[nurseratchett29]

Let's face it, we DO eat our young, our old, our middleaged, our male nurses, our female nurses and anyone else. It is the one thing that I have about nursing. I have never been involved in a profession where more backstabbing, selfserving, cut-throat attitude more than nursing. Experienced nurses treat the new grads like peons, New grads treat the experienced nurses like they know everything. With everything we're taught about ethics and legality, we're supposed to "rat" anyone who toes the line and bends the rules. In a day and age where we are working short, working overtime (much of it mandated) and with all the cutbacks from our "beloved" federal government, we should be banding together and supporting eachother and trying to attract new nurses to the field to take the pressure off us. And those who are just getting out of school should respect the experience and battlescars of those of us who have been around a while. Does this sound sickeningly sentitmental? Of course it does!!! But I'm sick and tired of having to constantly fight over pecking order with everyone I work with. That is why I now work in a primary practice where I don't have to deal with the constant backstabbing.

[nehi]

Yes we eat our young, our old, our middle age and our own.
Our profession has been allowed to critisize and hang one another out to dry for far too long. What ever happened to the "sisterhood" of the profession? I'll tell you what has happened to it......attitudes. Instead of love thy neighbor, now it's love thy neighbor's wife. Instead of leisurely weekends it's work your behind off so you can keep things going during the week. We have all developed the attitude of self. We have forgotten why we really starting in nursing and where we came from. You don't get into nursing for the money or the handsome doctors because neither will be there when you retire! We need to start sharing this profession with people, let them know the good in us. God knows the media takes care of the bad. I never realized how inconsiderate and self absorbed we as nurses can be until I started research to start my organization. Can we ever regurgitate our young and start over?

[Fgr8Out]

Time for my 2 cents.

Nurse to nurse rivalry, shift to shift, unit to unit, floor RN to Supervisor. We ARE a competitive bunch.

I've worked 6 years at my current hospital. I transferred to a newly opened Unit, which was being changed from an In Hospital Skilled Nursing Unit to a Med-Surg, caring for lap surgeries, 23 hour observation patients, GYN, Turp, etc....

Most of the staff is comprised of the now displaced Skilled Nursing RNs/LPNs/CNAs and myself... the lone Med-Surg Nurse, completely in my element. I quickly learned that it truly wasn't "ME" being attacked whenever I would come up against another RN questioning my "authority" to comment about proper procedures (apparently there is a BIG difference between Skilled Nursing and Acute Care regulations). Rather, it was insecurity showing it's ugly head, because these RNs were abruptly taken out of their element and placed in a setting they had become unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, it made for a very uncomfortable workplace for me and, I'm sure, for everyone else... as I witnessed similar behavior towards other newcomers to this Unit.

My initial response was to clam up, take the verbal reprimands and talking behind my back, rather than stand up for myself. But it was short lived because I KNEW I had the experience and was in a position to teach my co-workers the new ropes they had been assigned with. Yes, it compounded the situation... but only at first. As I've continued to walk the talk, and provide the very best for my patients, those RNs who were "on the fence" so to speak, have gradually come around and .... we're becoming a TEAM. I can't tell you how GOOD it feels to go to work knowing that the majority of those you work with have the same agenda... Quality patient care.

So, to those of you who find yourselves in the unenviable situation of working with people who dig their heels in against change... people who spend their shift grumbling and bemoaning the injustices they believe are heaped only upon them... people who are just plain unpleasant to be around, take heart. You can exact change... it takes time though. And a lot of patience.

When Nurses become aggressively competitive with each other there are no winners... and the majority of the losers are our Patients.

Peace

[LuAnn Brodigan]

I don't know where this saying originated, but it's time to ditch it. When a new nurse arrives in your care setting, you are bound by your facility's policies to orient him/her to the job. Since all of us are perfectionists, we will try to teach them to be the best nurse they can be. If this involves constructive criticism, it cannot necessarily be termed as "eating our young." Remember when you started, and that old @#$$^&* gal taught you--you may not have liked the approach, but would you thank her now for teaching you the right way? I think so! Since we don't get very many new nurses these days, don't they need to be "molded" to perform at a top-notch level? Doesn't everyone want to perform at a top-notch level?

[micro]

no, unfortunately.....they don't.....
how do you change this.....some can be changed, but some will always be this way.........
I can only be the best nurse and person that I can be..........i am responsible for myself.....and if i can by being me affectuate a change then i will, but my first priority for me on my shift is my nursing ability, supporting the teamwork of the unit/etc and my patients.........try hard to be the three monkeys when it comes to all the mindgames that go on out there.........
thx for listening to my reply

[Nittlebug]

LuAnn - I TOTALLY agree with you ! Even the old rags I worked with as a new grad taught me SO MUCH !

And so I've learned how to take a gentle approach when orientating new grads/students, etc. But I DO get put off real quick when some newbie comes along straight out of school and acts like they don't need help. As if they know everything.

They are the ones who learn by making mistakes, med errors and filing out incident reports.

[moonrose2u]

do nurses eat their young?


yep....and anything else in their way!

[rnoflabor2000]

Wow - that's all I have to say. WOW!


Yes, we have all been there. Hopefully not doing just that. Walking away works when your other coworkers are "backstabbing" someone. If you fight it, you become a "stabbie";if you go with it, you are a "stabber". Just walk away. It may not be a huge statement, but people notice that you are never one of the "stabbers", and that you can be trusted. The reason they are that way is just the environment that we work in. We get little respect from the doctors and tend to think that being "that way" will make you feel better about yourself. We are overworked and underpaid (most of US). And our benefit compensations get smaller and smaller.


Yes, we are all NURSES! And each and every one of us was once new.

[micro]

and the circle of indigestion continues............
but tonight we had a good night.........we have a great unit and a great team.....and we even clowned together in our few spare moments and made spare moments just to clown.....cause we needed to laugh and chill.....it was a blast......can't say more.....as it is on the pic's.....
hehehehehehehhehee
teamwork can be developed and can be very very rewarding and a joyful working/nursing experience........
like me being indoctrinated onto new unit.....
like funny quick pics.........
like.......
like.......
sworn to secrecy.......
like the development of the .........room.......
gotta get some sleep and the choir says amen.....

[mattsmom81]

Originally posted by Nittlebug
LuAnn - I TOTALLY agree with you ! Even the old rags I worked with as a new grad taught me SO MUCH !

On behalf of myself and all the other 'old rags' in nursing, I thank you! (I think)...