[mercy204]

Absolutely!!! Are there any other grad out there from the University of Pittsburgh? That place is the worst!!!

[Diahni]

Originally Posted by mercy204

Absolutely!!! Are there any other grad out there from the University of Pittsburgh? That place is the worst!!!

We should have a contest to see whose school was the worst. It pains me that the treatment of students at a particular nursing school doesn't really affect the reputation of the school. I went to Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The students there are treated like very bad children. God forbid you have to go to the bathroom during a lecture, and one has to get used to being verbally abused in front of doctors, nurses and patients. If you do complain, you are blacklisted. Some students just sucked it up. Some grumbled endlessly amongst themselves, and some, like myself, bailed. Excelsior College was a God send for me.
Diahni

[NurseCon50]

"Unfortunately, people like to generalize. What I haven't figured out yet is why it is only nursing that gets the bad rap when employees in other fields act in the same manner and have nothing said about it... "

I know that it happens in other fields,, but as professional nurses we should take care of each other .. it should be an unspoken rule that we raise our young well... Nursing is more than just a career.( just my opinion)

[nanacarol]

I understand the concept of it b eing a two-way street, but I have to ask, when some one comes to your home, whether invited or not, do you inquire of them their reason for being there or do you ask their purpose? Yes, students could come in and immediately engage staff, but the greater reality and ownership, lies with us, the employees. We would better serve a feeling of collegiality if we greeted the newcomers, if we asked if we could "serve them" (new concept, huh)? We are to be role models, we are at our home posts and should set a welcoming feel and attitude. Of course there will be many who disagree with me, that's okay, doesn't change a thing. As the home team on the home court we have the edge and could/should be gracious. nanacarol

[CookieCritter]

Originally Posted by nanacarol

I understand the concept of it b eing a two-way street, but I have to ask, when some one comes to your home, whether invited or not, do you inquire of them their reason for being there or do you ask their purpose? Yes, students could come in and immediately engage staff, but the greater reality and ownership, lies with us, the employees. We would better serve a feeling of collegiality if we greeted the newcomers, if we asked if we could "serve them" (new concept, huh)? We are to be role models, we are at our home posts and should set a welcoming feel and attitude. Of course there will be many who disagree with me, that's okay, doesn't change a thing. As the home team on the home court we have the edge and could/should be gracious. nanacarol

I have to agree Nana that an already established RN should be the one to say hello first and that sort of thing. Most students are terrified and intimidated and overwhelmed.

Basic etiquette in every day social life says that the host opens the door and welcomes the guest FIRST why do nurses expect for that to be different at work?

That being said students should be equally gracious and reciprocate the kindness if they are reached out too and not take advantage of a kind nurse mentoring them.

Setting the tone is important for so goes the oak so goes the twig. Much how we raise children to be a certain way we also "raise" new employees and that is in any field. If we act crappy to another human being we can expect to pay the piper for what goes around comes around.

That new student who was mistreated may one day indeed end up the Director of Nursing or the primary nurse to a now bedridden former nurse in an LTC. For those who want to flame me they may. It is a older, experienced nurse who bought this up to me when I was still doing my pre- reqs when I was hesitant to ask questions about her career. She said "I am always nice to students, only a fool would be cruel to those who will not only allow them to retire but may one day be taking care of them."

[nanacarol]

I keep that in the forefront of my mind daily!!! I want to have left a good impression, I want to have "trained" this new nurse to care for patients as I do and as I want to be cared for when the time comes. And it will come, believe me. I have had several surgeries and I thank God that I had a positive account with sharing and serving before the event, I was REALLY, Really cared for righteously. Imagine this: this new nurse or student nurse had come to my unit and I was less than helpful or engaging and encouraging, I failed to show them compassion, I took the "root little kid or die" approach, my goodness, what a nightmare. Thanks for the word of encouragment.

[BradleyRN]

75% say yes!?! I guess that says it all right there. There is an abyss of information for nurses to learn, so it will be hard to find a truly adequately trained nurse straight out of school. Obviously, too many nurses forget where they came from. We are all green sometime and a nurse that gives a new nurse a hard time or offers no assistance, probably doesnt do very well with patients either. On the other hand, if a new nurse doesnt feel adequately prepared to take patients after his/her training, then he/she should ask their manager for a few more weeks. It will never be long enough, so older nurses (if they have the best interests of the patients at heart) should be willing to teach!

[nerdtonurse?]

The question isn't "do nurses eat their young" it should be "do nurses eat their young more than other professions?" Let me give you an example from my pre-nurse "nerd" days. New hire, fresh out of school; first day, he's telling the boss all the things we're doing wrong -- wrong servers, wrong databases, wrong networking methodology. Never stopped to think (or ask) if we were constrained by upper management to use specifically what we're using. And the fact that the CIO's wife worked for IBM pretty much explained why we were NEVER going to get anything else. When this is pointed out to him, he proceeds to tell everybody that he's going to change that. Uh-huh.

Wonder boy then proceeds to start sabotaging his co-workers -- about day 3 of being hired, including putting his name on a presentation his mentor had been working on for 2 months. We all decided mister marvelous had to go at that point. We super glued the buttons on his mouse, we pointed his computer access to the test boxes only, we made the text on his computer "white" text on a "white" background. We locked out his internet access to all but porn sites, and we jury rigged his computer so that when he was playing solitaire (the only thing we could ever see he was any good at) a text box popped up on the boss's PC, saying "Wonder Boy's playing games again!" with a mini window of his PC, showing him playing the game. We stayed late and worked offdays to come up with ways to torment this guy enough for him to leave (Mister wonderful was the son of a friend of the boss, so he was NEVER going to get fired). When he came in and we'd taken all the power cords from PC/Monitor/etc., from his cube, he finally got the hint and quit. This was a guy who just worked on telephone company billing records (supposedly). No lives were at stake.

I'm still a newbie, and I'm busting my hump to prove myself everyday. I listen to EVERY piece of advice, ask questions before I try something I've never done before, and always make sure I'm on the "butter" side if I'm helping one of the CNA's bathe a combative or comatose patient. If I get caught up, I ask the person with the more acute patients if they need any help. Most seem to like me, a couple don't, and some are still witholding judgement. If I was the nursing equivalent of "mister wonderful" I have no doubt that my days would be markedly different.

[foxc1121]

I replied to this thread before as a newbie, newbie = If that makes sense. At first I said yes, yes nurses do eat their young!!! Now I realize after having been a nurse for almost one year nurses eat nurses. I think that because we are a female dominated field most nurses are catty, most nurses will report you in a heart beat if you are not doing your job or accidentially miss something. I can only speak for my experience. I have no male nurses on my floor. Most of the female nurses that I work with will stab you in the back in a heart beat if only to get in management's good graces. Everyone can disagree if they want, I am only speaking from my experience and this is not only in nursing. The young eat their young in almost every single profession if it means them getting ahead and getting into management's good graces.

[nanacarol]

Both stories are sad. Sad because they express a very poor picture of a profession that tauts itself as a "helping profession". How can we maintain the level of trust the public places in us if we abuse members of the public? Yes, each nurse is a member of the public, yes you are misrepresenting your self when you don't know how to be helpful or to accept help, when you would rather rat a peer out just to look good or when you can't come along side of an insecure new peer when the behavior being displayed is inappropriate and does not represent the group well. Is it really that important to be recognized, evidently, ones peers were aware that someone else prepared the presentation and if the people at the staff level were aware of the plagiarism, trust me management was aware. Bringing oneself to the level of the newbie sa ys very little about the maturity of the group. Forgive me, I don't want to be judgmental, the truth is the truth. Taking the high road is always an option for someone to take, why not the unit nurse? Including the negative behaviors of other groups is not a justification for nurses to "eat their young or to do any of the other negative actions that some take. Nanacarol