[janetjanetbobanet]

I agree families and sometimes patients can be the biggest bullies, but management does a lot, too. We don't put up with doctor bullying the way we used to. And there are coworker bullies in every field.

[Kati2005]

I have to say that nurses can sometimes be the biggest bullies out there. There was one nurse that I use to work with that would go behind me and check all of my flowsheets and charting. She wasn't auditing and she wasn't my preceptor. She had no business going behind my back to look at my work. She called me lazy numerous times in front of other nurses even though I never took a break the majority of the time I was at that job. I went home crying a few times and then one day I yelled at her and from then on she left me alone.

I haven't had any doctors bully me and I'd like to see them try. If a family has a problem with me, I refer them to management. I am confident in my work and the care I provide my patients but I will not bend to any family's crazy demands.

[ocankhe]

In my four decades in this field, I have to say MDs first followed by RNs, (most management types are RNs). Although the MD bullying part has been decreasing during the last few years it is still prevalent. The only people that can stop the bullying are those who allow it to happen, those being bullied.

[traumahawk99]

nursing is an unhappy business. as a nurse, you are where the rubber meets the road, and it will always be a tough job. any mistake, no matter who made it, is always your problem.

people are supposed to live forever, and anything that happens may be followed by the blame game. it sucks to be the one caught holding the bag when the music stops.

i work nights, so i deal with physicians who don't want to be called. i've had doctors give me outrageously detailed orders simply because they were mad that i called them in the night. i've had them get angry when i try to repeat orders.

staffing at night runs a lot thinner, and you will have some morning nurses try to beat you up on report if everything isn't perfect.

families think their relative is your only priority, and they tend to take out their frustrations with the health care system on you.

it's a very tough job.

[pinoy_guy]

Originally Posted by Kati2005

There was one nurse that I use to work with that would go behind me and check all of my flowsheets and charting. She wasn't auditing and she wasn't my preceptor. She had no business going behind my back to look at my work. She called me lazy numerous times in front of other nurses even though I never took a break the majority of the time I was at that job.

I have a coworker who's like this.

she even announced to the other nurses at the station that the EKG leads on one of my patients were in the wrong position, and that she had to put new EKG leads on my patient.

that patient had been taking off his EKG leads and bp cuff--something Nosey Posey "forgot" to announce to the other nurses.

I'm curious how Nosey Posey does her job--she spends so much time chatting and meddling that I doubt she's doing a good job with her own patients.

but she knows how to suck up, and now officially "audits" the charts of her coworkers.

says a lot about the current state of healthcare, at least where I work.

[multicollinearity]

Question from a student: Do you all think teaching hospitals tend to have environments less conducive to bullying behavior?

[DutchgirlRN]

Originally Posted by Anxious Patient

I expected to read that patients were the culprits, but instead it said physicians were the most abusive,...followed by fellow nurses.

I saw a story on this very subject this morning on GMA. They described the nurse who bullies other nurses and it described exactly a nurse that I work with. Management has called her into the office several times for her behavior. The items that stick in my mind are that the bully puts down the other nurses job as being easy, insignificant. Talks about them behind their back. Blasts them for something that is not their business. This particular nurse fits the bill to a T.

[StudentNurseBean]

I'm a new graduate and the THIRD and final month of my orientation on the floor and only one day, I experienced a nurse "eating her young". It was the MOST HORRIFIC day I had during orientation. I made so many mistakes that day, she gave me absolutely no direction and huffed and puffed whenever I asked a question, (as if I should have known by then). I caught her talking behind my back to another nurse at the nurses station and she gave me absolutely no positive feedback that day and only hounded me about everything I didn't do, or did wrong. I won't ever forget her.

I didn't experience any problems with the doctors and quite honestly, most of them went the extra mile to help me and show me things I didn't know.

Of course I know I'm a new grad without a lot of experience.

[StudentNurseBean]

Originally Posted by multicollinearity

Question from a student: Do you all think teaching hospitals tend to have environments less conducive to bullying behavior?

No. In my clinicals during school, some of the back stabbing and abuse was the worst I've experienced yet.

[Kati2005]

During nursing school, nursing students were the worst bullies. The second years thought the first years students were stupid. People picked on each other. During a lesson one day, we were playing a game and some 20-something student snapped quite loudly at a 40-something student in front of the entire class. The instructor went off on the 20-something. One of the older students told me that I couldn't sit at a particular seat. Students who thought they knew everything constantly interrupting the class. There were more days where I just wanted to scream at those students to shut the **** up. I hated nursing school. Instead of helping each other, we were hindering each other.