Title says it all . Second semester baby nurse in clinicals at a major hospital.
Patients = Awesome
Most Nurses = Very sweet and helpful
Some nurses are rude, terse, horrible with patients, horrible with students and horrible with each other.
To those nurses I say this, please retire.
Its only a matter of time before management figures out they can live without you and hire some very hungry and very competent new grads that want to be there to fill your dusty shoes....
word...
sadly the vast majority of the time these happen to also be charge nurses....in charge of what? Misery?
I have met a couple that are exactly what you say. I mean there is one older nurse I work with that is rude. She dosn't even let me finish what I am saying when I am giving her report. She assums she already knows what I am going to say, but she dosn't. I even saw her yelling at a patient the other day. She said that she was not going to put up with him. I have worked with this patient multiple times and he has never been mean or rude to me or anyone else that I know of. I don't think I've ever seen her in a good mood. She needs to retire.
With all that said I work with another nurse who is 72 years old and she is a pleasure to work with. I can tell that she loves being a nurse and treats her patients with respect. She's been a nurse for 50 years and she is not bitter and dried up.
I love old nurses bc I learn best from those who have years of experience. I prefer older nurses when it comes to training. Older nurses always volunteer to teach me when I am in clinicals.
and the back and forth could go on ad nauseum......ultimately it is goiing to be up to management to make sure employees are in place that accurately live the values that the company is trying to present to the public...
By that I specifically mean that management must remain hypervigilant and actively remove people from the payroll and add new blood until the ship is righted....
It will happen in time, until then feel free to flame on....
I think the estimate for new grad blood is about $40-80K for training in the first 2 years on top of salary, expected percentage of errors, and monies required to right the situation. See how that budget works for your CFO and CEO... or is your goal in management higher than CNO? You may soon find you need to be head of the senate finance committee or President of the USA to make all the changes you hope to see.
Hey good luck with that.
And by the way... I find it ironic that you don't recall the name of a single nurse who cared for you and made your days and/or nights better as a patient. Really? Not a single one? Never wrote a letter or filled out some survey card... so they could be thanked by their own managers? Really?
Specializes in medical with other stuff chucked in!.
the way i see it sounds like you want to be a manager more than wanting to become a nurse - should be the other way around. there is no excuse for rudeness, but i think there is a trinket of rudeness on your part about your colleagues
Well, there's some amazing writing talent amongst the allnurses members. As others have said, nursemike's posts are always a pleasure to read but his response in this thread left me speechless with admiration. I truly wish I was able to put my thoughts into words the way so many of you do each time you post.
Oh, and nursemike, when's that book coming out?? :)
We should all be thinking about the distinctions between realism and cynicism -- and the change in perspective that happens as we spend time in the world of health care and get experience.
(emphasis mine, directed at self)
You know, I still think the OP could have been more constructive and objective, and I still don't believe it's an old vs young issue. I don't imagine I need to tell you, or a lot of the other experienced nurses who post here, but I feel obliged to acknowledge, if only to myself--and maybe mindlor--that not becoming bitter and dried up is not something that just happens. Maybe some are just that naturally nice, but it appears to be something I'll have to actively work at. Fair enough. I can do that.
Oh, and nursemike, when's that book coming out?? :)
I think I'm still working on figuring out some answers. Won't live long enough, of course, to figure them all out. But I do sometimes feel I think better with a pen in my hand. You know, I think I will start a journal. Whether it evolves into a morificecript, time will tell. Anyway, thanks.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
And by the way... I find it ironic that you don't recall the name of a single nurse who cared for you and made your days and/or nights better as a patient. Really? Not a single one? Never wrote a letter or filled out some survey card... so they could be thanked by their own managers? Really?
I have to comment on this part as someone that has been a patient more times then I have taken care of them probably.
There is saying about people not remembering your name but remembering how you made them feel by Maya Angelou
This is very true. The types of nurses I had is what helped me figure out the type of nurse I hope to be. I can not tell you one name of any of the nurses I had. Bad or good. I have some wonderful nurses and some terrible ones. I can tell you why they were bad or good by how they made me feel. I filled out the cards after with good care because I feel it's important to acknowledge those that do well not only negative. At the time I knew there name from when they took care of me that shift. I am terrible with names though; took me a year in nursing school to know half the students names.
So it is very possible not to remember someones name but to remember the type of care they gave you.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
(emphasis mine, directed at self)
you know, i still think the op could have been more constructive and objective, and i still don't believe it's an old vs young issue. i don't imagine i need to tell you, or a lot of the other experienced nurses who post here, but i feel obliged to acknowledge, if only to myself--and maybe mindlor--that not becoming bitter and dried up is not something that just happens. maybe some are just that naturally nice, but it appears to be something i'll have to actively work at. fair enough. i can do that.
in order for mindlor to have all of the management experience she/he claims to have had, she/he is no dewy-eyed youth. so i agree with you that it's not an old vs. young thing. i can only think that if she/he displayed the attitude toward more experienced nurses that was displayed here, she/he must have been very unpleasant to deal with. but perhaps that could be said of many of us, not excluding myself.
happiness is a choice, so i imagine not becoming bitter is a choice as well. you might as well choose to be happy or not bitter . . . it's a whole lot more fun. as far as naturally nice -- that requires more work for some of us than for others, but i'm not sure that many people can retain their sweet demeanor in the face of blatant disrespect. or maybe those that appear to just play the game well.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i have to comment on this part as someone that has been a patient more times then i have taken care of them probably.
there is saying about people not remembering your name but remembering how you made them feel by maya angelou
this is very true. the types of nurses i had is what helped me figure out the type of nurse i hope to be. i can not tell you one name of any of the nurses i had. bad or good. i have some wonderful nurses and some terrible ones. i can tell you why they were bad or good by how they made me feel. i filled out the cards after with good care because i feel it's important to acknowledge those that do well not only negative. at the time i knew there name from when they took care of me that shift. i am terrible with names though; took me a year in nursing school to know half the students names.
so it is very possible not to remember someones name but to remember the type of care they gave you.
with most people -- and i'm not claiming that you're one of them -- they remember the name of someone who has angered them so they can "report" that person, but someone who merely saved their life will go unacknowledged. and if the person who saved their life later ****** them off by not bringing sodas when they were npo, they might actually remember that person's name long enough to complain to the manager. they probably won't acknowledge that the same person kept them alive.
people these days seem to feel that they're deserving of all of the best "service" no matter what else is going on around them, so they won't bother to remember the names of those who provided it, only those who didn't.
i think it's important to acknowledge the people who took care of you or your family members, and i've always made sure that i did when a family member was a patient. i've filled out customer service surveys and made sure i mentioned the person who made dad feel less frightened or took the time to explain things to my mother the forty-seventh time. i've sent thank you notes. when i was a patient, i was usually too sick to care who was bringing the anti-emetic or the barf basin, but my husband made a special effort to ensure that we knew who to send the kudos to. (to whom to send the kudos?)
i think it's important to acknowledge when you see a colleague doing something extremely well. i've sent far more emails to my manager praising colleagues than complaining about them or "reporting" them. i've learned something from every student or new nurse i've precepted and from everyone i've worked with. i cannot help but think that if everyone went to work looking for something positive in their preceptor's practice they could learn from or emulate, something to praise in their orientees and something to value in a colleague the world -- and the nursing unit -- would be a far better place.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I just think there is something fundamentally odd about a person (oops I mean the person's words) who receives an overwhelming amount of feedback from those who are actually doing what she's never done stubbornly clinging to that little matchstick of "I'm right and all of you are wrong". Maybe enough ballast can be tossed overboard that will enable the ship to right itself and not become something you see on a Discovery Channel special with Bob Ballard.
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CrazyGoonRN
426 Posts
I have met a couple that are exactly what you say. I mean there is one older nurse I work with that is rude. She dosn't even let me finish what I am saying when I am giving her report. She assums she already knows what I am going to say, but she dosn't. I even saw her yelling at a patient the other day. She said that she was not going to put up with him. I have worked with this patient multiple times and he has never been mean or rude to me or anyone else that I know of. I don't think I've ever seen her in a good mood. She needs to retire.
With all that said I work with another nurse who is 72 years old and she is a pleasure to work with. I can tell that she loves being a nurse and treats her patients with respect. She's been a nurse for 50 years and she is not bitter and dried up.
So I think it just depends on the person. :)