[HHNDON]

Why is it that at times, especially in the hospital, nurses tend to eat the young? I mean, when I first started working at the hospital it seemed that you would get no help from more experienced nurses. For instance when I was on night shift I may ask a question about a skill i had not had much experience with (ie wound vac) and instead of answering me they would ignore me and walk away. It happened many times.

[PANurseRN1]

Brother. Here we go again. (And again, and again, and again...)

[CIRQL8]

I think that it all stems from insecurity.

Let it roll like water off a duck's back, and don't act that way yourself.

[Mimi Wheeze]

I am so sick of hearing the phrase "nurses who eat their young." It's so overly dramatic. Most professions or places of employment have un-agreeable employees lurking about. They aren't going to "eat" you, just annoy you.

That said, I'm a brand new grad nurse. I'm 38 years old and work on an extremely busy med-surg unit. Nobody has tried to eat me yet.
There are some nurses with p*ss-poor attitudes, just like anywhere else. The only time I see seasoned nurses be not so helpful is when a younger or newer nurse acts like an unprofessional nit-wit.

Most younger nurses are great, and I respect them for making through nursing school at a young age. They try to adapt and act professionally at all times. But for some others, it's time to grow up. The hospital and these nurses were not put on earth to accomodate them. Learn to adapt, act professional and mature, and utilize those critical thinking skills you worked so hard for.

And please, for the love of Pete, stop saying that "eat their young" crap. I can't take it anymore.

[PANurseRN1]

I agree, Mimi. It's nauseating.

[BSNDec06]

A lot of us just coming out of school have very little experience with skills (I have only put in one feeding tube, and it was on a baby). I think that a lot of more experienced nurses are understandably frustrated by the fact that our programs did not spend enough time giving us the chance to perform these skills while we were still a student. Many are not interested in teaching or precepting, but they have this responsibility dumped on them anyways.

I think that the solution would be for schools to offer a full-time 3-6 month unpaid post-graduate internship to GNs where they are guaranteed one-on-one time with a qualified preceptor in their chosen area of specialty. They could even offer credits towards a BSN or MSN in exchange for this time.

Most nursing programs in my area have 6-10 student per instructor, and this results in poor clinical experiences. There were certainly times when I felt like I had to fight for my instructor's attention. By contrast, all of my clinical hours as a Clinical Laboratory Science student were one-on-one. (The same is true for pharmacy and dietetics). My mother (dietitian) and sister (pharmacist) each had one-year internships as part of their programs, and they paid tuition for them! However, they came out of school knowing how to do their jobs for the most part.

If we were better trained in school, we would not come out of our programs with so little practical knowledge, and we would not have to annoy our co-workers with endless questions.

[clee1]

Originally Posted by BSNDec06

If we were better trained in school, we would not come out of our programs with so little practical knowledge, and we would not have to annoy our co-workers with endless questions.

Apparently unknowingly..... you have arrived at the crux of the issue w/o even realizing it.

Several decades ago, the Nursing Profession turned over the training of "newbies" to the Education establishment. Instead of what used to be a type of structured apprenticeship program that turned out qualified caregivers, we now have scads of new "nurses" that can write one heck of a care plan and can quote NANDA dx's in their sleep, but don't have a clue how to drop a NG tube or start an IV w/o a dozen sticks and 50ml of blood on the bed.

Add to that the "quality" of most current nursing schools, as well as the droves of experienced nurses leaving bedside practice, and you will quickly realize that this problem is only going to get MUCH worse.

[tattooednursie]

I really hope that doesnt happen to me. I graduate LVN school this summer. I've worked in the same place for almost 5 years, and I'll probably continue there. They know me very well, and so far most of the nurses have been very supportive and more than willing to teach me skills. I have noticed as a nursing student there are nurses who seem to despise students, but there are really good ones too.

[SCRN1]

Oh no! Not another "eat their young" post! I'm sick of hearing this too.

It's never happened to me and I've never seen it happen to anyone else. Has anyone who's ever felt like they were being ignored was because the nurse they were asking something to was extremely busy her/himself at the time and it was nothing personal to the "young nurse"?

[PANurseRN1]

Originally Posted by SCRN1

Oh no! Not another "eat their young" post! I'm sick of hearing this too.

It's never happened to me and I've never seen it happen to anyone else. Has anyone who's ever felt like they were being ignored was because the nurse they were asking something to was extremely busy her/himself at the time and it was nothing personal to the "young nurse"?

I really wish all these hating-on-seasoned-nurses threads could be consolidated into a sticked "General Rant Against Preceptors/Experienced Nurses." Kind of like what was done with the multiple "BSN v ADN/Diploma Nurses."