Bullying in nursing field does exist

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I have never before encountered bullying before nursing school. But it so clearly exists, clearer than the air we breathe.

I learned how to "accommodate" the bullies, who thought that "I had a problem" with asking the professor for clarification, hence I am ESL - English as second language

This person was so bothered by it, that she approached me in the cafeteria, and told me how much she dislikes me. :(

I ended up successfully graduating and passing NCLEX on my first try.

Lesson learned: please report school or floor bullies. If you don't, they will go on destroying more lives.

Do not give in to them!!!

*Hugs*!!!!

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How did she bully you?

Someone not liking you sucks, but it's not bullying.

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Specializes in Psychiatric RN & Retired Psychiatric CNA.
How did she bully you?

Someone not liking you sucks, but it's not bullying.

Um going up to someone and expressing your dislike for them is certainly harassment/bullying.

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Specializes in Hospice.
Um going up to someone and expressing your dislike for them is certainly harassment/bullying.

I disagree. Without context, you really can't say one way or the other.

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How did she bully you?

Someone not liking you sucks, but it's not bullying.

By constantly scoffing at me in class, literally almost laughing out loud when I was asking for clarifications and it culminated with her approaching me and telling me that "she has a problem with me" because I was asking too many questions.

That's not "not liking someone". I was paying the same tuition as she did , no need to bellitle me.

Also, same person harrased my friend who is AA , in clinicals. They constantly snickered and laughed behind her back. SAME people.

Please don't make excuses for them. I wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't serious. Screw bullies :(

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You're right. It's bullying. And they do exist in nursing and those who deny it and those in positions of power who don't address it and do something to eradicate it contribute to the problem.

You're not powerless. But bullies tend to pick on those who don't understand what power is or how to effectively utilize it.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

In my younger, care-less days, had I been in possession of an alternate language, I would have given that person an earful and walked away with the last laugh, leaving him or her completely dumbfounded. Oh, how I've evolved over the years.

Yes, there are bullies in nursing. One in particular comes to mind. This oncoming nurse wanted to tell me how my patient did during my :cautious:shift. As I turned to walk away, she asked where I was going. I told her since she knew everything, there was no need for me to hang around. Other nurses heard the conversation and she was so humiliated that she burst into tears. Didn't have anymore problems from her again...at least, I didn't.

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By constantly scoffing at me in class, literally almost laughing out loud when I was asking for clarifications and it culminated with her approaching me and telling me that "she has a problem with me" because I was asking too many questions.

That's not "not liking someone". I was paying the same tuition as she did , no need to bellitle me.

Also, same person harrased my friend who is AA , in clinicals. They constantly snickered and laughed behind her back. SAME people.

Please don't make excuses for them. I wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't serious. Screw bullies :(

I'm not making excuses for anything/anyone, that's why I asked "how did she bully you?", because in your initial post the little information you shared didn't sound like bullying. I was asking for clarification because the word bully is thrown around excessively.

It does sound like she's a jerk and I'm sorry she's making you miserable. The best advice I can give is to stand up for yourself - don't allow it to continue, especially in a school setting. There are bullies out there in the world (some are nurses), and the sooner you learn how to deal with them, the better off you'll be in the long run. You don't have to be mean, just firm and unapologetic.

I will say that there is a girl in my A&P class that I don't care for because she never stops asking questions during lecture and it's really distracting. I'd never tell her how I feel, I don't sigh or roll my eyes or whatever, because I'm not a jerk. But I do wish she'd save the questions for the end of the lecture, or breaks just because of the sheer volume of them.

Good luck. I hope things improve for you.

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Also, as an aside, I've never seen anyone on here deny that there's bullying in nursing. It's just not exclusive to nursing. And the word bully is so overused that it's almost meaningless these days.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
By constantly scoffing at me in class, literally almost laughing out loud when I was asking for clarifications and it culminated with her approaching me and telling me that "she has a problem with me" because I was asking too many questions.

That's not "not liking someone". I was paying the same tuition as she did , no need to bellitle me.

Also, same person harrased my friend who is AA , in clinicals. They constantly snickered and laughed behind her back. SAME people.

Please don't make excuses for them. I wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't serious. Screw bullies :(

Thanks for the specifics. Yes, I would call that behaviour bullying. These people have not moved on emotionally from middle school and did need to be called out. Hope the powers-that-be in your school dealt with it appropriately.

But that doesn't constitute "bullying in nursing field" since these girls weren't in the "nursing field". They were still in school. And what you were seeing was school girl behaviour. The type of program made no difference.

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By constantly scoffing at me in class, literally almost laughing out loud when I was asking for clarifications and it culminated with her approaching me and telling me that "she has a problem with me" because I was asking too many questions.

That's not "not liking someone". I was paying the same tuition as she did , no need to bellitle me.

Also, same person harrased my friend who is AA , in clinicals. They constantly snickered and laughed behind her back. SAME people.

Please don't make excuses for them. I wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't serious. Screw bullies :(

I hope you calmly and confidently told her hell would freeze over before you would give a rat's patoot what she thinks of you.

Bullies like weak victims. It really ruins their whole plan when someone stands up to them with cool authority.

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Specializes in nursing education.

From perspective of instructor (who is also a student)-- most of the time if a student has a question, more students (if not most or all of the group) have a similar question and it is good to address as a whole class. In fact many students seem to be glad that another student asked their question. So some things that I might not have made clear are good to discuss with everyone together.

However, sometimes a student- such as yourself, who is ESL/EAL- might have additional questions or need to clarify, which would be good to meet with the instructor to discuss one-on-one. I would suggest making an appointment with your instructor to do this. There is no excuse for your classmate to be rude to you however. But by scheduling a personal meeting you will be sure to get what you need without a classmate's judgment.

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