I've noticed something on these boards...

World International

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Disclaimer: This is not to bash US nurses at all, you're all great. Love your work.

OK. After reading through a lot of these threads, especially the ones titled things like "Nurses eat their young", I have noticed that American nurses in general seem to be very competitive with each other and almost perpetuate this "eating their young" thing by going in with a defensive attitude. In many of the threads, nurses are frustrated by colleagues who have no respect for teamwork or 'mateship'. Now, I don't profess to have much experience at all. I have worked as an AIN for a month, and been a student for two years. I have found every single nurse I've met to be helpful and cooperative. There are certainly some who could use a few more communication classes, but all in all there have been no major problems.

It could just be me. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. I also go in to a ward with the assumption that everyone will be nice, and I make sure I appear enthusiastic and helpful. When I don't understand or know something, I ask before it becomes a problem.

Do you think that this is a difference in Australian *nursing* culture specifically, or Australian culture in general? Or have I been extremely lucky?

Specializes in Medical.
now listen here young man!!!! cut that out or you'll get a clip under the ear too!!! talaxandra's in line for one, so why shouldn't you be too??!!!! :roll

what did i do?!

i think that there are absolutely cases in aus of bullying, intimidation and horizontal violence, a lot of which i've witnessed in the last few days of victorian industrial action, but certainly not confined to that.

we all belong to a number of cultures, and those of us who've moved around a bit know how much wards on the same floor can vary. and it's really easy to fall in line with an established pattern of behaviour, especially if you're new to the area and relatively junior.

when i was a student, a hundred and eleventy years ago, two wards at my hospital were internationally notorious - seriously: nurses from the uk would say in phone interviews that they wouldn't be employed on them. the chargies appointed acn's who were of like mind, and both wards had such strong cultures of intimidation and "young eating" that it sometimes trumped patient care. a friend of mine was observed by an acn risking a patient (she non-asceptically disconnected an epidural line to purge air from the set) because she was too intimidated to ask for advice and instead of stopping her, the acn watched her do it and wrote an incident report.

fortunately this is the minority, at least in my (limited) experience, and those days are pretty much long gone. and one difference in aussie vs us cultures is that the only place i've ever come across the phrase "nurses eating their young" is here. maybe having the phrase in part encourags the behaviour. or maybe having the phrase allows us nurses to identify behaviour that occurs here but isn't labelled.

ps inspired by grace, my writing's a pretty colour, too!

and one difference in aussie vs us cultures is that the only place i've ever come across the phrase "nurses eating their young" is here. maybe having the phrase in part encourags the behaviour. or maybe having the phrase allows us nurses to identify behaviour that occurs here but isn't labelled.

'nurses eating their young' is a phrase used in new zealand, not just the us. the phenomenon of horizontal violence is worldwide and it knows no boundaries of profession either. it is however widely investigated and discussed within the nursing profession. there are numerous studies on the subject.

Specializes in Medical.

i'm familiar with the issues, and the studies, on horizontal violence. and i don't think australia is immune. as a job rep i'm very familiar with the phenomenon, in addition to having been the subject of mildly vertical workplace harassment.

as i said, until i joined allnurses i hadn't come across the phrase before - many posters report it being used in conversation, by clinicians, as opposed to the literature, and this is not something i've seen/heard myself. i apologise if that was interpreted as a belief that it didn't happen here.

however, there do seem to be more instances, going on the purely annecdotal accounts on allnurses, in the us than in australia, even allowing for the vast difference in national allnurses membership. which, if i recall correctly, was where this thread started.

what a fascinating thread, as a, retired from nursing, 50 year old female who has worked across this wide brown land in many settings i would have to say that i've met all sorts including some who should be fed to their own..or someone else's young.

new grads, we value your knowledge ..even if some of us articulate it guide badly, we also need your energy and enthusiasm to drive the profession forward but

for the very few of you who forget some of us have lots of skills we would love to share with you too.

for every old bag who eats her young there is a whippersnapper who thinks anyone who trained in a hospital is well passed their use by date.

everyone works under immense pressure most of the time.. every one does their best most of the time, sweeping social generalizations are exactly that, and never forget .... we are a service industry and in a culture in institutional violence the ultimate victim is always the person at the bottom of the pile .. the patient.

having had my little rant i'm with grace... rather than yank bashing... thanks for the offer of george w but no thanks... surely we should celebrate the diversity including the good steak and cold beer.

and dare i say be grateful that colleagues feel this a safe forum to vent their spleen in rather than on work mates or patients. i've worked with great nurses.. and rotten ones... from all over the world and it has much more to do with attitude than passport colour.

i have noticed a large proportion of nurses here (here in the states, that is) who enjoy tripping one up and/or sitting back and letting you make a mistake without warning you. the old give you enough rope to hang yourself with. (do you guys have that expression?) i don't like it. if i wasn't so tired, i'd write a funny post detailing the types of nurses you meet on the job: the wanna-be doctor, the radical unionist, the kissbutt corporate lackey, the university educated i'm-so-much-smarter-than-you-and-you-can't-possibly-understand-nursing-theory rn, the community college educated you're-living-in-a-fricking-ivory-tower-now-get-out-of-my-way-and-let-me-work rn, the let-me-tell-you-your-business-even-though-you've-been-a-nurse-for-20-years rn, the bossy nun rn, the passive-aggressive nun rn, the lazy ass rn, the i love committees rn, the i'm greedy for power and i'll-wield-what-little-i've-got-over-you rn, the i-went-to-school-in-the-40's-and-i-refuse-to-change rn and so on. and then there's me, the perfect rn.:saint::barf01:

and all of the above nurses are also found in australia if we

are honest.

but, when it works, when it gels, when everyone is tight and can help each other seamlessly and can communicate across the patient with eyes alone and can practically read each other's mind..... it's heaven. i've had a few jobs where i'd trust my co-workers not only with my life, but with the lives of my children, blindfolded.

happily so are these ones.

i guess part of the learning experience is sorting the diamonds from the smeary glass, or in australia the true opals from the triplets.

the best answer to them all is laugh... or go into the sluice room and polish stainless steel wash bowls while you either cry or swear. gee i'm showing my age now but it always worked for me.

in the absence of a sluice room to use a great aussie expression "don't let the b******'s get you down.

I the community college educated you're-living-in-a-fricking-ivory-tower-now-get-out-of-my-way-and-let-me-work RN .....

Hmmm.... I think I recognize myself there.

Disclaimer: This is not to bash US nurses at all, you're all great. Love your work.

OK. After reading through a lot of these threads, especially the ones titled things like "Nurses eat their young", I have noticed that American nurses in general seem to be very competitive with each other and almost perpetuate this "eating their young" thing by going in with a defensive attitude. In many of the threads, nurses are frustrated by colleagues who have no respect for teamwork or 'mateship'. Now, I don't profess to have much experience at all. I have worked as an AIN for a month, and been a student for two years. I have found every single nurse I've met to be helpful and cooperative. There are certainly some who could use a few more communication classes, but all in all there have been no major problems.

It could just be me. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. I also go in to a ward with the assumption that everyone will be nice, and I make sure I appear enthusiastic and helpful. When I don't understand or know something, I ask before it becomes a problem.

Do you think that this is a difference in Australian *nursing* culture specifically, or Australian culture in general? Or have I been extremely lucky?

Yes I think there is a culture difference in general in USA and Australia. Sorry but USA has lots of lovely people and lots of weird people. I worked as a AIN for 5 years in a Nursing Home in USA ( 25 years ago). What I read from you is true in Australia and USA. I had the same problem when I work in USA "eating there young" and I had to cope with it becasue there was no other job to go to because the job was in a small country town. Australia is a lucky country. I love USA but I love Australian people and Australian culture more and better.

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