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We have all heard the saying "Nurses eat their young". Do you feel this is true?
Please feel free to read and post any comments that you have right here in this discussion
Thanks.
This article sums it up for me... ?
http://www.dcardillo.com/articles/eatyoung.html
QuoteThis 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.
While doing my clinicals I have run across some Nurses that did not want to be bothered with students. Some of my friends who have started work have had preceptors who were outright mean. I think that some nurses just dont want to be in postions where they have to teach or interact with students. The problem is that they cant verbalize these feelings at most hospitals. So they hold it in and take it out on others. Again this only some nurses
I realize that is easier said than done, but it does work...I am living proof. Did a lot of that because I am too d@#$ stubborn to let anyone run me off! Now the good thing is, some of these same folks couldn't be better to me, my face at least. I still don't have a lot of trust for them, but I know how to work with them and pretty well know their strengths and weaknesses.
One of the things about nursing in a large hospital is that we work with so many different people and personalities. It is never the same crew any two nights. That can be a very good thing, just as it can be difficult to get the feel for the best way to work with so many of them and so many combinations. There are leadership/cooperation patterns that are given in any work situation, but on our units the patterns are always changing with the scheduling.
Now I had a particulary nasty mean spirited patient last night who was mad at me for not letting him go out to smoke and not letting the tech take him out to smoke. He was a new admit and on a load of pain meds. He was ambulatory but supposedly in a lot of pain. I didn't feel it was safe and told him he could not go. He later apoligized for being so rude, then called the Ast. nurse manager asking how to write me up for not giving him his meds in a timely manner!!! He told her I sat at the computer 3 hours doing nothing while he was needing his meds. He did have to wait a long time for most of it, but there were a lot of things happening. What a crock???
She seemed very understanding to me and I don't think I am in any trouble. She was very supportive and had seen my interactions with the fellow and thought if anything I was too sweet to him. She knew he was lying and she knew about the smoking issues. We had bent over backward catering to him. Brought him coffee, cokes, burger and fries. I would not have the tech to take him out in a wheelchair to smoke and i wouldn't let him go out by himself. :flamesonb
This Assist Nurse Manager is one who had given me a very hard time over little tiny issues like not updating the book timely, yelling at me for not plugging in my computer when it alarmed and I was trying to do trach care on a vented patient, not answering my questions directly, just lots of little stuff. Lately she has been pretty cool, joking and cutting up with me a good bit with no undue criticizm. We will see if anything comes of this. If she wants to be a jerk she will have a great opportunity. :grn:
Mahage
Just wondering- And I know each and every one of you has heard it at least once:
Does anyone else find the phrase "nurses eat their young" appalling? What i think is even more appalling is when a seasoned nurse says it with glee, then recounts a story of how they made a new graduate cry. Call me an idealist, but I thought that we were all in this together. As patient care is our common goal, wouldn't it behoove a seasoned nurse to mentor that new grad instead of trying to crush her or him?
Never heard the phrase before, though Im not surprised considering how many sob stories I read on this site. Still, its human nature to abuse those in your power if you have been abused yourself. So I dont think its unique to nurses or around simply for the sake of tradition.
On the other hand, they could just do it to weed out the weak. If you cant take a little abuse, why are you in nursing?
never heard the phrase before, though im not surprised considering how many sob stories i read on this site. still, its human nature to abuse those in your power if you have been abused yourself. so i dont think its unique to nurses or around simply for the sake of tradition.on the other hand, they could just do it to weed out the weak. if you cant take a little abuse, why are you in nursing?
certainly never to be abused!! :stone
i hope you're not suggesting the two ... nursing and abuse ... go hand in hand.
that if one enters the nursing profession they should automatically expect to be abused?!
[/b]certainly never to be abused!! :stone
i hope you're not suggesting the two ... nursing and abuse ... go hand in hand.
that if one enters the nursing profession they should automatically expect to be abused?!
i think he was just implying that we get tough love from our nursing instructors in order to be immune to the hardship and stresses of nursing profesion,he wasnt literally meaning abuse as of mental abuse...
I loathe and despise the phrase as it allows the bad nurses to degrade us all.
There is a longstanding thread in the General Nursing forum, where by moderator agreement, we contain all these "Nurses Eat Their Young" discussion and I'll move this thread there, so we can continue the conversation. Carry on. :)
faetastic
10 Posts
I admit that I did not read all of the posts so my apologies if this has already been said, but...
New nurses seem to get eaten by everyone!
Not all nurses eat their young, some are absolutely amazing and will take a new person under their wing and teach them, and those are the nurses that were truly meant to be. I work in an ECU and have found that it is NOT necessarily the nurses that eat their young, but the burned-out care aides...They can be more brutal than anything.
The only person that can change how a person is treated is the person who is being wronged... If you feel that someone is picking on you at work, talk to them, explain to them how they are making you feel, and if that doesn't work...Take it to the next level up...And if that doesn't work, there are always more rungs on that ladder. :)