why do nurses eat thier young

[futrnurse]

I have been reading the posts on these boards for a while now and I am just wondering why do nurses eat thier young? I wonder if this is something that we are instilled with in nursing school considering how the instructors that I know are continually picking out certain ones to "weed" out. They then deny that there is any "weeding out" going on. I am so glad to be finished and finally an RN and I don't want to treat others any different than I want to be treated.

[amj12]

I feel as though a lot of nurses forget that at one time they were in the same place as us. Even in school, when I would get a real snotty nurse and would say something to my professor she would point blank tell me "she's forgotten she was you 20 yrs ago". We were all there as a new nurse so instead of treating the new nurse the way you were treated 20 yrs ago maybe you should be a little more available and a little more responsive to the questions instead of passing judgement and then talking about the nurse w/the other experienced co workers.

[queenjean]

I disagree that nurses eat their young.

Nursing is a difficult job, and to stay in it for a long time, you have to develop a thick skin. That is different than saying you have to be cold and callous; just that you see people in the worst of the human condition. My job includes all sorts of bodily fluids, watching and sometimes causing pain, and sometimes watching someone die (expectedly or unexpectedly). Babies to grandmas.

My job also requires a certain level of skill and time management abilities.

It takes a while for new nurses to develop this thick skin, to hone their skills, and to appropriately manage their time. Some new nurses to all this sooner than others. Some older nurses expect faster development than others.

Of course there are bad apples in every bunch; but I think a lot of the "nurses eat their young" idea comes from new nurses not understanding older nurses, thinking they are insensitive and cold rather than realizing that they, too, will be like this at some point, and that it is not exactly a bad thing, just a self preservation thing that comes with experience.

It's kind of like the sink or swim thing. I will help a new nurse (or an experienced nurse for that matter) if she is sinking because of an unexpectedly difficult workload; I will not help a new nurse with an average, daily load. She has to learn how to do it. I know more than one new nurse on our unit who has complained about this; but how will she learn otherwise, to manage her time and to get a handle on her duties? She has to learn to swim sometime. This attitude is not me eating my young.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Here is the very lengthy sticky thread on this topic:

Survey: DO "Nurses eat their young"?