[nurseinlimbo]

I don't think it really has anything to do with age or experience, I have seen very good rns from medical and surgical floors go to a less fast paced floor where there wasn't as much "technical" stuff going on, and they will get harassed out the door. It is more to do with the gang mentality, cliques, and nurses who are insecure about their knowledge and feel threatened by someone coming in who might have more experience or new ideas.
This is why I work alone. I don't fight with myself.... at least I can speak quietly to the voices LOL.

[pooh54]

Unfortunately, bullying comes in many forms and from many sources. We do not have to put up with this but continue to do so. Amen to the writer that said stop the research, DO something about it!!

[lihuizws]

so is it in China.
let's fight out.

[madwife2002]

Doctors in my hospital are the worse bullies in the world. I have never met such arrogant, rude doctors. They are constantly shouting and snapping at the nursing staff, they hardly ever talk to the nursing staff unless it is to complain.

[Recuerdo]

The only way to stop this is to create work cultures where a very clear message is given that bullying behavior is totally unacceptable.

The best way to do that is to stop them in their tracks. Confront them and make them aware of your behavior and show them that you will not tolerate it. Walk away and let them know you won't be talking to them again until they can be civil.

And then, there must be a management that backs you up. And everyone must have the same attitude...no exceptions.

Nurses bully other nurses.

Corrective action should be delivered to them in no uncertain terms.

[pinoy_guy]

Originally Posted by Recuerdo

The only way to stop this is to create work cultures where a very clear message is given that bullying behavior is totally unacceptable.

I agree.

Originally Posted by Recuerdo

And then, there must be a management that backs you up. And everyone must have the same attitude...no exceptions.

now this is the crux of my problem.

the bullies in my department suck up to the department head.

I have talked to the management before, but I learned that some people can lie with a straight face, and turn the story around so that you're always wrong.

I leave everything up to Karma now.

[Recuerdo]

Pinoy guy,

I just left a unit because of bullying and a few other problems and that was exactly the situation. The manager was a good person but certain ones always told her what to do and she listened.

She ended up quitting and then I changed to another unit.

The new unit is a bit better but the stuff still goes on to a degree.

There is an anger in the air...a sort of negativity sometimes. It's sad. I work part time and I do not try to let it get to me and I focus on the work. I try to be helpful and kind to everyone. I try.

I also try not to let anybody **** me off or hurt me.

But sometimes that is like trying to ignore a watermelon up your butt.

Excuse the analogy but I thought it was a good one, lol.

[annmariern]

Higher and higher acuity levels, too little and accountable support staff, more and more documentation requirements, more and more, not understandably demanding pts. Im not talking the ones who think its a hotel, but who are mad their loved ones have been calling for an hour to pee and the another hour lying in a wet bed. And its our fault satisfaction scores are down. We work long hours, like dogs at my place anyway. Of course we are not at our best. There is a "dog eat dog" mentality that ive seen growing. The nurse that busts her butt gets the group from hell because shes a "strong" nurse. The screw off. Well she leaves on time and they accommodate her for being such. It breeds a bad atmosphere in general. Instead of fighting each other it would be so refreshing to see us stick together.

[Recuerdo]

I think that the advent of corporate consultation and intervention in hospitals is very largely responsible for the insanity.

I'm one of the ones who has been around a third of a century and when I graduated in 1974, nursing was a whole different world than it is now.

And it was a much better world.

"Clinical Managers" were called Head Nurses and they wore a uniform and worked on the floor along with you when necessary. They did not dance around you if you had a problem that needed to be addressed...you were told, and then helped to fix it. They also knew what you did, every day.

When the phone rang off the hook with ridiculous calls, you didn't always handle them with "service excellence".....I remember once, my Head Nurse in ICU took one of those and told somebody, "Look, this is an Intensive Care Unit, not a Lonely Hearts Club". Well said and to the point.

The Walmart-like motto, "the customer is always right", simply does not work in medicine or nursing. Yes, the "customer" should be heard...but often he is wrong, because of denial, fear, ignorance, or whatever the case may be...and it used to be our job to help them through it, not support the denial in the name of corporate competition.

Our hospital says "Win every patient every day". What kind of crazy nonsense is that? So you let the alcoholic have a few more pints of vodka and tell the visitor that yeah, it's okay to bring in some more cocaine for the 27 yr old with tachycardia or a dinner from Burger King for the patient with CHF? Well, if it makes them happy and you "win" them, don't bloody well argue.

And so what if the visitor is freaking out due to the patient's condition? You CAN'T kick him out of the room and violate his civil rights. Better to let him continue to argue with his wife who cannot even breathe, let alone talk.......until she has chest pain.

This is the environment we work in.

We are not evaluated on our ability to handle a code...to address a crisis...to intervene when there is sepsis, hemmorhage, ileus, or the like.

We're there to kiss the right butts.

And the hospitals we work in are so unsafe that we'd be afraid to go there as patients.

That is what corporate input has done for medicine and nursing.

I am in favor of a single-payer universal health care system.

It takes away so many of the sick, profit-driven and competition-based agendas which have NO PLACE in medicine OR nursing.

I hope I live to see the day.

Nurses are insecure and they bully each other because they do not know their own value or the seriousness of what they do...and that's JUST FINE with most hospital managements, because if they DID know it, they'd be dangerous to the sick system that brings profit to people who have never cared for a sick person in their lives.

This MUST end. The sooner, the better.

[StudentNurseBean]

Why does everyone put up with it? It's abuse. Would you let your family members, lover/partner or friends treat you this way? There is always a diplomatic, mature way to handle things. You have to know how to use your wording and like many have said, walk away after the fact.

Are people afraid they are going to get fired if they stand up for themselves? If this is the case, what about the union protecting them? just curious.