Apologies for using the term "NETY"

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2015

It takes a big person to apologize and admit they are wrong. Kudos.

And good luck with your program; I hope you can test out, but if not, a refresher on pharm would never be a waste. There have been a lot of changes in the past 7 years.

allnurses Guide · Sep 27, 2015

Funny thing is, before I had ever even joined this site, I had a CI who said this during lecture.
It leads me to believe it's not just unique to the Internet. It's an urban nursing myth spread in different nursing practices across the board.

Same thing happened to me in my RN to BSN program. I winced.

But by then, I'd already been a member here for a long long time.

I truly dislike stereotypes, urban myths, political correctness, superstitions, etc.

:nurse:

klone, MSN, RN · Sep 27, 2015

i truly dislike stereotypes, urban myths, political correctness, superstitions, etc.

quiet quiet quiet quiet quiet!!

Dogen · Sep 27, 2015

Funny thing is, before I had ever even joined this site, I had a CI who said this during lecture.
It leads me to believe it's not just unique to the Internet. It's an urban nursing myth spread in different nursing practices across the board.

It's not a myth. It's an actual problem in health care, so much so that it's been addressed by both the Joint Commission and the Institute of Medicine. Incivility and poor communication harm patients. It isn't specific to nursing, we just have a term for it within nursing. The term is still apropos, however in more limited circumstances than it's used. In the same way that using the phrase NETY indiscriminately is inappropriate, it's also inappropriate to say there isn't a problem.

This middle road view is sometimes unpopular, but there you have it. :)

roser13, ASN, RN · Sep 27, 2015

It's not a myth. It's an actual problem in health care, so much so that it's been addressed by both the Joint Commission and the Institute of Medicine. Incivility and poor communication harm patients. It isn't specific to nursing, we just have a term for it within nursing. The term is still apropos, however in more limited circumstances than it's used. In the same way that using the phrase NETY indiscriminately is inappropriate, it's also inappropriate to say there isn't a problem.
This middle road view is sometimes unpopular, but there you have it. :)

i don't believe that the incivility and poor communication in nursing is limited to elder/experienced on younger/less experienced. That's why I so vigorously battle the use of NETY.

Mavrick, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2015

Ok, I'll bite. What's a NETY?
Found it. Why is that bad?
Ehh. That's ok, it's giving me a headache reading old posts about it.

If the very title of this thread generates a few of these responses, I am grateful for OP's fortitude and more than gracious apology.

The original thread has seen a remarkable turn-around worth experiencing the initial headache.

https://allnurses.com/nurse-colleague-patient/why-do-nurses-1013347.html

allnurses Guide · Sep 27, 2015

i don't believe that the incivility and poor communication in nursing is limited to elder/experienced on younger/less experienced. That's why I so vigorously battle the use of NETY.

I agree with you.

The idea that "nurses" are naturally bullies sticks in my craw. :sour:

Dogen · Sep 27, 2015

i don't believe that the incivility and poor communication in nursing is limited to elder/experienced on younger/less experienced. That's why I so vigorously battle the use of NETY.

That is also a more or less evidence-based position. I've mentioned - and cited - various articles that show the root causes of bullying (actual bullying, not whatever people like to think is bullying when someone doesn't bend over backwards for them) are rooted in hierarchies, among other variables. In environments where the variables are right to encourage bullying, since experienced nurses are higher up in the hierarchy, they're more likely to be the aggressors. This doesn't preclude young people from being bullies, it just means the systems in place make it less common.

So, you're right, it's not limited to nurses eating only their young, but it's generally the more common scenario in settings where bullying happens at all.

ETA: You'll notice I tend to use bullying or lateral aggression (if you were to read my previous posts on the subject, which would be weird), more than pithy phrases like NETY, because I recognize that the older vs younger dichotomy is less apt than experienced vs inexperienced. I don't want to make it sound like one has to be old to be a bully. :)

allnurses Guide · Sep 27, 2015

Cudos to you for recognizing the misuse of the term, owning it and apologizing.

hawaiicarl, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2015

Funny thing is, before I had ever even joined this site, I had a CI who said this during lecture.
It leads me to believe it's not just unique to the Internet. It's an urban nursing myth spread in different nursing practices across the board.

Hopefully nursing is in the midst of a cultural revolution, where we nurture our youngsters as opposed to eating them (after all more meat on them if you fatten them up first ...har har). That being said I think this is a topic of shame, sort of like slavery in America, it is something you have to own because it is part of your past, but it is something you wish wasn't there. Makes discussion of the topic sort of touchy.

I remember first year of nursing school had this professor teaching Interpersonal Communication 101, tell a student that she was WRONG, for her suggested solution to a conflict, because that wasn't what the textbook said. I jumped all over the professor, saying that communication is all about shades of gray, not about wrong and right (black and white), who knew the old bat would give me an A in that class?

Cheers

PS - Hopefully people who jumped on you for using the phrase didn't make you feel like you were being eaten ... NETYOTI? (nurses eat their young on the internet?) ROFLMAO

allnurses Guide · Sep 27, 2015

I posted recently using this term. I want to apologize for using it without knowing what it really means to you. I am (relatively) new to nursing - I have mostly worked as a scientist. Clearly it's not a nice thing to say, and I am sorry for titling my post with those words.
Best to you.

You had no way of knowing the phrase has quite a bit of, shall we say "emotional baggage" around here. But your gracious response to all of this makes me hope you stay around here.

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · Sep 27, 2015

The phrase has always sickened me a bit. As a child, I had a pet hamster who literally ate her entire litter of babies while I was at school. It was horrific to see them gnawed open with gory "stuff" radiating all around their little bodies.