"Seasoned Nurses will eat their young"

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kc689

3 Posts

It really depends on the culture of the unit, starting with management and trickling down to staff nurses. I later learned that the motto of the manager of the 1st unit I worked on was "We like to break our new nurses down before building them up." Needless to say, not the most welcoming environment. Since working other places, I have realized that this is not the standard everywhere- thank goodness!

I'm a student currently and doing clinical on a MedSurg floor. I find that most nurses are willing to teach you as long as your not arrogant or lazy and are willing to work and know your place. By know your place, I mean get up when your looking at a chart and offer your seat to the nurse, same with the break room, etc. some nurses just don't want to be bothered with a student and I always ask if they mind if I am with them when I introduce myself.

joanna73, BSN, RN

4,767 Posts

Specializes in geriatrics.

Depends where you work. Some units have a terrible culture in general where bad behaviour seems to be tolerated. However, I've found most nurses to be very helpful if the new nurse is receptive to learning, and willing to demonstrate initiative.

I was a new grad not that long ago and my experiences were very positive. I can also hold my own, and I know the difference between the nurse just being too busy with their own work vs "eating their young." The primary responsibility is the patient, not me.

Some new grads are very quick to judge nurses behaviour, so it goes both ways. I've precepted new grads who can tell me all the textbook answers and use the flowery buzz words we all know, but they can't actually apply their knowledge to real scenarios. The concept of individualized care and critical thinking for some new nurses is foreign. That's why mentoring is important HOWEVER, certain basic concepts should be solidified long before that person graduates.

313RN, BSN, RN

1 Article; 113 Posts

Specializes in Neuro ICU.

When I was teaching I told my students that at my hospital we didn't eat the young. We ate the weak. There's a fair amount of truth to that.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Oh good Lord... Cue the microwave. Pour me a rum & coke. I'm good for the night!

Getting a glass and my bowl ready... :cheeky:

pookyp, LPN

1,074 Posts

Went to clinical on Friday, and 3 out if the 4 nurses that were there said they didn't want students. Gave us attitude and never made eye contact with us. My instructor was so upset. We almost went back to school because we couldn't take patients. Thank goodness there was one nurse who was do nice and let us follow her around and do skills. (The nurses who didn't want us didn't even want us taking care of their patients)

Once we had a substitute at this same facility and the same thing went on where they didn't want students. The sub said 'what kind of foolishness is that! We were all students once!' She said she would be back. Came back and told us to go with those nurses anyway. They were sweet as pie. I don't know WHAT she said but I've never seen them that nice! Lol now they're back to their old ways again. When I graduate, I'm gonna put in our survey that we need a new clinical site. (They get mad when we talk 'bad' about a clinical site because we're guests) but we don't get treated as such) not to say you have to bow down to us or anything.

The DON is super nice though. I think may be our director should talk to her.

Nola009

940 Posts

Some seasoned nurses and even fairly green ones with less than 5 yrs. experience are... it just depends on how much of a natural *****

At my 1st job I didn't get much orientation and I was just kind of a hand to the preceptor. I don't remember even getting ONE day where I watched her 'do her thing' it was always about attending to patients on my own. Really on my own. She'd come up missing for 1/2 the day so I couldn't ask Qs. I didn't complain about her though.

I was just glad that my origionally scheduled preceptor, the one who announced as she was getting off the elevator and just stepping foot on the unit that she "didn't wanna train and didn't get PAID extra for doing it'" wasn't orienting me anymore. So, yeah, it was like bad or worse.

Nice welcome wagon, huh?

monkeybug

716 Posts

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.

I think it varies widely from person to person and environment to environment to environment. When I precepted as a student, I was thrilled to be walking into labor and delivery, and I was eager and ready to learn. I'd already been in the hospital's postpartum unit for a few weeks, and I'd been accepted there and treated well. My first day in L&D, I walked in to meet the woman who would supposedly be my mentor and teacher for the next few weeks. The very first words out of her mouth to me? "Don't think you're anything special because you're getting your BSN." I was absolutely flabbergasted and heartbroken. She made my experience there hell, and almost ruined L&D for me. I made a point to come on days she was off and work with some of the other nurses, and I ended up working there. It amused me to no end that she left L&D soon after--to pursue her BSN!:sarcastic:

It left an indelible mark on me, though. I volunteered to precept students, and I tried to do a good job and be an encouragement to them. And the last place I worked had many negatives and drawbacks, but one of it's big positives was the awesome older, experienced nurses we had. We had many nurses with 20+ years of experience, and they were great to the younger nurses. And the younger nurses respected the older ones and tried to learn from them. I've got 16 years under my belt now, and I love young nurses. They usually have an enthusiasm and energy I find it hard to muster!

Specializes in ICU.

I feel like this has a lot to do with what kind of environment you live in (rural vs. urban, community hospital vs. teaching hospital). My experience to date is that people in large teaching hospitals in bigger cities are more likely to be nice to you. I feel like some nurses get "stuck" in community hospitals because their families live in the area and they have nowhere else to go, and since the pay grades tend to be lower and there is often less help, they are more likely to be positively evil. There are good eggs and bad eggs everywhere, but I have found more bad eggs in more rural places. At least in a larger city if a nurse hates her job, there are probably five or six other hospitals to apply to, whereas they're just trapped in small towns and have nowhere else to go. I did all of my clinicals in larger teaching hospitals and I would cut off a finger to work at any of those because the nurses were so much nicer and the environment was so much better. Just my two cents.

Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.

My only fear of ever being eaten was when I was a student and rumor had it that our labor and delivery clinical instructor was a bear. :cautious: yikes! But guess what....I made it out alive, I learned more because made sure I knew my material and lived to tell about it.

We have all been students, so it should be easy to be approachable and to extend a hand to those coming up behind us.:yes:

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I did nursing school in Boston, and the nurses at 2 of my clinical assignments were flat-out hostile toward students. One clinical instructor actually told us to go to her, not the floor nurses, if we had any questions. CNAs and techs were usually pretty friendly, and helped us out a lot. Maybe it was because we made their jobs easier, while the nurses saw us as obstacles.

I've been a nurse for 5 years now, and I like precepting newbies, but I wish more schools used the 1-to-1 preceptor model for clinicals. It's really not the staff nurse's job to teach students, and many of them aren't good at it.

rubato, ASN, RN

1,111 Posts

Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

There are ******* in every profession. We have to learn that there are people out there who will treat us poorly, like it or not.

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