Some Notes on Miss Colorado’s ‘I’m Just a Nurse’ Speech

By Amanda Anderson, a critical care nurse and graduate student in New York City currently doing a graduate placement at AJN.

I’m a sucker for beauty pageants. There’s something about the old-fashioned simplicity that fascinates me. While Miss America is, at its roots, a generous scholarship program, it’d be hard for me to say that I tune in for anything other than the sparkle and style.

With that said, I still love a Miss Congeniality angle, which this year’s Miss Colorado seemed to proffer in a much-praised speech. Similar to Sandra Bullock’s character, Gracie Lou Freebush, Kelley Johnson’s nurse-specific monologue was both engaging and educational. But her talent struck a little closer to home—she used the phrase “I’m just a nurse.”

Her two-minute speech won her a second-runner-up prize, as well as millions of hits online. But what did it get us nurses?

Sure, all PR for our profession is great, but the age-old, ubiquitous slur that served as the tagline for much of Ms. Johnson’s monologue makes a lot of us uneasy. Although Ms. Johnson very skillfully ended her monologue by refuting her initial proclamation, the public expression of it deserves a second look.

“Just a nurse” is not a new phrase to our profession; a brief scroll through Tumblr will do more than update the casual viewer. However, most of us steer away from association with the phrase; it discredits, it’s a conversation killer, and it has long been seen as a sarcastic way […]