Done it All.... Now THIS.

[Bezoars]

So I have done everything in Med/Surg, IVF Lab, Endo, ER Overflow.... Now I'm in Perinatal Float and they are training me to the NICU. The staff there is well known through the hospital as "clique'y" and difficult and many have been there for a hundred years so they pretty much run the unit. Anyway, I have been warned and warned that I won't like it. Oh sure, I'll like the work, but the staff will make me want to run.

Well, I've been up there for a month now. About half the staff is friendly... the rest are pretty chilly. They don't acknowledge me or even look me in the eye. Nothing. I'm pretty easy to get along with though... just layed back/passive. At first, I hated going in there. It's hard to deal with the chilly reception for 12 hours a shift. People are starting to warm up to me now. I'm liking it more and more. The work is pretty cool and totally different then anything I've done thus far.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

Could be worse. You could be stuck on my unit.

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

Bortaz, that good, huh?

[nocturnalnurse]

lol Bortaz! My goal is just to outlive everyone else. I'm young. :) Those "chilly" nurses are nearing retirement! But in all reality, I've been there. They did warm up after some time. I think they get so used to "running people off" that when someone sticks around they are surprised and then get over themselves! lol

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

If things go as planned this month, im going to let them run me off.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Are you coming to work with me? We only bite on Mondays with a full moon lol lol

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I would if I could! Though I don't know where you are...you could be up in the frozen tundra with a slough of Yankees.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I am so sorry to say that this can be a prevalent issue within any nursing unit. I have known of several NICUs in the area with this problem. My particular unit had a severe issue in recent history which confounded a succession of managers. The nasty group managed to convince themselves (and many others) that only certain people were fit to care for the more complex infants. It was particularly insidious because this group ran so many off so many who wanted to increase their skill level that eventually this group really did hold quite the monopoly on skill.

It took concerted, coordinated effort on the part of leadership to break this up. Not without loud protest though mind you. I will not say the issue is completely resolved but greatly improved.

Great thing was that many of these events were coming to a head as I worked my way through the management assignments in my RN to BSN program. The recounting of the actions of the "nasty group" and the efforts on the part of leadership gave me incredible fodder for weekly discussion postings as well as some longer written assignments. Gotta find that silver lining right?

As for outlasting groups like this. . . I'm not trying to discourage you but the group I described above was influential for quite a few years. You were off their radar unless you tried to advance your skills. Unless you made it into their social group first, there was no hope of ever becoming proficient in the more advanced skills. They would never help, support or encourage someone outside their clique. They would gossip about how you "killed that kid" or let your kid "blow her head", or "hey, come look at this x-ray, can you believe how she positioned this kid?".

Some of this group left after changes started taking place, some became less vocal and some even changed their ways/rhetoric. The important thing will be for those of us who are long-term there to make sure we don't let history repeat itself.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Dude I do live in the tundra lol Negative temps are starting to feel normal lol

As for cliques, unfortunately they do exist. We have a small one who are in the inner circle, the type that get away with the stuff that would get the rest of us written up. They didn't like me when I was charge nurse/management because I didn't play games.

[nocturnalnurse]

I dunno I very much like the celebration party a few of us "new" nurses threw when one of "them" retired recently. Spider-Man cake and margaritas.

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

One of those type of nurses retired just before I started, to my everlasting relief. I ran afoul of her when I was a student intern. That experience had almost turned me off of NICU altogether. Occasionally, I hear whispers that she wants to come back as contingent.

[ToughingItOut]

Don't take it personally. I once asked a fellow NICU nurse how her new PRN gig was working out at a neighboring hospital. The response? "The unit is great! Of course there are ****** NICU nurses wherever you go, but that's expected." I have also heard that "the smaller the patient the tighter the nurse's sphicter."