RN's are perfect human beings, aren't we? - Page 3

I am pretty sure I will be ripped to shreds for this, but here goes..... I am a male that has recently become an RN. Prior to this I worked in male dominated, mostly manual labor jobs. The biggest difference I noticed within the hospital setting is women don't like each other. They pick out a couple they get along with, but they swap them out over time like nursing shoes. They feel as long as negative attention is on someone else life is grand. They very rarely band together. It is much easier to just throw one to the wolves now and then. There is not a week goes by that some nurse is trying to get me to side with her against another nurse. Rarely does it even have anything to do with work. Mostly it is jealousy. I have been told it is the same in every female dominated workplace.

Ok let me have it. I can take it.

I don't disagree with your statement at all. It's a shame so many people resort to childish behavior. It's never about correcting a situation, it's about pointing blame on others to help oneself. Luckily I had coworkers that weren't like that. Management however was a bit less kind (accused me of stuff, used intimidation tactics, etc.)

They made situations a million times harder than they ever had to be.

very well said and very cathartic

When I was in school I said I would bring camaraderie to nursing. So, when I found myself picked on I felt so let down. I think it is such a global problem in nursing that it is going to take a decisive effort by all us newer nurses that care about making this a more tolerant, less judgmental profession.

Wouldn't it be great if we wore a perhaps a pin, ribbon or a wristband that showed our commitment to each other and making a change to our profession. Something that said I am promising to support my peers, not to judge. Something that by wearing it showed that you are making yourself accountable and that others that are like minded would recognize?

I think this is a brilliant Idea

I have also been very disappointed in many of my interactions with coworkers. I have tried to bring a supportive attitude to work with me and have had it vigorously rebuffed. One day I had an easy patient load and had finished all my AM tasks pretty quickly. A nurse in the next station wasnt as lucky. She was buried and had call lights going off non-stop. As I passed one of her rooms a patient who was out of bed to chair asked if I could help him reposition himself. He was S/P cardiac surgery and very obese. I went and helped him to raise up in the chair, he had been sliding down. The nurse came in just as we were getting done and yelled at me in the front of the patient. She said not to touch any of her patients, she could handle her job just fine. In that particular hospital all the nurses were like that. They were terrified that if they accepted help it would mean that they couldnt handle the job. Pride and fear trumped teamwork and patient centered care everytime. I have since taken a job in a prison and I cant believe how much better it is. Prisons are dangerous and as such it really draws the staff together into a real family atmosphere. The knowledge that an inmate may decide to assault staff at anytime creates an environment where you really have to trust your co-workers, because they might be the one to save your skin. It isnt the patient population that I dreamed about in my BSN program, but it is far easier to get through a shift here than on any community hospital I have worked.