What kills me..... (VENT)!!!

[shoegalRN]

I'm sorry but this will be a vent. After working 13+ busy shift in the ER, I come home to log on to here and it simply kills me that NON-nurses (including those in nursing school, or taking pre-reqs, or those who have not even graduated from high school yet!) comes on here and think they know what it's like to really be a nurse.

Oh really????

All the "I will never be that kind of nurse" threads, but never spent one HOUR in our Dansko's......

And the kicker? Telling how you will "handle a doctor when calling one", when yet, you have not had to actually deal with a doctor regarding direct PATIENT CARE!

The superior-know-it-all-attitude simply kills me!

All I can say is when SOME of you actually get into a nursing program, get through the nursing program, pass boards, be lucky enough to actually land a RN job, and then start WORKING as a licensed RN, I sure hope you are TEACHABLE! Because I can only imagine how your orientation will go, because it's simply not easy to teach people who already know it all or got all the answers, without really knowing what they don't know! And then we'll get flooded with threads about how nurses eat their young!

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

Boy, ya'll are serious about this spelling and grammar thing. Honest question, does your browser have spell check, because I don't see it on mine. I'm still trying to remember not to post with my lazy typing and English. If it's not writing for school, work, or(formal and informal) correspondence I do not think about using it. I slowly getting there though.

Lol, this is completely off topic, but I don't believe most browsers have a spell check, although when you create a post, there is a spell check tool there. I recently got Windows 7 OS, and it spell checks anything and everything no matter where I am typing it. It's really cool.

ETA: Actually, there's not a spell check tool! My mistake...

[Lucky0220]

Boy, ya'll are serious about this spelling and grammar thing. Honest question, does your browser have spell check, because I don't see it on mine. I'm still trying to remember not to post with my lazy typing and English. If it's not writing for school, work, or(formal and informal) correspondence I do not think about using it. I slowly getting there though.

Someone posted this website: http://www.iespell.com/

I only looked at it briefly, but you might want to check it out.

[jmolinaRN]

Hmmm OK, I think I understand how most people feel when they say experienced nurses eat their young.

I am still considerably new in the hospital I am working for. When I sprung fresh from training and orientation and into the real McCoy, I was paired up with two seniors and we were faced with a calamity, typhoon Ketsana from 2009 just ravished our area and left many people cramming in the hospital. For the next 3 weeks, I was working double shifts getting yelled at all the time by my senior nurses and those I would be endorsing to because of my mistakes.

I cried a lot and I swear I would resign and just live a simple life, I have never felt so worthless in my life, it was worse than having a breakup. I don't know how I survived, I got transferred to another unit without having the chance to reconcile with those nurses who were being harsh to me and seriously, I hated them for it. I still struggled in the new unit but I noticed that I was beginning to work at my own pace and was having little problems than the first area.

A month ago, the nursing department made some serious changes, almost all senior nurses were shuffled. I was... left as one of the most seniors in the new area, I was retained (6 months in the floor, seriously), that said, my head nurse relied on me to keep our floor intact from the new comers. And guess who were the new comers? The ancient nurses from the first unit I worked on. At times I wanted to avenge myself, these ancient nurses are really having a hard time hitting the vein on peds and I got really good at it, so in a way, they needed my help this time. But you guys know what? These people who were eating me alive made me strive harder and now, they respect me a lot in the area. I still learn new things from them every day and I also get to save their necks once in a while when they miss something. I'm in a good working relationship with them now.

Bottom line is, new nurses will really have to adjust, get used to the culture of the unit and try to be a contributor in your own right. You cannot beat or hope to take vengeance on the older, more experienced nurses, because in the end, they are looking out for you and in some point, there will be a big challenge coming your way that these older nurses have gone through and learned from in their past. :)

[PatMac10,RN, RN]

You know what. I just downloaded the Mozilla browser for one of my online classes and it has that feature on it, but you have to enable it for continuous use. I will just have to remember to connect to the internet through Mozilla as opposed to Internet Explorer, which I have always used. Lolz!!! OK, now back to the topic at hand.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Is the general consensus that the nurse wannabes, students, etc. should refrain from posting on the general nurses forums and stay in the pre-nursing/student forums?

If so, please excuse my faux pas... I've found this forum to be a wealth of knowledge in my research into this profession. I'm a jump right in kind of person so I've added my opinions often.

Some time back, I posted an astonishingly insightful and rather witty observation which referred in a not-unflattering way to a co-worker's "hooters."

It turns out, not all of my fellow members were entirely amused. I guess you could say I got flamed, but as the entire interaction occured via the Internet, I suffered no actual burns. I lived through it, although I will admit that I am less inclined to mention hooters in subsequent posts.

I haven't recently looked at the ToS, but as best I recall, there is no rule that explicitly forbids stupidity. I take that to mean you can post what you like, where you like. If it turns out to be stupid, or even if some respondents think it's stupid, that's no reason to commit suicide, or even to stop posting.

[liberty_bell]

To the OP. If this site is giving you more anxiety then maybe you shoudn't post or read. Seems like all it does is give you more grief. It's an internet forum and anyone can post who wants to. Don't post if it bothers you this much.

[Moogie]

Some time back, I posted an astonishingly insightful and rather witty observation which referred in a not-unflattering way to a co-worker's "hooters."

It turns out, not all of my fellow members were entirely amused. I guess you could say I got flamed, but as the entire interaction occured via the Internet, I suffered no actual burns. I lived through it, although I will admit that I am less inclined to mention hooters in subsequent posts.

I haven't recently looked at the ToS, but as best I recall, there is no rule that explicitly forbids stupidity. I take that to mean you can post what you like, where you like. If it turns out to be stupid, or even if some respondents think it's stupid, that's no reason to commit suicide, or even to stop posting.

Why would you be afraid to talk about owls on these boards?

Sorry. Could. Not. Resist.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

My only problem with the whole "nurses eat their young" phrase is this:

The nurses who eat the young fresh fish are not just galloping around the unit seeking new nurses, nibbling on their arms then going back to business as usual with their "experienced nurse" co-workers. If the phrase was......"nurses eat nurses" or something I'd be OK with it. Truth is, the nurses who eat the young, and yes they do exist, eat EVERYONE. They are also writting up their co-workers over every little nothingness they can make up. They are also the ones who never help but always rant about not getting help, get out late every day but cry about everyone else milking their duties, so on so forth.

In short, nasty nurses are just nasty nurses. There is no conspiracy to target GNs. You just are important enough to be conspired against.....sorry.

[Fribblet]

I was not eaten when I was a fresh new grad. I did witness a couple GNs getting "eaten," but they were either know-it-all, unteachable types, or GNs who were making frighteningly stupid mistakes. My unit is relatively supportive and welcoming of GNs. You will get told when you mess up, but you won't get criticized if you ask.

So, sometimes it's the nurse; sometimes it's "the young."

[anonymurse]

I think those of us who are experienced often forget what it's like to be a student.

Oh, I remember, all right. The way nursing students fink each other out to faculty, reserving their most venomous attacks for the weakest, it's amazing they can complain that "nurses eat their young" with a straight face.

[Fribblet]

I think those students happen to be the same ones who think they're getting "yelled" at while working because they are "too beautiful;" never realizing their own shortcomings.

[Moogie]

Oh, I remember, all right. The way nursing students fink each other out to faculty, reserving their most venomous attacks for the weakest, it's amazing they can complain that "nurses eat their young" with a straight face.

Sometimes the students "fink out" the faculty. When I was a CI, one lovely student would go to another faculty member---a colleague, not someone who was officially in charge of me or of the course---and tell her everything she thought I did wrong. She was nice to my face and stabbed me in the back. I would have much rather she handled her criticism in a constructive way and told me or someone who could do something constructive and give me some feedback. When I found out what she was doing I was blindsided. But---get this----if I was so horrible why did she sign up for me as her instructor her second semester???

Mean students become mean nurses. I have a feeling that this individual probably barbecues every new graduate or student that crosses her path. She should be a nurse now---if she finished the program and passed NCLEX. And I'm sure she is continuing to spread her toxicity wherever she goes.