First of all I want to say I LOVE ALLNURSES!!! It has been the best resource for me for so many things.
Sadly, I have noticed in the last year or so that there are more and more negative postings. Some OP’s will post innocent topics and get torn a new one for nothing. Why?
We should be encouraging one another and not be putting people down. The saying "nurses eat their young"….I once thought it was not true, but I am beginning to think it is.
I am not trying to pinpoint nurses who have been in the field for many years; however, I have noticed many negative comments come from people who have forgotten what it was like to start out as a nurse. Other comments that are nasty I figure are from people who just have low self esteem and want to tear someone apart to feel better.
Maybe the economy is just taking a toll on people? Whatever it is I hate to see it. I love Allnurses. I would hate to see it become a negative place where people can’t share their thoughts without the fear of ridicule.
II'm guilty of being negative at times. I look at the ability of posting as a way to vent out into the world of my peers without suffering the consequences of my feelings or ideas. I don't get involve with some of the bickering,nor dislike any posters for their posting. I feel this should be a neutral zone and place where we can go to get away from working but be able to talk about our issues that trust me I cannot speak with folks at work openly about. Would I want my kids to go into this field. NO WAY! But I would not condem any other nurse wanting their kids to be nurses. we all havd different moments good and bad in our profession, for me honest more bad than good. But I made some bad careeer choices in my life. Not nursing errors or nursing mistakes just bad choices in the direction I went into. So to the nurse who still love the job GREAT! To some of use who are burned out into a situation that we can't move on be it health reasons, location,debts whatever . We may all wera the white shoes but we all walk in different paths. As for me good thing I did not become an English teacher as you can well tell by my spelling and posting. AH but it still feels good to have this GREAT site to cocme to fror both education,ideas and venting........
I haven't been on AN that long but I think all of the postings are spirited and thoughtful. If someone goes over the top they are brought back to earth in a respectful way.
I say Nah, just a poor work environment with a poor hiring status with short staffing which again will change in time. I've been doing this 15 years and it always hits this circle.
The difference is that the economy took such a hit, there are an exponential amount of "wanna be's" out there trolling whom are irritating the life out of REAL NURSES ON A NURSING BOARD.
Because there are so many of these ill informed altruistic people that have no clue as what the real job is, those of us that are that, do that and live that are sick and tired of the ill informed lectures on how we should think, feel, dress and to the point of puking.
I think we are whole as nurses here, the others have made it very difficult to vent, relax and have fun. I vote for requiring a nursing license # to join and all others have at the other forms.
Sorry but I have to disagree. I've been an RN for 15 years myself, and I know I've forgotten what it was like in the beginning. I just hope I wasn't as obnoxious as some of the newbies here have been! On the other end there are a lot of very thoughtful questions from students and new nurses just looking for a little advice and we should willingly offer that. In their defense, I find it reassuring to know that there are enthusiastic new people willing and eager to enter this crazy profession. Maybe they can gain a little insight from our experience and not enter nursing wearing a giant size pair of rose colored glasses.
I don't know- I've been on here for 4 years, and sometimes I feel that it has become worse-
It seems like there is often a circling-the-wagons mentality- If a CNA, MA, or nursing student ever dares to question a RN'S action, even in a respectful manner, they often have a gang of RNs jumping down their throats
I recently stopped participating in a thread after an aide dared to complain about the manner in which a RN spoke to her- even though the OP was careful to label it a rant, they still had people jumping down their throat accusing them of being thin skinned and needing to suck it up
I just found it sad how many people were ready to attack the OP because they dared to question a RN
Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.
I don't know- I've been on here for 4 years, and sometimes I feel that it has become worse-
It seems like there is often a circling-the-wagons mentality- If a CNA, MA, or nursing student ever dares to question a RN'S action, even in a respectful manner, they often have a gang of RNs jumping down their throats
I recently stopped participating in a thread after an aide dared to complain about the manner in which a RN spoke to her- even though the OP was careful to label it a rant, they still had people jumping down their throat accusing them of being thin skinned and needing to suck it up
I just found it sad how many people were ready to attack the OP because they dared to question a RN
I have to agree with you, dinah. I see a lot more defensiveness now then I did back when I joined, and there were 2 years that I wasn't on AN (not because of the site, I just didn't have internet).
I also see this same attitude when one dares to maybe, possibly (GASP!) support management decisions, as I recently did in a post. All of a sudden, I was being insulting, belittling, blah, blah, SNORE!! Don't have time for that nonsense. And, for the record, I refuse to take on a "us vs. them" attitude, which is the way you almost are expected to be on the boards sometimes....i.e. "If you're not with us, you're against us."
This, of course, is just my opinion, and hopefully is the exception rather than the rule, but I'm not too sure.....
I think that all of these types of online and anonymous forums regardless of topic has lots of negativity on it. I think that we as a society seem like we are harsher due to reality shows, youtube, and 24-hour news shows airing nasty sound-bites every 5 minutes but we are the same as we were thousands of years ago; I just think we have more outlets to vent and cowardly, due to the anonymity, rip people to shreds without ever dealing with the fallout.
Glad there is a place where I can vent or listen to other nurses discuss their profession and life freely. Lets view life honestly, perhaps if nurses were more aggressive and honest about how the negative aspects of nursing need to be addressed we would see the much needed changes in our profession.
I don't know- I've been on here for 4 years, and sometimes I feel that it has become worse-
It seems like there is often a circling-the-wagons mentality- If a CNA, MA, or nursing student ever dares to question a RN'S action, even in a respectful manner, they often have a gang of RNs jumping down their throats
I recently stopped participating in a thread after an aide dared to complain about the manner in which a RN spoke to her- even though the OP was careful to label it a rant, they still had people jumping down their throat accusing them of being thin skinned and needing to suck it up
I just found it sad how many people were ready to attack the OP because they dared to question a RN
Was that the volunteer and the rude RN thread? (Please excuse me if I have the wrong thread ). That thread is now closed but I feel I should have the opportunity to respond to this inaccurate statement.
Respectfully ....the volunteer was not attacked because she/he 'dared to question a RN' .....IMHO that's not what happened at all.
- The RN's were much more objective in their assessment of the situation and had the bigger picture.
- They pointed out the errors
- The volunteer continued to misunderstand the situation
Nobody said that a volunteer can't question an RN.
However... the RN's have the education and experience. And their role enable them to have the 'insider look'.
The volunteer has none of these.
And when challenged, RNs have the right and perogative to state their case and stand their ground. RNs have the expertise here ...their views carry more weight
That does not mean the RNs are more superior,or better, than peripheral team members. That's just how it is
Recently, there was a post from an individual who felt she had been treated rudely by a nurse. Yes, it was listed as a vent. However when a poster accepted that rudeness was inappropriate, but also gave advice as to more appropriate ways to handle the situation that precipitated the rudeness, the OP went into a jag on how badly she was being treated by the poster....though the advice was warranted, helpful and politely given.
Now the advice would have helped the OP to avoid further problems, however, rather than accepting this very useful advice, the OP chose to take unnecessary offense and go on repeatedly about how mean posters were.
What is going to happen when this person enters the "real world"? How are they going to handle polite constructive (and often less than polite, less than constructive) criticism giving by many staff and managers out there?
Sorry, I see quite a few people that need a reality check . There are limits as to how nice and nurturing and polite one can be and yet get the pt the safe care that they need. The posters here do not make a vow to be nice and accepting and rah, rah, agree with everything that is said......they try to be supportive of appropriate behavior, and giving advice to improve what is not acceptable or safe or efficient behavior. This often means telling someone, things that they do not want to hear....and often they will not like it. That is not the same as "eating our young".
I agree with you, OP. I've seen a lot of cliquey members; their negative, presumptuous and rude comments has a snowball effect. Once one of their friends starts the attack, the others follow. I just see how they gang up on others and it saddens me. What's more surprising is some of these nurses have been working for 20++ years but they act like little children on the playground. However, there are amazing members here that have helped me and I am forever grateful. There are some who I wish won't bother reply to my threads just because I know their replies won't be helpful at all.
Oh and I would like to point out as well... I see a lot of members making assumptions about other people. You know what they say about assuming/assume, right? You are making an A$$ of U and ME. An OP would ask something and other members would respond defensively OR in a condemning manner OR take the OPs question out of context. If you're annoyed at another member's inquiries don't bother answering it because it's not helpful, simple as that.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
oh and i would like to point out as well... i see a lot of members making assumptions about other people. you know what they say about assuming/assume, right? you are making an a$$ of u and me. an op would ask something and other members would respond defensively or in a condemning manner or take the ops question out of context. if you're annoyed at another member's inquiries don't bother answering it because it's not helpful, simple as that.
so in other words, we should only answer questions if we think the poster is going to like the answer to the question? i'm sorry, life isn't like that. sometimes you're going to have to hear negative feedback, whether you like it or not and whether or not you agree with it. i could point out that if you learn from others' mistakes here on an anonymous internet site, you may not make the mistake in your own practice and may save yourself from receiving the negative feedback from your colleagues at work -- who know you and will remember it. once you get a reputation for making mistakes, being too cocky, being unable to take constructive criticism or whatever, it's very difficult to overcome it. so if you or any other posters can learn here instead of in the real world, you may save yourself a lot of problems. your choice.
it's not helpful for you -- or anyone else, for that matter -- to try to limit the responses you get. if you post a question, you'll get answers. if you don't want to get any answers you don't like, don't post the question.
dnnc52
198 Posts
II'm guilty of being negative at times. I look at the ability of posting as a way to vent out into the world of my peers without suffering the consequences of my feelings or ideas. I don't get involve with some of the bickering,nor dislike any posters for their posting. I feel this should be a neutral zone and place where we can go to get away from working but be able to talk about our issues that trust me I cannot speak with folks at work openly about. Would I want my kids to go into this field. NO WAY! But I would not condem any other nurse wanting their kids to be nurses. we all havd different moments good and bad in our profession, for me honest more bad than good. But I made some bad careeer choices in my life. Not nursing errors or nursing mistakes just bad choices in the direction I went into. So to the nurse who still love the job GREAT! To some of use who are burned out into a situation that we can't move on be it health reasons, location,debts whatever . We may all wera the white shoes but we all walk in different paths. As for me good thing I did not become an English teacher as you can well tell by my spelling and posting. AH but it still feels good to have this GREAT site to cocme to fror both education,ideas and venting........