Do nurses eat their young?

Red Kryptonite · Feb 8, 2015

I am annoyed when I hear the terms bullying and lateral violence. Bullying is a juvenile expression and a often matter of perception. Lateral violence is just a vague and fancy label that diminishes the seriousness of really ugly, cruel behavior.

I thought I was the only one. :up:

EwaAnn · Feb 8, 2015

Dear icuRNmaggie:

I agree with you. Those nurses who abuse other nurses should be reprimanded or even fired. They should not be allowed to work as nurses. Not only should patient abuse not be tolerated. Neither should staff abuse. That is a criminal act towards another human being. The person should be afraid to go to work fearing to be set up for someone else's mistakes. Too many nurses are victim to this kind of treatment.These situations need to investigated more thoroughly.

blondenurse12, MSN, NP · Feb 8, 2015

Is nurses eating their young a universal issue? No but it certainly seems to happen more often than it should. I had first hand experience and let me tell you, it was very difficult and I thought about killing myself at the time. I worked almost full time as a nursing student, got a nursing externship in a busy level II trauma center during my last summer of school, and graduated with honors. I was hired at a level I trauma center before I even graduated. They had expanded their department and hired many new nurses. During the 2.5 months I was there I had 16 preceptors.

It was difficult to get consistent feedback and a few of the older nurses believed because I was young, I did not belong on the unit. I was physically assaulted once and verbally assaulted on a daily basis. I was slapped in the med room by a nurse while another nurse blocked the door. It was so bad that I actually had a patient lodge a complaint with management because of the way one of my preceptors treated me in front of them. Despite the complaint, my manager offered me a choice: go to a different unit or quit. I had stuck it out for so long and I have never backed down from anything in my life. I had to make a choice before I left his office and I quit. On the way home I felt so defeated, I thought of just running my car off a bridge.

Luckily I got a new job two weeks later where I did my externship and I went on to become the nightshift charge nurse there. I think that especially in this tumultuous time where older nurses are getting laid off or disrespected by management, there is animosity bred towards younger nurses and it can lead to abuse.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

I believe you blondenurse. What happened to you was not just abuse, it was criminal. That was unlawful confinement, assault and battery.

You should write out your experience, name names and send it to the CEO, CNO and HR Director. They need to be informed why new grads leave and why no one will work there as well as any patient safety concerns related to the abuse you had to endure. Maybe you will be saving another young and powerless new nurse from being tormented. Expose them and the middle management that permitted it to happen.

Evil flourishes when good people do nothing. Edmund Burke

EwaAnn · Feb 8, 2015

Dear Blondnurse12:

OMG!! I can't believe that is what you have gone through. Too bad you didn't have a signed statement from the patient of what they saw and took it to administration, news and the police. I worked in nursing home I had a older nurse who was an LPN. She never laid a hand on me but she came into the room asking me what I was doing. I was doing a treatment for a resident. She called me a liar in front of two residents. I had no reason to lie about doing a treatment. She was yelling at me about something I don't recall now what is was all about. On top of that she would not let me have any of the charts I needed to chart on. Well anyway I told the nursing supervisor who thank heavens was on my side. She sent me home and made the LPN finish of shift off on her own. She later was terminated

She was the kind that sat at the nursing station drank coffee and ate donuts and ran her mouth off.

I am glad that you didn't run your car off the bridge. I hope you a nursing job where you are happy at.

I have been in nursing for 30+ years. I would never dream of slapping anyone. I had patients/residents scratch, punch and kick me. Plus they hit me in the jaw ( which I had operated on 35 years before). Years before I don't think anything would be done if a nurse was abused by a patient/resident except maybe apologize for it. Now they might investigate or at least I hope so.

In 2012 I had a resident hit me in the jaw. He had a habit of being aggressive because his dementia. I filed a incident report. Do you think they did anything about that "NO". Nurses/staff can't hit patients/residents and yet they the patients/residents have every right to hit us. Being that this resident was aggressive, they didn't do much to fix his behavior regardless of the charting. You do the right measures and yet nothing. Nursing maybe a caring profession but yet a brutal one at that. The pay maybe good but the aggravation ain't worth it.

EwaAnn · Feb 8, 2015

I agree with icuRNmaggie:

Name the staff that did this do you including management because they think they are above the law. Not to mention the mistakes they have made that put patients lives in danger, It's amazing how some can get away with it while others get disciplined for their wrongful actions and lose their jobs for it. They too should lose their jobs. They are bitter, vengeful people taking their anger out on you/others that don't deserve it. It's not too late!!

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

Slapped at work by a fellow employee?? Good God, that's beyond reporting this up the food chain. You should have called the police and filed an assault report. I am so sorry you went through that.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

Slapped at work by a fellow employee?? Good God, that's beyond reporting this up the food chain. You should have called the police and filed an assault report. I am so sorry you went through that.

:yes:

That would've been a call to police and a report to my malpractice insurance carrier a lawyer and the media ...no job is worth it. :no:

Calling one out may be the hardest thing; but remember, nurses are advocates; the best advocate you can be to anyone is YOU. :yes:

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

It may have taken a lot of courage for blondnurse just to post what happened to her as a new nurse.

There is a lot of self blame and shame attached to being targeted and attacked.

She can do what works for her, but I can tell you it feels good to stop holding it all inside and speak to someone who has the authority to put a stop to it.

enkwanta · Feb 8, 2015

Not only do nurses eat their young but there is growing concern that a number of newly graduated nurses leave the profession or change jobs because of a lack of effective peer mentoring support. I am very interested in this topic and I am exploring it for a doctoral degree thesis.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

The phrase nurses eat their young is vague and an insult to all of us who put a lot of effort into helping new nurses become successful.

I would like to see that expression banned from the English language.

When I was new at this, I encountered some very rude and crude people, but the vast majority were kind and decent. I remember wondering is this what they mean by nurses eating their young. It wasn't; it was just rudeness from some people who had a bias against BSNs.

Is the phrase a self fulfilling prophecy, which is a belief that becomes true because we have been told it's the norm?

Yes, it does happen, but my sense is that the percentage of new nurses who are abused to the point of it becoming a patient safety issue versus the number of new nurses who are in a supportive environment is not that high.

I would like to see a research study done with a valid sample that defines this kind of abuse and the prevalence in the types of units and hospitals.

If I had to offer a conjecture, I would guess that nurses lash out at each other the most, and the professional misconduct is never addressed, in understaffed and poorly managed units new units and Med Surg units.

blondenurse12, MSN, NP · Feb 10, 2015

Well in case anyone is wondering how it turned out (since I really didn't elaborate on the events afterwards), I did write a letter to the manager as well as to the director of human resources. I met with the director of human resources to discuss it because I didn't want any other nurse to have to deal with what I did. It was all a disingenuous display. He listened to me and told me "well, honey, you're really young and sweet, the ER isn't the right place for someone like you. I hope you can take away that lesson from all of this". I was angry and contacted a lawyer who contacted the hospital but they "couldn't find" my file. I'm sure they destroyed that ASAP.

As far as the assault goes, I didn't even really think about it at the time. I was too terrified because they were screaming in my face and being a 21 year old, the thought of contacting the authorities didn't even cross my mind. It probably wouldn't have done anything besides make it worse for me since they made sure no one could see into the med room. It would have been my word against theirs.