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.
"Nurses feel oppressed at the bottom of this health care hierarchy, says Griffin, who has studied the phenomenon. Borrowing from social science, Griffin says oppressed people commit acts of passive aggression. She calls these acts nurse-on-nurse violence (also known as lateral violence)."
Thanks my teacher has been talking about this lateral violence for the last few weeks. I wanted some more info. on it and here you came with this link.
Thanks my teacher has been talking about this lateral violence for the last few weeks. I wanted some more info. on it and here you came with this link.
Interesting - when I think of this, it occurred to me that the description of "lateral violence" in this article is not unlike the so-called "mommy wars" - there are three dueling groups of women - moms who stay at home with the kids, women who have to work, and women who chose to work. I didn't dream this up, but I have noticed it. Working women resent and look down on stay at home mothers, while secretly being envious, and so on. What is all the warfare about, anyway? It's the same story - like nurses, mothers (who may be a nurse as well) have a important job, and when they mess up, society has to deal with it. The responsibility of nurses is awesome, but like mothers, the respect doesn't equal the responsibility. Thanks for the link!
nurse on nurse violence is "horizontal violence"; it can be verbal or physical. lateral violence occurs when management, doctors, and/or hospital administration gets in on the abuse of nurses. i have worked at hospitals when doctors are physically violent toward nurses. these doctors were mostly of the islamic faith.
in many islamic communities here in america, domestic violence is a real and growing issue. in the hospital setting it is easy for this type of abuser to freely act out. three reasons, most nurses do not stand up for themselves, the violence is carried out in the absence of witnesses, and employers fail to protect the nurses.
nurse on nurse violence is "horizontal violence"; it can be verbal or physical. lateral violence occurs when management, doctors, and/or hospital administration gets in on the abuse of nurses. i have worked at hospitals when doctors are physically violent toward nurses. these doctors were mostly of the islamic faith.
in many islamic communities here in america, domestic violence is a real and growing issue. in the hospital setting it is easy for this type of abuser to freely act out. three reasons, most nurses do not stand up for themselves, the violence is carried out in the absence of witnesses, and employers fail to protect the nurses.
interesting idea. not that i agree. would you consider starting a new thread?
Interesting idea. Not that I agree. Would you consider starting a new thread?
Woodenpug:
Good idea - on this thread, the discussion has more or less been about whether or not the slogan is true, and to what extent it is true. Some thread members believe that if one "accents the positive" everything will be just peachy. I disagree. There are many things to discuss, most importantly being documentation and solutions. Are there solutions? Blatant events are one thing, whether it involves physical or psychological abuse, but what about a more subtle issue, such as ongoing negative comments? The "eat their young" part isn't entirely accurate, because the "young" part of the slogan can not only refer to young students. What about old students, recent employees, and so on? There are situations I would have liked to report, such as being screamed at in front of patients by an instructor. But to whom? The instructor? We can all agree the "lateral violence" exists, though it does vary widely.
Wouldn't it be nice if researchers took this on more often? Though research doesn't do much in itself, it validates the phenomenon.
Some thread members believe that if one "accents the positive" everything will be just peachy. I disagree.
Call me one that want's to accent the positive. However, I don't think that by thinking positively about our profession that means we ignore issues. I believe in tackling issues and confronting issues head on.
However, telling students and potential nurses who are considering the profession "don't go into nursing because nurses eat their young and it's full of constant backbiting......" doesn't help to solve anything. It's surrendering to a stereotype and fullfills the idea that we're helpless victums of mean old trolls and that is just the way it is.
Call me one that want's to accent the positive. However, I don't think that by thinking positively about our profession that means we ignore issues. I believe in tackling issues and confronting issues head on.
However, telling students and potential nurses who are considering the profession "don't go into nursing because nurses eat their young and it's full of constant backbiting......" doesn't help to solve anything. It's surrendering to a stereotype and fullfills the idea that we're helpless victums of mean old trolls and that is just the way it is.
Absolutely - to say "that's the way it is" is not productive. The issue of stereotypes is such a conundrum. On one hand, stereotypes become stereotypes because of real situations. But on the other, basing one's beliefs on stereotypes can obscure what might be right under our noses.
Our rigidity of thinking can be such that we experience things that aren't even there. One solution is to figure out what's driving the stereotype in the first place. One true thing, at least from my perspective, is there is no one to turn to if one does encounter situations that ought to not exist in the workplace. We can all agree that not one of us wants to work in a situation where we feel under siege. Yes, of course, there is stress in nursing. It's unfortunate when the stress comes from the very people, our co-workers, who could ameliorate the built-in stress.
When I worked mental health, we assessed for the patient's ability to abstract. We'd use a common phrase like "a rolling stone gathers no moss." As long at the patient did not give a literal interpretation, the patient was considered to have passed that part of the assessment.
Potential nurses who are not able to abstract probably need some help first then should consider entering nursing school.
"Nurses eat their young" - describes a very real situation and gives fair warning.
Specializes in Home Health, ICU,Rehab,Med-Surg,Hospice.
"nurses do not stand up for themselves, the violence is carried out in the absence of witnesses, and employers fail to protect the nurses"
Great observation, SueBee. As long as our country turns a blind eye to the Islamic tradition of treating women as slaves, this sort of abuse may become a silent epidemic in small town hospitals across this nation.
When I worked mental health, we assessed for the patient's ability to abstract. We'd use a common phrase like "a rolling stone gathers no moss." As long at the patient did not give a literal interpretation, the patient was considered to have passed that part of the assessment.
Potential nurses who are not able to abstract probably need some help first then should consider entering nursing school.
"Nurses eat their young" - describes a very real situation and gives fair warning.
Woodenpug: You will enjoy this - upon entering nursing school, we were given a "critical thinking" test. My score was the highest possible. Before our third semester, we were given a similar test - my score had gone down. Abstraction is one of many higher level "cognitive" skills. One needs a steel trap of a brain to be a nurse. Even so, a real critical thinker may often assess the nursing situation and say "***********" The concept of a "nursing diagnosis," vs. "medical diagnosis" is to keep nurses in their place. Yet another conundrum - the doctor treats the disease, the nurse treats the entire person. Yet the disease is part of that person. Let's say you then move on to be a NP - throw out your entire concept of a nursing diagnosis. Here's another fly in the ointment - nursing is taught more and more from the theoretical nursing diagnosis model - so new nurses have a different kind of training. There's so much brouhaha about a very simple concept - the patient has a problem - you figure out what it is and treat it. Then you determine if it helped or not. Duh.
A nurse eating his/her young describes a real situation.
"Nurses eat their young" does not describe the profession of nursing that I am a part of, that I give my blood, sweat and tears too.
Agree to disagree. :)
I would like to refer you to my previous statement about abstraction. It is too often the reality. Once we correct the situation, the phrase will die. You will not correct the problem by burying your head in the sand.
AmericanRN
396 Posts
Thanks my teacher has been talking about this lateral violence for the last few weeks. I wanted some more info. on it and here you came with this link.