“Have you heard the one about the nurse who…?”

Myth: One of a nurse’s main responsibilities is to help doctors do their jobs better.

Fact: Nurses are not secondary caregivers, but highly educated, skilled and autonomous members of the primary health care team who make independent critical decisions about the care of their patients. While it’s true that some nurses are extremely deferential to doctors, and some doctors are domineering types, those roles are rarely, if ever, the norm.

Myth: If you’re a male nurse, you must be gay—or a doctor wanna-be.

Fact: Men have been part of the nursing profession for eons; in fact, they were some of the first nurses. While men are a growing force in the profession today, they remain a minority and, as such, they’re often subjected to the prejudices and preconceived notions by the general public. But old stereotypes die hard. The reality is that even if the nursing profession were to become more gender balanced, you’d still probably hear the “male nurse” label—just as a woman MD is usually described as a “female doctor,” even today.

Despite the stereotyping, every man in nursing that I know has no regrets about his career choice and the opportunities it offers.

Myth: Nurses are famous for “eating their young.”

Fact: You’ll always encounter nurses who are less than pleasant and helpful to younger colleagues. But that describes the human race, not just the nursing profession. Most nurses do support other nurses.

Several months after I graduated from nursing school, I heard that one of my former classmates was giving the student nurses on her unit a hard time. A colleague and I confronted her, saying something like, “Have you already forgotten what it was like to be a student? Are you trying to make yourself feel superior in some way by busting them?” She looked embarrassed and got defensive, but apparently our “intervention” had an impact because things improved immediately.

When something like this happens, look at it as an opportunity to shatter the stereotypes, put an end to the feuds, dispel the myths and start spreading some positive messages about nursing. You have the power to create change.

Myth: There’s a hierarchy of nursing specialties, and some are “better” than others.

Fact: I’ve heard ICU nurses referred to as “snobs” who “think they’re so smart.” ER and recovery room nurses are sometimes disliked by the floor nurses because they just “dump their patients on us.” Psychiatric nurses are commonly accused of trying to psychoanalyze everyone, including their nursing cohorts. Nurses in administration, case management and quality improvement are often called “traitors” who abandoned those “on the front lines.”

Although it’s true that there can be clashes among the various specialties, we all have the same heart, soul and spirit—a combination of our education and experiences, which is enhanced by our capacity to care and to give. We don’t operate independently of one another; rather, we’re each a mirror image of one another. Different but equal, like spokes on the same wheel.