lateral violence in nursing school

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Hi I am nursing student and I am sharing my lateral violence story and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I started a nursing program and was bullied by my peers for not being competent enough and having as much medical experience as them. There were eye rolls, smirks, raised eyebrows against me and my weak points were pointed out by my peers during lab. My peers laughed at me and questioned my ability to be a nurse. A girl told me that girls wanted to see me fall on my face. However, I managed to pass my first semester and when I entered my second semester, there were shocked faces at me as if they couldn't believe that I had passed my classes.

However, the bullying just got worse. I was going through a divorce my second semester. Rumors, gossip, laughter at my divorce and lack of competence spread. So called friends pepped me up to stay and yet backstabbed me and refused to work with me when it came time to work on project. I think I was being sabotaged. They stated that they didn't want to help me and that I wasn't competent enough. When I took my leave, I was told that that cohort doesn't help people, no one cared that I was gone, and people walked into the class as if they were survival of the fittest.

Has anyone else experienced lateral violence or bullying in nursing school and cutthroat nursing environments? And how did you deal with it? I'm wondering whether I should go back to that school or not after my leave.

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I'm really sorry you experienced that. I don't believe that is the normal nursing school culture, at least I really hope. I honestly think you made the best decision by withdrawing the semester.

You will meet those people on nursing as well, but the best bet is to ignore them. I'm fortunate to work in a health authority the treats bullying seriously. I would say about 75% of the nurses I've met are incredibly nice and helpful, 24% let you do your thing and kind of ignore you unless you need help, which they will give, and only 1% of what you described, it's not the norm.

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Thank you Castiela, its good to know that nurses who work aren't really like that and that there are helpful and nice nurses in the profession. I am from California and people are generally more supportive here, work together, and don't want to see their classmates fail. However, the nursing school I went to was in the east coast and it was a was very cut throat and competitive environment. It could have also been racism (the class was segregated) or sadly, discrimination against me for being divorced.

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I don't think that is normal for nursing schools. I do think that nursing schools are made for beginners, those of us who have no medical backgrounds. That kind of behaviour should be reported, and quite frankly, the ladies and gentlemen who are bullying you should be prevented from proceeding any further in the program, as there is enough bullying in the industry already.

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I agree sl035 that measures should be taken to prevent this stuff from happening in schools. But I think administration only takes it so far - in my case, only warnings were given to those students. I would not want others to experience the same thing i did in school. Im still surprised it happened. East coast has a bad rep for having "fall on your face" medical environments and unfortunately, i had to experience one of those.

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Specializes in SRNA.

Wow that's awful on their part. I'm in my 1st semester of nursing school and the cohort is 90% female and 10% male...I'm in that 10% and everyone has been so helpful towards each other. Yes, there are students in my class that I -roll my eyes- when they talk because they're know it alls but as a person, they're okay. We actually try to hangout outside of class and it's making the transition all that easier.

How big is your class size? If its ~20 I can see why it's hard for you in regards to the bullying... If it's 50+ see if you can surround yourself with classmates who are positive and supportive.

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Specializes in Medsurg/Tele.

I'm sorry this has happened to you. In my cohort of around 80 people, I don't think there was any bullying. Everyone was very helpful if you had a question. Even in clinicals during the first semester, I didn't have a medical background yet they still assisted when I had questions or needed help with a patient. The only issue in my cohort was people talking during class. There are some who act like know-it-alls and others who complain about the pace of clinicals, but all in all, no bullying.

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Lipoma - that's great advice, there's a few who are more wiling to help than others. It would be best to focus on working with people like them. I'm so glad that there are male nurses too in the profession because from my experience, I feel like guys are more direct and willing to help than some of the girls who are competing with you. I hope to use this experience as a learning opportunity to know what to do the next time any bullying happens.

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AnLe - I'm very happy to hear that you have had a great experience as a newbie in nursing school!! That's how the ideal environment would be

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I experienced major bullying, but I don't want to get into it all. It's too emotional. I just wanted you to know you are not alone. It was so bad I remember sitting in my mental health class after having had "a talking to" by one of the instructors. A clique of students gossipped about me to the teachers, and twisted it all around on me. In class tears were just welling up in my eyes, and I remember thinking of suicide right then and there in my mental health class.

So, yes. It was VERY bad. I kept to myself, studied, graduated and moved on with my life. That's all I could do.

Forget your classmates. Don't be there to make friends. Focus on your studies. I'd go so far as to say don't trust anyone in the program to confide in. You don't know who will turn on you. Seek counseling if possible. I was lucky enough to have support from my mom who went through very similar things in her nursing program. Good luck. Hang in there. Eventually you will be able to look back and realize how strong you were to make it through.

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Im sorry you are going through this. I would say that you should goto your Dean about the bullying if it continues to worsen; there should be a policy in your handbook on how students are expected to treat their peers and faculty.

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Orion81RN - I am very sorry you had to go through that. No one deserves to feel that way and I think its quite sad that those who bully are miserable themselves or have been bullied by others that they have to put down others in order for them to feel better about themselves in the vicious cycle. They find an easy target to pick on, those who are going through problems, are different, or are nice and good people whom they may actually feel threatened by in some way.

I hope to keep friends on the brush line in a competitive environment and stand up against bullying. I hope to graduate one day and remember what you said about feeling strong to make it through!

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