This vile expression implies that experienced nurses do not treat new nurses kindly. My first problem with the statement is that it’s a generalization implying that all nurses are like that. Interestingly, whenever I hear someone utter the expression, I always say, “I don’t do that. Do you?” The person making the statement always says, “Oh no, I don’t, but many others do.” I’ve never heard even one nurse own up to doing this, although some nurses are willing to indict the entire profession. Every time that statement is repeated, it causes harm and casts a dark shadow on every nurse. Say anything enough, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Please note that by moderator consensus some of the "Nurses Eat Their Young" posts will be referred to this thread where there can be an ongoing discussion, rather than several threads saying the same thing.
To students and new grads that are having problems with nurses, please take a moment to read the above link. Is it really the entire profession, every single nurse, or do you need help with one or a few nurses? We will be glad to help you in dealing with those people, but let bury the phrase "Nurses Eat Their Young".
To experienced nurses who claim our profession eats it's young, please take a moment to read it as well and think about it. Also take time to teach, be friendly and nurturing to the new nurse and students on your unit.
Specializes in telemetry, medsurg, homecare, psychiatry.
Seriously, I was just joking around.
It's all good.
YOU will encounter many people doing many things many different ways. Regardless of what you may have been taught. My advice is to stick to what you were taught, while keeping your skills current. Refer back to updated nursing texts, and hospital policies, and procedure manuals.
This is something you could use to help you to defend yourself against those that "think they do everything the right way because, that is the only way they know how to."
I'm a student and I've meat a variety of different types of nurses. Some just SUCK and need another profession. Most of mine, luckily, have been either okay or fantastic.
Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.
after my surgery, the night nurse "milked my JP" and it was the most painful part of my entire post-op....I screamed....I told the day nurse about it and her reply was "Oh, that's Nancy, she is rough on everyone" How nice to know !!!!!!
No, I will never and have never done that..............especially after being on the receiving end......
Nurses eat on the run, they eat while standing in the med room, they eat while taking their first bathroom break seven hours into the shift, they eat cookies as they fly down the hall and hope no one sees the food on the med cart, they eat fast food because it's cheap and fast even if it's not healthy, they eat Slim-Fast even when they're not overweight because it's fast, they eat out on their rare days off because they don't have the energy needed for domestic chores like cooking, but they don't, don't, don't, don't eat their young.
Most nurses don't have any experience outside of nursing, particularly in any kind of business environment. They expect a nurturing, kinder, gentler work environment because that is what they are trained to provide their patients. They are surprised to encounter all different kinds of personalities, some of which don't mesh well with their own. Just like they would find in the real world. For every nurse who supposedly eats her young, these same nurses can cite another nurse who was a patient, superb mentor. Just like in the rest of the real world. They can't believe that nursing administration as well as staff nurses don't have every mechanism in place to make their transition into nursing a dream instead of a bumpy ride, not understanding their own role in creating and maintaining a professional work environment. These nurses expect an ideal workplace, thinking it is somehow a realistic goal in a bitterly imperfect world, and look for someone to blame when they find Shangri-La does not exist.
The very suggestion that nurses even *have* young to whom they haven't given birth is a sexist carryover, despite its seemingly innocuous meaning. We are not the mothers of less experienced nurses, and our obligation to these nurses is professional, not maternal. Can you imagine accountants or construction workers or lawyers talking about their "young?"
There are as many arrogant young nurses who disrespect their elders' experience and accumulated wisdom as there are old birds who are intimidated by new blood and new ideas. It's not a factor of age, but rather of the individual coming to the position. To perpetuate the mantra, "nurses eat their young," is to give continuing life to a stereotype and to reward a thoughtless naivete about the world of work, while providing a disservice to those veteran nurses who must repeatedly defend themselves against unfounded unreason, while bringing us all down as a profession worthy of serious respect.
There are many experienced nurses who do not follow up with the new trends in nursing and sometimes do things as they were taught years ago. And an"arrogant young nurse" may know as much as an older experienced nurse and sometimes catch someone else's mistakes. The new comer just lacks experience. I have had experiences with different preceptors. I think that some people just better teachers than the others. Those who remember that they were students and inexperienced nurses and relate to your experience treat you, inexperienced nurse better, than snobby experienced nurses who think that they know it all. It is OK to hold someone's hand if they need it, even if you are not their mother.
Specializes in med surg, geriatric, clinical, pool.
I happen to have a perfect example of patients & teaching methods!
Yesturday we had an inmate that c/o pain w/ urination & a headache, he is a trustee that works in the kitchen, the night nurse gave him a motrin order & a ua cup for a dip, we received his urine on days & the new nurse of 1 yr and only 6 mths in our facility dipped his urine & said wow Lori look at this, he had 4 + blood, leuks, 3+ protein, so on & so forth, he was 54 yrs old, no medical problems no medications, i told her we would call the Dr. in a bit to get an ATB for this uti, in the mean time we finished more work, one of the officers at the pod where this inmate is housed called & said Inmate xx says he isnt feeling well & doesnt look so well either, so i instructed him to bring him to medical for an exam, i took her in the room with me, she took a temp orally @ 96.5, he was groggy, i asked him questions about date time etc. she looked at me stranger after each question, (checking for A&O but she didnt understand why?)he was disoriented & lethargic, i told him to get up on the exam table & lay down i wanted an ekg on him,he was HOT to touch, he denied medical problems but when i pulled up his shirt to put the leads on , he had a "zipper" right up his sternum....... and another scar over his left breast, i inquired about what the scars where from he said the breast scar is from a stabbing but didnt recall the sternum scar, the told me that his symptoms had been 2 days long, started Tuesday............... (problem being it was sunday)...... i told her he was hot to touch, she said but Lori his temp read 96.5, i said well get an axillary temp then, her eyes bugged out of her head as his temp climbed to 105.4, he was tachy @ 148 and resp labored @ 26. EKG just showed Tachycardia w/ an old MI............the ambulance was called, in the mean time i instructed her to get cool compresses under his arms, groin & head, she said what about Ice packs? I said hmmmmmmmm Jenn you tell me, Tachy @ 148 what damage could a "shock" like ice do for this man? i told her to think about it, she got the cold compresses the medics came to transport him to the ER, after he was gone she said, WOW, i learned so much.............. in a short time.......... Its his urinary tract infection right? thats why he is confused & his heart rate is through the roof & his temp is so high? I said BINGO!, now why didnt we ice him? she said. well, i thought about it, it would have shocked his heart & probably caused an irregular heart beat right? i said BINGO!!
Coaching new staff is a great way to get them to learn, watch them, guide them & lead them, have patience with them. They don't have the 18 yrs experience that we do, they are fresh, they need nurtured like our children do as they grow up!
Praise them when they make great choices or finds, coach them when they don't, they learn better that way, atleast thats what i have experienced in my 18 yrs of precepting new staff & Nursing Students, & teaching at the Police academy!
The inmate was admitted for Urosepsis, and is recovering on IV Leviquin! He will return in a few days, but the lessons that she learned that day were ones that she wont forget, you can teach without making them feel stupid..
Remember we were all New Nurses once!!!! Have a heart.:heartbeat... Teach Smart!
You must be one in 10 thousand nurses to be so good to a newbee! I got nothing but 2 charge nurses wanting to write me up constantly. They ate all night and never and I mean never got up off their dufesses to see about anything. One did teach me how to change a trach while the other said, "no she is not ready for that yet".
While another charge nurse from another floor called me onto the elevator one night and filled me in that "I better leave or transfer to another floor because this certain nurse has it in for me and will not leave you alone until you do."
I stayed anyway and ended getting fired over an elderly women dying after radical surgery while I was off the floor with one of my other new admits.....I got a job working agency and loved it!
Later I got on staff and worked on a subacute floor. I was the only LPN working 3-11 and had RNs under me! I didn't really like that because my pay didn't go up, but I had the responsibility of "calling the shots" sometimes that I didn't like, but it "grew me up" and I certainly learned a lot. I had already taken my RN pre reqs so I had a lot more knowledge than most LPNs did.
I haven't worked in 10 yrs and really thinking about going back, but now it scars me! I know what goes on where as then I was willing to put up with it. At 55 it would be hard I think, any comments?
Sounds like you are a good nurse. I think you should come back into nursing if you would like to. It's random whether you find work in a nourishing, good environment. But move on, if you don't.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
there are many experienced nurses who do not follow up with the new trends in nursing and sometimes do things as they were taught years ago. and an"arrogant young nurse" may know as much as an older experienced nurse and sometimes catch someone else's mistakes. the new comer just lacks experience. i have had experiences with different preceptors. i think that some people just better teachers than the others. those who remember that they were students and inexperienced nurses and relate to your experience treat you, inexperienced nurse better, than snobby experienced nurses who think that they know it all. it is ok to hold someone's hand if they need it, even if you are not their mother.
i think the poster you were quoting was trying to make the point that you are now in the work world; your co-workers do not "owe" you a smooth transition or unlimited handholding. you need to be responsible for your own transition, your own orientation. some people are better teachers; just as others are better learners. but we don't always get to choose our preceptors or our orientees. so rather than complain that "nurses eat their young," you'd be better off taking responsibility for your part in the interaction.
("you" not meaning you personally, of course, but rather the generic "you.")
Specializes in med surg, geriatric, clinical, pool.
Queen,
Sounds like you are a good nurse. I think you should come back into nursing if you would like to. It's random whether you find work in a nourishing, good environment. But move on, if you don't.
Kevin
I did have some really good days making those who could not do anything be able to walk over to me months later and give me a hug.
Mahage, LPN
376 Posts
I think maybe Linnas was sleepy! I think MEN was a typo!
Mahage