I started my medical career as a nursing assistant in the South, but moved up North while still attending nursing school. I started my career in nursing there, and spent the next seven years working in military hospitals, teaching hospitals, and metropolitan area hospitals from the Great Lakes to the Washington DC/Baltimore area.
But missing my family and my Southern roots I eventually headed back home. I’ve spent the last seven years back in the South nursing in a smaller town, and I’ve discovered some major differences between being a nurse up North versus being a nurse in the South.
Whether you’re looking at rate of pay or how fast the rumor mill spins there are definitely differences in the two! Here’s thirty of them off the top of my head.
1. Nurses are paid less in the South. Sad, but true. While the cost of living is slightly lower down South, there is also simply less of a need for employers to compete for their nurses.
2. On college game day the majority of nurses in the South typically wear their team’s colors. It’s also all anyone talks about!
3. In the South there’s fewer ponytails, and more hairspray.
4. There are more small-town, rural-sized hospitals in the South. Don’t get me wrong, the South has big hospitals too; there are just less of them it seems.
5. Nurses in both regions are equally educated, but doctors in the South are more likely to treat nurses like they don’t know a thing.
6. Nurses in the South get used to being referred to by the title of “hon” or “sweetie.”
7. In the South a nurse is more likely to call their patient “hon” or “sweetie.”
8. Old dog ideas, those old-fashioned beliefs set in stone by docs who have been around forever, still reign as gospel in the South. Change bad. In all fairness I am slowly seeing this “die” out.
9. You know most of your patients personally when you work in the South. You know their family too.
10. In the South you know just as many home remedies as you do scientifically-proven interventions.
11. Most Southern nurses are unfamiliar with the words “sign-on bonus.”
12. In the South it’s highly likely you attended high school with over half of your co-workers.
13. In a Southern hospital old fashioned prayer isn’t looked down upon; it’s actually encouraged.
14. In fact, in the South you see less of the hospital chaplain and more of the local preachers.
15. In a hospital room down South on a Saturday and Sunday during football season the game is always on. Even if the patient is comatose.
16. In the South most of your patients are Republican, and they don’t mind telling you.
17. In the South you see more homemade food being brought as get-well gifts to the patient. Not sure if that’s always a good thing.
18. Yep. In the South you see a lot more patients with heart disease. Interestingly, and also to my sadness you see a lot more chronic addiction to prescription drugs in the South. I wonder if it’s for the chest pain?
19. Not sure why, perhaps the old dog thinking again, but I’ve also noticed Southern nurses are asked/expected to step outside of their scope of practice more often. Yikes!
20. All nurses can eat on the Holidays, but Southern nurses take it to a whole new level. The break room runneth over!
21. In the South you’re typically somehow related, whether by blood or marriage, to your supervisor. Or they went to school with your parents.
22. In the South when patients hear your last name they ask if you’re kin to “so-and-so.”
23. Down South you frequently see your patients and coworkers in town. FYI: “In town” is Southern slang for being out and about anywhere in the city limits, but usually where a Walmart is located.
24. There is less drama in Northern hospitals; despite what Grey’s Anatomy might imply. Up North nurses mostly just work. Crazy, I know.
25. In Southern hospitals you seldom see an unfamiliar face in the hallway. If you do, you introduce yourself. After all, you probably know their momma.
26. In the South it’s fairly common that you go to the same church that your patient attends.
27. When working down South your fellow nurses know where you live. It’s hard to play hookie on a sunny day when your coworkers drive by your house. Sigh.
28. Patients’ families feed you more in the South. Bring on the homemade nanner puddin (banana pudding) for all the nurses!
29. Women are seen in a different light down South. While male nurses are more chivalrous when it comes to thinks like doing the heavy lifting, doctors tend to be more condescending to their female counterparts.
30. Cafeteria food is way better down South! Can I get an amen?!
So over the years I’ve seen many areas where the two locations vary, and while there’s pros and cons to each, there are also many similarities.
Nurses, regardless of geographical location, for the most part love what they do. They all carry a sense of pride for themselves, their hospital, and the medical field as a whole.
In both the North and South I’ve never served/worked with such loyal professionals who are dedicated to perform their job to the best of their ability. Well, except maybe for a burned-out grump here and there, but that is universal to the field, not just a specific location.
But overall I’ve never met men and women who are more suited for the job to which they were called. So whether they root vigorously for their favorite sport team, or are slow to speak to a stranger, they all bleed the blue blood of a nurse through and through.
So what differences have you noticed? Tell me about them.
Jan Liu says
When working nights in Austin, I was asked if I wanted gravy with my fries! That was a new one for me!
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Lol. There’s all kinds of fine cuisine in this wonderful country!
Bonnie White says
In Central Illinois the Doctors gave the nurses more respect than here in the South. They asked your opinions about their patients. When I moved south it was an adjustment working with some of the doctors but the patients and co workers were wonderful except the occasional grouch as in any environment. A few of the doctors my husband grew up with so I would remind them of that and it helped because at first they would look at me..this stranger Yankee. hahaha I am retired now but nursing was and is my passion even with it’s difficulties and yes I have back problems. Retied because of a brain tumor which is now gone due to a miracle but it left scarring and had to leave because of memory problems.
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you for commenting and sharing. God bless you!
Dee Yuknavich says
I have lived and worked in the south since 1985 and prior to that I was educated in the north (Philadelphia, Pa), worked there and did a 5 year stint in the Air Force. Can’t talk for your experiences, but I have been treated more respectfully by the physicians in the south. I also share opinions/suggestions with many physicians. And many physicians have been educated in the north. When I worked in Phila the nurses and doctors were on first name basis. I was young and thought that was cool…but down here the docs call me by my first name and I refer to them as Dr so n so out of respect. After all they worked for that title..Also think it looks more professional in a “professional” setting. so that makes me happy!! Only a few docs have ever talked down to me and I think that goes for both locales…Have never discussed politics with my patients but this goes whether your state is red or blue…As for football–LOVE it…I wouldn’t mind if a patient called me Hon and I would only call a patient Honey if they were very old or sick and wanted to speak sweetly. I have seen male physicians rush to assist female nurses in picking up a patient who fell. Are there stats concerning the heart disease in the south vs the north? Regarding food –well lately I’ve seen a big healthy push in hospitals.
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thanks for commenting. My post was more for fun than anything, but thanks for addressing so many of my points in your comment. Sorry, no statistics for you at the time. My posts are based on personal experience rather than specific data. Thanks again.
Victoria says
I’ve been in hospitals in north and south and I’ve noticed that the south nurses are more compassionate, caring, then northern or western nurses. I would also say, southern nurses are smarter then some of the doctors they work under. (although the southern doctor wouldn’t admit it.)
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thanks for the comment Victoria. I love the last part especially.
ruthiespage says
Loved this post and loved working in the South!
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you.
Val says
I started my nursing career in Central PA at a large teaching hospital . It was an awesome place to start. You worked, you worked fast, and you were expected to be on point because not only were you teaching patients, but residents as well. Then I moved to the outer banks of NC and worked at a small community hospital. The 1st 6 mos I kept asking myself, “What did I do??” It was like I stepped back in time & half expected Dr. Marcus Welby to stroll I any minute. The first day I was sitting at the desk & finishing up some charting just in time for the Dr ‘s to start rounds & the charge nurse was like, “You need to move, that is where the Dr sits.” I looked around at the 10 other empty seats & thought not today it’s not. Thus began my rocky road to nursing in the south. A little later on I had to call one of the surgeons in the middle of the night for more orders because 1 of his pts wasn’t doing well & I told him what was going on, what I had already done, and what I would like. His response to me was, “Who do you think you are to call me and make suggestions & tell me what you want?” Um, the RN who has been at your pt’s bedside for hours now…that’s who. Yep, he went to my boss the next morning & wanted me fired for being too sassy. That didn’t happen, and after 7 years & a lot of kicking & screaming, mostly on the surgeons part, the culture changed. I changed as well. I learned to slow it down a lil bit, everyone was a friend even if you just met, and you do attract more bees with honey than vinegar. I moved back to Central PA for 2 years then & worked at an even bigger teaching university hospital. It was exciting, invigorating, but surprisingly I missed the friendliness of my small hospital where if you didn’t smile & say hi to everyone you passed then certainly your mama, daddy, granny, or best hunting dog died. I made the mistake of saying hello to everyone on my way into work my 1st day & boy I got some strange looks like I must be an escapee from the nuthouse. I eventually found my niche & group of friends & reignited my passion for nursing. However, I missed my beach, my house, my simpler routine & packed up & hightailed it back to my small community hospital down south. Yes, I see my patients & their families at Walmart & the grocery store, and my boss lives just down the road from me, so there is no escaping from being a nurse, but I also know I have a whole community of friends. I also know that regardless if where you practice, nurses are the same, they are passionate, compassionate, selfless, professionals.
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thanks so much for sharing. I enjoyed your comment.
Sharyn Shepherd says
11. Most Southern nurses are unfamiliar with the words “sign-on bonus.”
This has NOT been my experience.
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
That’s wonderful!
Miranda says
This made me smile…some are spot on and some I haven’t encountered. I’m southern-born, raised, and employed at a small community hospital. I have definitely encountered the rude doctors that were in fact older and very particular and sensitive to asking questions or suggestions…but I’m so glad to say, there were only a few. Many of the doctors and hospitalists are so great. They buy us lunch from time to time, and when there are a few minutes to spare…they turn into friends and ask about our kids and share stories about other situations. I can see pros and cons to both. I would probably be lost and miserable at a big teaching hospital to start…and probably a nurse from a hospital up north would feel the same down here to start. It’s just what and where you start that you get comfortable and use to.
Michelle C. says
Ok, I worked in the northeast for 12 years in an ED and then almost one year in a southern ED. Most of what you said I saw was true but the biggest difference is the respect. Doctors and PA’s have no respect for nurses in the south. Why is that?
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
I wish I knew…