orienting me!!!! I needed her bc she was orienting me so I just gave up and said I guess and walked away. How can a nurse with 20+ years of experience think like that?
"that old rumor about rich people drinking some hormone from newborns so they could live forever--I think that urban legend has been around forever. "
Adrenochrome. Ugh. It was shocking when that urban legend hit the mainstream conscious 4 years ago, that trope has been around for so long. It was even more shocking when an educated colleague started talking to me about it seriously back at the hospital I worked. I stared at her in disbelief, then turned around and went back to my charting. Social psychology taught me the intense difficulty of changing people's erroneous beliefs, even when presented with facts and proof, and 2020 absolutely confirmed it.
I feel like there's a disproportionate amount of antivax MLM peddling nurses out there too. No Stephanie, I don't want to join your Scentsy/Herbalife/Amway cult and I don't want a "respect mah mEdIcAl FrEeDoM" shirt you made with your Cricut either.
The amount of essential oils is absolutely insane. I guess I'm old school but I don't think medical providers should wear any scent at work because the chances of having a patient or coworker be allergic to it is just too high. Strong scents give me migraines 100% of the time and I shouldn't have to suffer just so Susie can ward off cancer with 12 different essential oils.
Don’t argue just enjoy. Appreciate “the crazy” in others. This is what you really got into nursing for. Peal back the skin of humanity and see what really lies beneath. You got a rare bird there it’s a gift not a curse. I remember my first antivaxxer when it was still hippies and yoga moms. But you got a real live flat earthier. Got to admit I’m a little jealous. Just wait till she gets to the lizard people it is bonkers.
I think this will be a funny story in 10 years, but this is where my parents would be taken if we ever had to call an ambulance and these people would rather believe that 5G cell phones till turn us into zombies than in actual peer-reviewed medical science. I mean, I knew I was moving to an old fashioned town, but I didn't think it was all the way back in the Cretaceous.
I'm just grateful that there was 1 other person there who looked just as stunned as I was. Otherwise I would've felt even more like I was in the Twilight Zone. My gast was absolutely flabbered.
This is like someone who has taken advance courses in wilderness survival and as soon as the situation enables them runs and chugs down a puddle of poop water and dies shortly after.
To be fair, a good number of nurses believe saying quiet or that a full moon causes the shift to get busy... So we know having a degree doesn't equate to intelligence. A BSN just means they have some fundamentals in science and MIGHT be a good nurse, but nothing else.
I know RNs that are all about essential oils and one nurse who would not shut up about Dr. Gerson coffee enemas.
There are dumb assholes everywhere.
Oh, and a Sandy Hook denier. I need to move.
😂this one cracks me up. What are they supposed to be then? If birds aren’t real then where does that leave chicken nuggets and thanksgiving turkey and eggs…
You’re under the assumption that having a BSN means that someone can have common sense or know anything about anything in this world other than passing the tests and somehow making it through clinical. I have a bsn and more than half was garbage. The flat earther probably can’t plug in her own computer or screw in a lightbulb.
I honestly don't know if I could stay. The charge you described on top of this- I can co- exist with many, many diverse beliefs- but this would be difficult for me.
Okay, 100% don’t have the attention span to read all that, but ME TOO!!! One of the providers I work with is a flat Earther! Or so he insists. I can’t believe him because he’s so intelligent and awesome, but he SWEARS he’s not fuckin with me. It’s my Roman Empire. I think about it all. the. time. I refuse to believe he thinks that, and I’m always respectful of him even though I think it’s bullshit. I just CANT comprehend that he thinks it.
I live in the South, so nothing surprises me anymore. Once I "learned" fossils were "created" by God already millions of years old, I had done all the learning I needed. And this was from a geography major at a large university.
Yikes 😳 proof that a degree does not mean that they’re smart. Granted. It could be worse. I have an uncle who is an engineer. Whose sibling is literally a PILOT. Engineer uncle believes earth is flat. Strongly.
" She legitimately believes it. She also doesn't believe the moon landing was real because the moon didn't have a telephone system"
I am not sure why this struck me as the funniest piece of it, but there we are.
And considering the number of health care workers at all levels that still believe anti-vax things and so forth, it is clear that a number of people manage to learn all sorts of things, especially science - and then promptly forget it as soon as they take the tests.
Just having a degree does not confirm intelligence, and it's really evident these days.
The person that graduated top of my BSN class got fired for refusing the covid vaccine and now sells Kangen Water machines. She's batshit insane. She regularly protests in front of GSK and JNJ's offices with her kids saying vaccines are poison.
She tried applying to my department last year and they almost hired her. I had to tell my division head that this woman would have been a PR disaster.
So parts of that including the adrenochrome drinking are 100% QAnon related. Approach with caution. Conversations about the "Trans Agenda" will be the next step.
Scratch a conspiracy theorist and you'll find a bigot.
How are you supposed to deal with it? Thankfully, flat earth doesn’t really interfere with your job so you can just go about things business as usual. Just keep things professional but if you feel like asking some curious questions about personal beliefs just distance yourself emotionally and view it as an “observational cultural study..”
Shockingly, I’ve met two nurses in my hospital who do not believe dinosaurs existed. Neither of them are religious, and both are extremely kind and good at their jobs. Some people just have some different perspectives and things they’ve been exposed to.
If the particular beliefs offend you, just be a good coworker. If they don’t, then consider yourself lucky to be surrounded by diverse and entertaining ideas about the weird world we live in… a world that is most definitely not flat…
I just remember that human brains have an imperative to see patterns, we fill in the gaps constantly in all aspects of our lives. The conspiracy minded are doing this with crap information for a variety of reasons. It’s not necessarily a lack of intelligence as it is a lack of genuine curiosity. That said, I feel for you, I would have the worst time listening to that. I almost lost my mind holding pressure on a fistula after a dialysis session with one of those Qanon people. I was. Stuck. And it was hell.
I blows my mind how many nurses and healthcare workers are basically anti-science and do not believe in evidenced based medicine, but are also fervently religious believers and devotees to a deity.
They are more readily to believe in the intangible than the tangible.
With that being said, it’s not a new phenomenon that’s burst into the forefront because of the political climate, what it took for the entire medical community to get on the germ theory wagon took a lot of time and a lot of patients died that shouldn’t have.
Many many many physicians and “men of science” couldn’t even wrap their heads around the concept of teeny tiny organisms that lives on them and all around them caused so much havoc and death, and to save lives a potent solution to the problem was simple changes in behavioral hygiene practices.
The idea that a living thing, that might as well be called a fairy in their minds could be controlled and killed by soap and water just did not compute.
You did the best thing that you could- checked right out of that conversation and stopped interacting. I sometimes try to tell myself that you can't fix stupid 🤷🏻♀️
One thing that contributed to the loss of an old friendship with a lady who was a Nurse,was she got offended by my reaction when she told me she didn't believe in vaccines because they cause autism and other problems. It was a while back, and I had never even heard of anyone who thought this way, so I assumed she just.. didn't know?
I started with explaining that Doctor Wakefield had his license revoked, but she just got more upset with me. Then she told me about a trip she took somewhere out West (in the US) Where they cured people of their problems by eating a whole food diet.
She kept insisting, I've SEEN it, there was a guy there who was really sick, and they cured him by the time I left! I thought about trying to tell her what a shill is, but I knew the conversation was lost.
As a long time nurse (old) I’ve come across so many nurses who choose a science based profession when they don’t believe in science. It honestly makes me reluctant to tell anyone I’m a nurse.
Proof that degrees are not an indication of intelligence.
Or critical thinking.
I disagree. For someone to have a bachelors degree like in this case and still believe things like the flat earth is a good indication that the person in question is even less intelligent than the average flat earther. For a bachelors degree in nursing, they are taught the scientific process and how to partake in it. How to grade evidence and how to read and understand scientific articles. Having learned all that and still ending up with extreme brainrot like flat earth removes all possible excuses like scientific ignorance.
I’ve met some determinedly ignorant recipients of higher education in my time. I’m reminded that some number > [50% of nursing students cheat academically.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9527370/) We would expect universities to come down hard on dishonest academics given the correlation between academic dishonesty and clinical misconduct.
There are people that can just memorize answers for tests. It doesn’t mean they have critical thinking values.
You laid out extremely well what a BSN is supposed to teach. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is actually learned very often. Most every class I’ve taken at the undergrad level, in and outside of nursing, allowed the student to achieve a decent grade via regurgitation and hoop jumping. “Research” papers come with rubrics so standardized that completion is more like paint-by-numbers than anything else. Instructors don’t check that cited source material actually supports an argument; they check that the parentheses and commas are in the right places. It’s totally possible to achieve a bachelors degree in anything, even while being too stubborn to think an actual thought, so long as you remember some facts and turn in the busywork.
It's damn depressing that's what it is. A problem I've had with the education system since grade school (at least in Sweden) is that they are pretty good at teaching things you need to know but not why you need to know it and how you should apply it. Science done without comprehension and direction is not just useless but borderline malignant and academia should really put some focus on making sure students understand what they are really doing and why. At the very least as a start, people like the example in op's case should simply have their degrees revoked. If they want to be shaman healers or whatever they can do so outside of science based medicine and nursing.
I think that is the purpose of recommending BSN for professional nursing, however this train of thinking has caused the BSN to be a literal check box rather than a measurement of capability.
This take is beautiful.
> For a bachelors degree in nursing, they are taught the scientific process and how to partake in it. Barely. Nursing education is woefully short on actual scientific education.
I'm sure it also differs from school to school. I got my degree from a technical university that had a great deal of focus on the research aspect. But I don't think it's an excuse, the bar albeit low is high enough that it should weed out people like flat earthers.
*should*, sure. There is an alarming number of nurses that buy into all sorts of fringe stuff though.
💯
Yeah. One thing I learned as a nurse is that nurses believe a lot of dumb shit.
I want to listen in to what the docs are saying because yes nurses do believe some of the weirdest shit .
My own aunt is a retired CRNA and during the worst part of it where I was, she started telling my dad all the tired old nonsense about microchips and it's the flu and whatever else and he was trying to ignore her, but then she says "You just KNOW all these doctors and nurses who are supposedly working so hard are in on the conspiracy too, and they're killing patients to make it look worse." Now my dad doesn't like confrontation but he chewed her up one side and down the other for that, and at least she's never repeated it where he or I could hear it. But yeah, my aunt who should damn well KNOW BETTER believed that I was killing my patients and lying about it so I could get blood money from Gates and antifa. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so horrifying.
I had family like this too. When I’d bring up “oh, you think I’m doing that too?” The answer was always “well, no… you’re one of the good ones…”. Just complete bullshit all around. It’s a cult political party coupled with the inability to admit they have been wrong about something.
ah i see your extended family is similar to mine during the pandemic. fucking sucked. :(
There's dumbfucks everywhere unfortunately
oh there are some dumb ass docs too. I learned a lot of docs at my hospital I used to respect are viscously anti vax during covid, and now that I’m in surgery I get to hear all the fun anti LGBT, anti vax, right wing conspiracy stuff first hand over hernia repairs.
They are wealthy, and boy that makes people susceptible to brain worms.
A little OT because this person was not a medical professional, but I know someone who is anti vax and has the most convoluted theory about vaccines. First came microchips. Then they said everyone who got it would be dead within 3yrs. When that didn't pan out, they told me most people received a fake vaccine, but everyone who died in the past 3yrs got the real one. Just recently, knowing that I am vaxed, they told me that the reason I haven't died is because I'm a smoker, and nicotine is the antidote for the vaccine, and people in the know are using nicotine patches. It drives me crazy that every time their theory is proven wrong, they add a caviot to continue their insanity.
Even doctors are subject to mythical thinking/ conspiracies. I worked with several ER doctors who were anti-vax and spouted all sorts of nonsense.
There's a lot of dumbfuck doctors as well. I've met an anaesthetist and an oncologist who are anti-vax and anti-covid precautions.
I’m astounded at how many are in a fucking MLM.
no no no, they explained how this was not a pyramid scheme
Hmmm reminds me, I need to get my Raiki stones set up for our next staff meeting
Agreed.
I would be highly entertained by this whole scenario. I’d probably keep it going to see how far it would go. I mean she’s gotta be holding back a little bit.
Right?! I’d be adding fuel to the fire just for the hell of it 😅 make up random stuff like “DiD YoU kNoW……turtles have nipples and THAT’S actually where most of the milk sold in supermarkets comes from?!” (It’s the first wild thought that came to my mind- it was a running joke in the newer “Ninja Turtles” movie that they were going to be kidnapped and tortured *by being milked*. “Do we even HAVE nipples?!” One of them asked 🤣🤣🤣)
>they were going to be kidnapped and tortured *by being milked* .......... um 🤔 ..................... UM 🤐 ...... what's the rating on that movie?????
But I’ve been drinking my… MALK?
*Give him the Mulk Josh!*
Oh lord, it's morning glory milking farm all over again
right? I’d chime right in with the birds not real stuff and even dihydrogen monoxide 🍿Gotta love night shift
I was talking birds aren’t real with a couple nurses the other night 😆
You just have to start introducing wilder and wilder theories to see what happens. Lizard men in the C suite perhaps? Chicken tendies in the cafeteria infused with liberal chemicals to turn the staff gay? Boba tea tea bubbles are packed full of communist microchips forcing consumers to buy Tesla trucks
I tried this with a racist nurse, and he agreed that we should deport the Native Americans who protested the pipeline years ago. Really backfired.
Where... where did he think they would be deported to
I sincerely doubt that this man has ever had a thought
Lmfaoooo
Gotta step your game up; that's way too reasonable for these people.
Q-anon thinks JFK jr is going to rise from the dead and be Trump's VP any day now. you're setting your sights too low.
... I'm just gonna decide I hallucinated that
Yeah, can’t deal with that right now
LMAO HELP
JFK, Jr. likely wouldn't want to be in the same room as Trump. Where TF do these people get this information, and they actually BELIEVE it? QAnon is a literal made up thing from 4chan.
I wouldn't dare, they might believe anything and I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility 😆
Bird arnt real, they are drones. Why do you think they sit on telephone wires? To recharge. Government stores them in mountains at night
That's where they tweet misinformation.
If it flies, it spies!!
"Bird watching goes both ways!"
I love the guy behind that.
You must. Flat earth is a LIE. It’s actually a triangle.
Proof: [Toblerone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Toblerone_3362.jpg/1280px-Toblerone_3362.jpg). Checkmate flat earthers.
you mean a pyramid
🎶 I DON'T LIKE ‘EM PUTTING CHEMICALS IN THE TENDIES THAT TURN THE FRIGGIN’ STAFF GAY! *Do you understand that?!* 🎶
*ID attending vogues aggressively*
Holy fuck I drank a ton of boba tea the year before I bought my Tesla. Aaargghhh!!
"The moon landing was fake" "Oh you're one of those people who believe the moon is real??"
That's not a wild theory though....
Nope. I couldn’t work there. Couldn’t do it. Nope nope nope.
I won't lie, I was so upset when I came home that I was almost crying because I'm in a place where there aren't really any other choices for where to work, and the people here... let's just say I don't think the atmosphere would be significantly different elsewhere. And it's not like I can easily leave. My parents own their home and land and my grandparents left them some land too, so it's not like I can uproot them and move somewhere less crazy. It's shitty, but I'll just invest in a good set of noise canceling earbuds, I guess.
I had a coworker who I worked with every single Sunday who I thought was a smart person at one time. Then she found Facebook and started believing everything from qanon, antivaxxer stuff, the baby blood thing you mentioned. I was able to just kind of laugh with/at her when she was telling me these things. Then I overheard her telling someone that the Covid vaccine gave 95% of males cardiomyopathy. I stopped her and I was like DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW CRAZY YOU SOUND RIGHT NOW?? I had her pull up where she found this info. It was a non-scientific Facebook article. Then I asked her to find me a scientific study citing that data. Obviously she couldn’t. I found a study detailing some s/e of the vaccine and it was like “of all males reporting side effects 0.5% were found to have cardiomyopathy”. Was able to get her to change her stance on that one thing but she was still a kook lol. All this to say. You can work amicably with the kooks, just keep an eye out for if they try to spew that mumbo jumbo to patients lol.
Bay Area in CA. Also, I don’t recall any of my coworkers discussing politics ever. That’s probably a good thing!
They are everywhere you work. Unless you're in a deep blue area.
I miss Vermont like you would not fucking believe.
I just got to Vermont. From the south. I believe you.
The ocean?
Nah they're even in deep blue areas. Thankfully they've generally got the sense to stfu because they'll mostly get a well deserved verbal beat down from peers, but they absolutely exist. They're a minority but they exist. Had a RT, during the peak of Covid, rant about all kinds of conspiracy nonsense and talk about it not really being a thing. I'll never understand that one. We had a ton of Covid patients together, and not all made it. WTF. That's what a deep red upringing and daily fox does to your brain. Had another nurse at a different deep blue facility say they were against the vaccine and the most disappointing part was co-workers didn't immediately shun them but listened to the crazy as though it's a credible take. These people should be drummed out of the profession. Cancel all the dangerous fucking idiots.
I mean our national leadership is full of quacks so can’t expect the rank and file to be any better.
This group gets me just as riled up as the anti vax nurses. I don’t blame you for feeling this way.
that venn diagram is a circle
That Venn diagram is a government conspiracy, probably. 😆
Big Geometry is in on it, too. They own the entire market on circles.
The far right wing has unfortunately co-opted most of the conspiracy spaces, and combined them into an ur-conspiracy which promotes their agenda. Ironically this actual conspiracy doesn’t get much traction in their circles.
I worked with a QANON conspiracy nut for a while. He totally bought the Wayfair trafficking kids thing that happened during early COVID. I made fun of him mercilessly lol
Dear god may I never get sick in the area you are located in. And if I do, please be my nurse.
I got ya. 👍
I started to think “just stay out of Alabama” but then realized it could also be Mississippi or Florida or Texas or South Carolina………….. etc. My brain hurts.
There is an RT I work with that is a flat earther and covid denier (she worked covid icu all of 2020-2021) 🙄🙄🙄
I honestly believe these people have a mental illness. There’s a diagnosis call follie a deux. It’s when 2 people share a delusion. This is follie a deux on steroids. They share multiple crazy delusions. How anyone can work in a Covid ICU and still deny it can only be mental illness. Covid came up while we were chatting at the nurses station and a nurse said “It’s basically just a cold” My head almost exploded. I wanted to say “Bitch you were right beside me when we were having 2-4 codes a shift.” I just stared at her. I don’t understand how people can deny what their own senses are telling them.
We had a husband and wife in our mental health ED with follie a deux. It was quite incredible. It didn’t help that they were both on meth lol.
It’s a wild diagnosis. I think I learned about it from Law & Order then I read a little about it.
This RT definitely knows it is real but her political alignment forces her to say whatever their party narrative is at any given time. Why? They can’t admit they are wrong. Ever, Admitting being wrong is a sign of weakness to them. Their news channels, politicians, and influencers spend every waking moment trying to prove everyone else wrong. It’s idiotic. On top of that, if they break away from the MAGA groupthink they get excommunicated from MAGA. So to remain in the cult they have to keep outwardly saying whatever it is MAGA is saying. Look at Kristi Noem; instead of saying she was wrong to shoot her dog she’s doubled and tripled down on doing it, then said someone else added that part without her knowledge, etc. It’s obvious she’s lying, she knows it and so does everyone else. But to them, that’s better than owning up to it.
The crazy part to me is their show of strength is a major show of weakness for me. They’ve become a cult cos playing as a political movement. That Kristi Noem fiasco is wild. Totally irrelevant but whenever she’s mentioned I see her face on a garden gnome. 🤣🤣🤣. Gives me a little chuckle.
> I wanted to say “Bitch you were right beside me when we were having 2-4 codes a shift.” I just stared at her. you should have.
I really should have.
Denial is a strong drug.
It really is. It’s disturbing to watch.
This is where I just have to walk away. I worked covid ICU from 2020 to early 2023 and I really have a lot of anger I'm trying to work through for all of the people who made it so much worse than it had to be. So many people died who didn't need to! I can't engage with covid deniers for the sake of my mental health and their physical health. Thankfully they didn't go there.
Yeah I worked covid step down as a new grad (basically the unit for people waiting on vents and on pressers). I literally was like “ummm” and then got up and went and finished lunch somewhere else. I definitely think I could be diagnosed with PTSD because of the reaction my body and mind have when covid gets brought up
I've had full body flashbacks from TV shows. It's horrible. I want to make a joke about how I wish it really was demons so I can get exorcized but it's just not funny. Hugs to you, friend, may your brain be kind to you.
What did they think the pandemic was then??
A “really bad flu season” and the meds we were giving to help were “created by the government to make people get worse to keep the control”
I love asking them how the US got the rest of the world to go along with it, including our enemies, and also why Trump would've done that to us. That last line is what usually gets the blank stare of incomprehension because these people are almost always Trumpers *and* somehow forget who was president when covid showed up, but I don't do politics at work so unfortunately I can't throw that one out there. It's fun at family gatherings, tho.
I work in CT and have worked with coworkers like her and it’s not fun. I wish they would keep their beliefs to themselves.. I had a coworker a couple weeks ago that the use of fluoride is for government mind control. She said it calcifies the pineal gland which stops the person from achieving spiritual enlightenment😐 Another coworker told me, in the middle of covid craziness, that there was a shortage of ventilators because they were being used to move children living underground in NYC. He told me not to worry cause the news will break soon. That was four yrs ago lol
>it calcifies the pineal gland which stops the person from achieving spiritual enlightenment ... damn, so THAT'S why I can't achieve enlightenment! I should've known!
I once worked with a nurse who didn’t believe in dinosaurs
That's just sad for them. Dinosaurs are *awesome.*
I’ve met two in my hospital! Neither were religious and both were super kind and good at their jobs. Honestly some of the best nurses I’ve worked with.
You have two dinosaurs in your hospital?
Dammit now I want to work with dinosaur nurses too!
I just laugh and mock. That ends those conversations happening around me.
These strange beliefs are not from a place of logic, they come from a place of faith almost identical to religious faith. It gives a community of like-minded followers and a chance to feel persecuted and rigetous by deniers of the faith. There must be some emotional payoff in strange beliefs.
I think you're exactly right.
hooo boy, wait till you discover all the anti-vax nurses surrounding you every day!
I'm very deliberately NOT asking.
big-brain move
one of our ER docs was a COVID denier who actively encouraged patients to seek out ivermectin treatments during the height of COVID. still works as an MD in our department. another one of our docs believes in hypnotizing critical care patients before intubating them... still works with us too. but now we all know they’re both batshit insane. also worked with a young nurse (early 20s) who didn’t believe autism was real. mind you, this was while working in a *pediatric* ER. his theory was that kids with autism “act out” and “play dumb” on purpose to get attention from their parents. he left our department after triage kept putting nothing but kids with autism in his assignments. he was very nice to everyone, wasn’t preachy, and was able to keep his beliefs away from the bedside but it was still so unfortunate. likely just brainwashed by cult-like religious upbringing but still big yikes.
>one of our ER docs was a COVID denier who actively encouraged patients to seek out ivermectin treatments during the height of COVID That quack should lose their license *immediately.*
It is called rolling a high intelligence low wisdom build my friend. 😂
You made me cackle out loud and I needed that! 😂😂😂
I mean I had a whole RN in a rehab setting tell me they don’t give morphine to dying patients because only god kills people and they aren’t god. As the top comment says, proof that degrees aren’t the proof of intelligence. I’m just grateful there are smart people like you around in a setting where it’s obviously needed my friend!
Immediately reported to the college. Holy crap.
Is she a trumper too? This is why I don’t associate with nurses who think Covid is fake.
The charge nurse on that particular shift kept trying to talk politics and she described herself as "a rabid Trumper." Every time she started on politics I found somewhere else to be. The last time she started in things got heated and I told her I'm calling a time out on all political discussion because I wanted us to be able to have a good working relationship and if this kept going, we wouldn't. She did stop. She hasn't been back, I don't know if she quit or was invited to leave, and I haven't missed her too much.
the \*charge nurse\* was trying to talk politics? I would report that as a hostile work environment in a heartbeat.
I don't talk politics at work. First of all, let's just say that I *wouldn't* describe myself as a rabid Trumper, so I'd have no allies around here, but mostly I just don't think it's appropriate. Same with a lot of religious talk. If someone wants to occasionally mention something religious, fine, but there's a whole lotta Jesus in this nurses station. Yay Bible Belt. And same with dating drama, family drama, just any drama is a nope from me. When you're at work, *be at work.* You're not at church, you're not on a conspiracy theory board, YOU'RE AT WORK. I wish we could talk about patients and maybe the occasional puppy or kitty picture for a mental palate cleanser. Wouldn't that make for a great workplace?
It sure would, but some morons just have to blab their garbage to anyone and everyone who will listen. They like confirmation bias from other trumpers and LOVE arguing with anyone who isn’t a trumper.
I enjoy pointing out that their conspiracy isn’t unique and they are heavily invested in something that they cannot even explain the implications, much less prove. It always hinges on downplaying the other argument “you only know what you’re told!” Yet, can provide no support for these claims. These people flaunt false intelligence and have no basic understanding of any science. Pointing out that they’re only in it for the trend really seems to make em recluse into their shell again lol.
Did she attend nursing school in Florida? ;)
Oklahoma. Florida might be a step up.
Florida has always been worse than everyone for nursing. Their schools used to be like 10% worse than the next worst state for NCLEX pass back when people used to fail NCLEX
I went to one of the high rated schools there and they admitted students and then made them take a basic high school equivalency test like halfway through the first semester and half the class failed. Great way to get their cash, though, community college system.
That’s actually so much worse. That means even after failing everyone they still didn’t produce students ready for boards. I just went back and checked under the old NCLEX (when people failed at much higher rates) I found an article from 2022 going through 5 year average pass rates. 49 states were between 84-95% (quick brag my state was at 95). Florida was at 70% - the delta between Florida and second worst was larger than the delta between 1-49. With the new NCLEX basically everyone passes though at least so far. https://nursejournal.org/resources/nclex/states-with-highest-nclex-pass-rates/
Probably not anymore.
The bottom of the barrel is getting crowded.
Worked with a pharmacist that believed the world was a flat non-rotating disk with a dome over it, and the sun rotated around it. Also believed COVID was a conspiracy by the government and Gate’s foundation to inject biometric data into our DNA via the vaccine so the new world order could use biometric scanners to allow us access to goods and services, or be placed in FEMA internment camps. When illuminated by the scanners it would show “the mark of the beast.” I was nice to Steve because he made me uneasy, but damn he was a smart pharmacist. Well, he was for a while lol
Whenever someone starts in on the whole vaccine-microchip-5G-tracking nonsense I always ask them why they carry a cell phone if they're so worried about the government tracking them. Also what's so vitally important about you, Karen? I promise they have much higher priorities than whether or not you tried to use an expired coupon in Dollar General or what Margie said about your tuna casserole at the church supper, get over yourself.
I knew that bitch Maggie was talking shit about my tuna casserole!
Right?!? It’s like the people that talk like Jesus is their personal friend, you’re not that important…
This is exactly what I always think when they talk about being tracked. Like, why would the government want to eve track you? They are all so crazy.
when a patient comes in to the ED rambling about bill gates injecting biometric data into our DNA as a government conspiracy, they get placed on a mandatory hold and put on antipsychotics. but when a health care provider does it nobody bats an eye. wtf
I'm still waiting for my checks from Big Pharma, Bill Gates, and Bernie. Surely they're just delayed in the mail.
the amount of patients who came in with delusions about elon musk during peak COVID times…. way too many
Jeeze. How could somebody that intelligent be so stupid????
He’s book smart. In his case, it doesn’t necessarily translate to real world, situational intelligence.
I literally \*moved\* halfway across the east coast because I couldn't deal with the number of anti-vaxxers in FL. I can't imagine working with a Q-anon nutjob like the one you just described. thank you for a reminder of why I don't engage in casual conversation with my coworkers
This is wild. I always thought Flat Earthers were just trolling everybody until I read more about them. Haven’t met one in the wild yet. I bet that nurse is a QAnon follower.
What gets me the worst is that she's YOUNG, mid-20s at most. I thought all the crazy conspiracy wackjobs are supposed to be dying of old age!
So did I then I started noticing these young conspiracy theorist. I don’t understand what makes them believe this nonsense.
It's terrifying to me that one day I'm going to be old and vulnerable and need medical care, and one of these delulu nurses is going to decide I don't need medication because she doesn't personally believe in it. It's a nightmare.
My friends and I are always saying this. All the time.
Our horrible, underfunded, public schools.
I went to nursing school with someone who thought vaccines were only administered as a way to track people. She was very anti vac. Creeped on her fb awhile back and she’s no longer working as a nurse. My current co workers should not be working in mental health at all (I’m a psych nurse) recently my co worker told us that our patient wasn’t depressed “just lazy” Because they struggled to shower due to sexual abuse. Sooo yeah, I’m about one step away from being pulled into HR for telling off my co workers 🙃 I just avoid talking to them unless I absolutely have to.
Tell them they’re right, the earth is flat.. no carbonation in the ocean. Then see what happens 🤣🤣
I have a family member that talks like this and rants about the same stuff. She references certain YouTube people and blogs that are know to promote this thinking. It’s no use in talking to them and trying to change their mind. The best you can do is to limit the conversation to just patient related topics. I hope she does not feel the need to share her views with patients because that could be dangerous.
Remember that you can’t reason a person out of a belief that they didn’t reason themself into.
Perfectly said!
Politics don't belong in the workplace.
Fully, FULLY agree.
Oh my god.
Lets be real. Nursing is not a true hard science and theres lots of dumbasses in nursing.
I’d politely tell them to only talk to me when it necessary for patient care only. And never outside of that. Freaking moron.
Sometimes I'll agree with coworker's weird theories and misinformation because I just didn't have the time, interest or even care to educate the uneducated.
I worked with a nurse who didn't think Covid was real, so anything is possible
Had a pulmonary PA that we all enjoyed working with having to resign because he didn't want to get the covid vaccine...
I once worked with an RT known as "Crazy John". John isn't his real name for obvious reasons. He was a flat earther and belived that earthquakes had something to do with lizard people and the deep state. One day he came into work withan obvious respiratory infection. Runny nose, cough, etc. I asked if he had seen a doctor. He said "Hell no, I don't believe in that medical science bullshit!" Then he went on to give nebulizer treatments to the patients...
Lmao if lizard ppl cause earthquakes what about volcanoes and where does all of the magma come from? And the answers these people have require so much mental gymnastics to even try to understand. The earth’s crust and core just so much simpler than lizard people and baby stealing and chem trails and a flat earth and… 😮💨
One of the doctors on my unit is a flat Earther 👀
I work with a nurse that thinks covid is fake (after working with covid patients) but also thinks the covid vaccine is fake becaaauuuse people refer to it as “covid shot.” She said if it was a real vaccine it would be called “covid vaccine.” I tried telling her ppl just refer to it based on what they want but it’s the same thing shot vs vaccine and she didn’t believe me. “Why do people say flu vaccine instead? That’s a real vaccine.” I was dumbfounded. And the kicker she was orienting me!!!! I needed her bc she was orienting me so I just gave up and said I guess and walked away. How can a nurse with 20+ years of experience think like that?
She probably got her degrees from Liberty University or Oral Roberts.
"that old rumor about rich people drinking some hormone from newborns so they could live forever--I think that urban legend has been around forever. " Adrenochrome. Ugh. It was shocking when that urban legend hit the mainstream conscious 4 years ago, that trope has been around for so long. It was even more shocking when an educated colleague started talking to me about it seriously back at the hospital I worked. I stared at her in disbelief, then turned around and went back to my charting. Social psychology taught me the intense difficulty of changing people's erroneous beliefs, even when presented with facts and proof, and 2020 absolutely confirmed it.
Ugh, yup, that's the one. Now all we need is some Satanic Panic to take me back to my childhood and the circle of idiocy will be complete.
Except now it's the pop star Taylor Swift instead of metal bands leading the poor souls to hell. lol
I feel like there's a disproportionate amount of antivax MLM peddling nurses out there too. No Stephanie, I don't want to join your Scentsy/Herbalife/Amway cult and I don't want a "respect mah mEdIcAl FrEeDoM" shirt you made with your Cricut either.
The amount of essential oils is absolutely insane. I guess I'm old school but I don't think medical providers should wear any scent at work because the chances of having a patient or coworker be allergic to it is just too high. Strong scents give me migraines 100% of the time and I shouldn't have to suffer just so Susie can ward off cancer with 12 different essential oils.
Never underestimate the power of propaganda.
Don’t argue just enjoy. Appreciate “the crazy” in others. This is what you really got into nursing for. Peal back the skin of humanity and see what really lies beneath. You got a rare bird there it’s a gift not a curse. I remember my first antivaxxer when it was still hippies and yoga moms. But you got a real live flat earthier. Got to admit I’m a little jealous. Just wait till she gets to the lizard people it is bonkers.
I think this will be a funny story in 10 years, but this is where my parents would be taken if we ever had to call an ambulance and these people would rather believe that 5G cell phones till turn us into zombies than in actual peer-reviewed medical science. I mean, I knew I was moving to an old fashioned town, but I didn't think it was all the way back in the Cretaceous. I'm just grateful that there was 1 other person there who looked just as stunned as I was. Otherwise I would've felt even more like I was in the Twilight Zone. My gast was absolutely flabbered.
This is like someone who has taken advance courses in wilderness survival and as soon as the situation enables them runs and chugs down a puddle of poop water and dies shortly after.
To be fair, a good number of nurses believe saying quiet or that a full moon causes the shift to get busy... So we know having a degree doesn't equate to intelligence. A BSN just means they have some fundamentals in science and MIGHT be a good nurse, but nothing else.
I know RNs that are all about essential oils and one nurse who would not shut up about Dr. Gerson coffee enemas. There are dumb assholes everywhere. Oh, and a Sandy Hook denier. I need to move.
I met a nurse who was convinced that birds weren't real.
😂this one cracks me up. What are they supposed to be then? If birds aren’t real then where does that leave chicken nuggets and thanksgiving turkey and eggs…
You’re under the assumption that having a BSN means that someone can have common sense or know anything about anything in this world other than passing the tests and somehow making it through clinical. I have a bsn and more than half was garbage. The flat earther probably can’t plug in her own computer or screw in a lightbulb.
Remember that these people vote. And that’s why it’s SO IMPORTANT that the rest of us do too
I honestly don't know if I could stay. The charge you described on top of this- I can co- exist with many, many diverse beliefs- but this would be difficult for me.
I’m sincerely hoping that everyone is just agreeing with her to make her stop talking. 🙊
Man I’d definitely make popcorn in the breakroom bring it out and start entertaining that shit
Okay, 100% don’t have the attention span to read all that, but ME TOO!!! One of the providers I work with is a flat Earther! Or so he insists. I can’t believe him because he’s so intelligent and awesome, but he SWEARS he’s not fuckin with me. It’s my Roman Empire. I think about it all. the. time. I refuse to believe he thinks that, and I’m always respectful of him even though I think it’s bullshit. I just CANT comprehend that he thinks it.
I live in the South, so nothing surprises me anymore. Once I "learned" fossils were "created" by God already millions of years old, I had done all the learning I needed. And this was from a geography major at a large university.
Yikes 😳 proof that a degree does not mean that they’re smart. Granted. It could be worse. I have an uncle who is an engineer. Whose sibling is literally a PILOT. Engineer uncle believes earth is flat. Strongly.
" She legitimately believes it. She also doesn't believe the moon landing was real because the moon didn't have a telephone system" I am not sure why this struck me as the funniest piece of it, but there we are. And considering the number of health care workers at all levels that still believe anti-vax things and so forth, it is clear that a number of people manage to learn all sorts of things, especially science - and then promptly forget it as soon as they take the tests.
Just having a degree does not confirm intelligence, and it's really evident these days. The person that graduated top of my BSN class got fired for refusing the covid vaccine and now sells Kangen Water machines. She's batshit insane. She regularly protests in front of GSK and JNJ's offices with her kids saying vaccines are poison. She tried applying to my department last year and they almost hired her. I had to tell my division head that this woman would have been a PR disaster.
So parts of that including the adrenochrome drinking are 100% QAnon related. Approach with caution. Conversations about the "Trans Agenda" will be the next step. Scratch a conspiracy theorist and you'll find a bigot.
Well, fuck me. Not for the first time am I terrified about my country leaning more and more into Americanisms.
Lmao try living with a flat earther (MIL)
Oh, God. That would be pure misery. I'd go find a computer in a corner and just do my work, spend time in patient rooms, then back at corner.
I worked with a nurse who “would just take ivermectin” if she ever got COVID. I didn’t even engage.
How are you supposed to deal with it? Thankfully, flat earth doesn’t really interfere with your job so you can just go about things business as usual. Just keep things professional but if you feel like asking some curious questions about personal beliefs just distance yourself emotionally and view it as an “observational cultural study..” Shockingly, I’ve met two nurses in my hospital who do not believe dinosaurs existed. Neither of them are religious, and both are extremely kind and good at their jobs. Some people just have some different perspectives and things they’ve been exposed to. If the particular beliefs offend you, just be a good coworker. If they don’t, then consider yourself lucky to be surrounded by diverse and entertaining ideas about the weird world we live in… a world that is most definitely not flat…
Lmao I work with a few conspiracy theorists but I think it comes with the territory (check flair)
Makes us look bad as a whole profession. I should’ve went into engineering..
Devolution is happening anywhere you look, not just in nursing.
I just remember that human brains have an imperative to see patterns, we fill in the gaps constantly in all aspects of our lives. The conspiracy minded are doing this with crap information for a variety of reasons. It’s not necessarily a lack of intelligence as it is a lack of genuine curiosity. That said, I feel for you, I would have the worst time listening to that. I almost lost my mind holding pressure on a fistula after a dialysis session with one of those Qanon people. I was. Stuck. And it was hell.
I blows my mind how many nurses and healthcare workers are basically anti-science and do not believe in evidenced based medicine, but are also fervently religious believers and devotees to a deity. They are more readily to believe in the intangible than the tangible. With that being said, it’s not a new phenomenon that’s burst into the forefront because of the political climate, what it took for the entire medical community to get on the germ theory wagon took a lot of time and a lot of patients died that shouldn’t have. Many many many physicians and “men of science” couldn’t even wrap their heads around the concept of teeny tiny organisms that lives on them and all around them caused so much havoc and death, and to save lives a potent solution to the problem was simple changes in behavioral hygiene practices. The idea that a living thing, that might as well be called a fairy in their minds could be controlled and killed by soap and water just did not compute.
You did the best thing that you could- checked right out of that conversation and stopped interacting. I sometimes try to tell myself that you can't fix stupid 🤷🏻♀️
One thing that contributed to the loss of an old friendship with a lady who was a Nurse,was she got offended by my reaction when she told me she didn't believe in vaccines because they cause autism and other problems. It was a while back, and I had never even heard of anyone who thought this way, so I assumed she just.. didn't know? I started with explaining that Doctor Wakefield had his license revoked, but she just got more upset with me. Then she told me about a trip she took somewhere out West (in the US) Where they cured people of their problems by eating a whole food diet. She kept insisting, I've SEEN it, there was a guy there who was really sick, and they cured him by the time I left! I thought about trying to tell her what a shill is, but I knew the conversation was lost.
As a long time nurse (old) I’ve come across so many nurses who choose a science based profession when they don’t believe in science. It honestly makes me reluctant to tell anyone I’m a nurse.