A little background about me to start--I'm a new nurse (2 years of experience), and I've been in EMS for 6 years. My first job as a nurse was at a smaller community ER, and I was so lucky to have nothing but wonderful, supportive, loving coworkers. They truly became a second family to me. Recently, I uprooted my whole life, moved out of state, and started working in a Level I Trauma Center.
I like the work that I do. I love emergency medicine, and taking care of people during their worst days. It's so satisfying to be able to do something to make somebody feel better. I like meeting people from all walks of life. I'm just not too crazy about the people I'm doing this with. Considering how wonderful my first experience was, this is kind of jarring.
Some things are petty: like nurses inviting everybody around me to go out after work, except for me, and then talking about what a great time it is. If someone is showing a funny picture or meme to the coworkers next to me, and I lean in to see it, someone says, "No, this isn't really for you."
Some things are more upsetting. The other day, when I was crouched in the hallway, attempting to start an IV on a patient in a hallway bed, a coworker leaned over my shoulder, literally breathed down my neck and said, "Oh my God, really? You can't hit that?" A short while later, when I was giving report to the nurse taking over my assignment, that coworker stood in front of me and stared. I asked if I could help him, and he said, "No, I'm just still trying to figure out how you couldn't hit that vein." There were a few nurses who have walked up to me out of the clear blue sky and said, "What? Do you have something to say?" It was getting to the point that I asked my preceptor if I had made somebody angry or something. He said he hadn't heard anything.
What really scares me is that this travel nurse that many of the "in-crowd" disliked had a hallway patient start to really decline, and the patient needed to be moved into a room for more aggressive interventions. People helped her physically move the stretcher into a room, and then they left her to perform/facilitate these interventions by herself. They just went back to the nurses' station. I'm terrified that the other nurses don't like me--and as a result, I won't get help when I need it.
Just reaching out to see if other new nurses have had similar experiences, and what they've done about it. Thanks!
@Buyer Beware, I'm afraid that disclosing my city would reveal my identity, and if any coworkers saw this, I'm afraid of the repercussions. Suffice it to say that I work at a large New England city. If you want to know more, feel free to PM me. í ½í¸Š
Thanks everyone! It helps to know that I'm not alone. I'm trying to just ignore the comments, accept that I'm there to gain experience and not to make friends. It's hard when you don't know anyone in the area, so you literally have no social life or support network. All I do is work and go home. That kind of stinks. I'm trying to be nice to the new residents, the techs, and any new nurses. Hopefully someone will be open to a friendship.
Bullying in nursing is a patient safety issue. Get the he** outa there and find a job in a nice smaller hospital ED where you know you can thrive. Leave the fancy-shmancy Level 1 trauma to the reptiles in the snake-pit. Go live your life and find a place where you can be comfortable and be happy. A nursing job is only a small part of your precious life.
Suffice it to say that I work at a large New England city.
Depending on where you moved from (you mentioned out of state, yes?), it could also be a regional communication thing. Thought quite frankly, they just sound like jerks. I'm sorry. I just uprooted/moved/new job/etc., I know it's difficult. But I have you say you have guts/fortitude/strength in making a move like that! Change is scary, and you flat-out embraced it, claws and all. Be proud of that.
Write down exactly what they said, in quotes, with no interpretation by you, and take it to HR. This is unacceptable workplace behavior.
This. As paidmydues said above, this is a patient safety issue. Another poster above made a good point that welcoming each and every new person will (might) help the culture moving forward. It sounds like you are a strong person, and you probably see the learning you can do working in a level 1 trauma facility- is that your main driver?- but first and foremost, is patient safety, and TPTB should respond to your complaint if it is documented similarly to what you have described above. If not, they are part of the problem and I would get out of there ASAP.
Well, I've never been in a toxic environment that turned around, but some ideas to cope...
If they criticize your care, they are welcome to take the patient and do it their way. Or say , "here, show me!"
If they speak inappropriately in front of a patient, that's and incident report. If they are asked to assist you in an emergency, and refuse, also an incident report. Get your corner of the world well organized and ready for anything. Keep a phone in your pocket if possible, so you can call for RT, MD, anyone when needed if no one comes to help. Check your rooms for emergency O2 and suction, and beware of "borrowing." Though you cant stop it, you can be aware of it. Watch your monitors, since silencing alarms is easier than helping a coworker, and they may not tell you they did it.
Keep a written record of what happens. One snide remark is no big deal, but every damn day, it becomes a hostile work environment. Undermining patient trust, or messing with your equipment is also a big deal if it happens regularly, and your manager should be aware.
Some units/shifts are just like this. I second the advice to get out if you can- being stressed and miserable is not good for you OR your patients, and if they're actually leaving fellow nurses out to dry when their patients crump, that's just... don't work in that if you have any other choice.
If you have no choice (contract, large debts, new lease, whatever), I think the advice about befriending new employees and being kind to people outside the in-group is wise. I once had a job in a deeply toxic ED, where the ugliness started with management and was maintained by a group of nurses who had worked there a long time and were all best frenemies. There were a lot of frustrating and a few scary moments, but by being nice to new nurses and people who weren't in the clique, after a while I found I had my own support system of people who didn't suck, and when the toxic manager and two of the worst queen bees were fired, suddenly my nightmare workplace wasn't so bad. Keep your head down, focus on your work, and don't let the nastiness of others turn you in to one of them, and you might find it improves with time.
What really scares me is that this travel nurse that many of the "in-crowd" disliked had a hallway patient start to really decline, and the patient needed to be moved into a room for more aggressive interventions. People helped her physically move the stretcher into a room, and then they left her to perform/facilitate these interventions by herself. They just went back to the nurses' station. I'm terrified that the other nurses don't like me--and as a result, I won't get help when I need it.
Just reaching out to see if other new nurses have had similar experiences, and what they've done about it. Thanks!
I've seen this happen, only it was a charge nurse that would pull resources away from the nurse she didn't like, so she'd be in the room by herself with a crumping patient. She also had "pets", people that she gave preferential treatment to, by giving them the most coveted assignments and putting others that she didn't like as much in the less desirable area, and then hammering them with ambulances all day/night long. The problem was that this person was besties with the unit manager, so any complaints to the manager just made things worse. Fortunately, I was never on her radar, but I observed this behavior very clearly, and yes, it is scary.
We also had the "cliques"- those little circles of friends that all knew each other outside of work, were friends on Facebook, would go out drinking together, and would ask to be assigned to the same zones all the time. If you had the misfortune of being assigned in the same zone as one of the cliques, you were the outsider and couldn't rely on others to help out when you were drowning, because the cliques would be busy hiding around the corner gossiping, hanging out in the break room on potluck night, or standing around the charge nurse's desk talking about what cute thing their kid did, their vacation plans, horses, dogs, the next marathon they were training for, whether that hot paramedic was single, etc, while all hell was breaking loose around them.
I think the advice in the post above is pretty good. I would avoid going toe to toe with the cliques- that would be like poking the bear. Just go to work and do your job the best you can, while cultivating supportive relationships with others who haven't been sucked into the toxic culture. Alternatively, look for work elsewhere. Not all EDs are like this.
Be careful who you make friends with, go at it slowly. Sometimes people will pretend to be your friend only to find out dirt on you and then share it with everybody. You have friends and support from all of us until you do make trustworthy friends.
I worked in an environment almost exactly like the one you described for 13 months once upon a time. One person - who was supposed to have been my mentor - bullied me incessantly, using my lack of experience as a lever to humiliate me. I tried many of the suggestions listed among the comments here. Talking to management didn't help because the environment was definitely set from the top down (one conversation with my boss's boss ended in her basically telling me that if I felt things were better where I had been before I should just go back there). What helped most was doing my best to be helpful to new hires coming after me. I grew a cadre of allies.
But the daily pressure wore me out emotionally and physically. When I let my boss know I was quitting, she didn't even ask why she just said, "okay I'll tell HR". I heard later that every single person who was making my life miserable was gone themselves within two years.
If there was anything I would have done differently, looking back, I would have left earlier, before the torment eroded my self confidence. Either that or doubled down on my competencies so that there could be no room for criticism there.
That actually sounds EXACTLY like my last job. I feel bad for you 😞 People that behave that
way are in the wrong profession in my opinion. It got to the point where they finally beat me down so bad I just let them win. I was angry and very hurt, but also relieved when I didn't have to work there anymore. I know I'm a damn good nurse and they felt threatened by the fact that patients would ask specifically for me and praised me for such good care I gave. I put my wholeheart into the care I give. I love what I do and I can't imagine myself being anything different than a nurse. I am fortunate enough to be moving back to my home state (on the road across country now actually, sitting in a hotel room) and back to MY ER where the docs and fellow nurses know I am competent and know I am a great nurse. Sometimes you just need to walk away from the toxic environment and start over. I'm glad I am able to do that. I wish you all the best and I hope you find it in your heart to do what you need to do. ✌ðŸ¼ï¸âœŒï¸âœŒðŸ¿ï¸âœŒðŸ»ï¸âœŒðŸ¾ï¸
I'll be honest....my first thought when reading this thread title was that someone was going to complain about someone being harsh to them in the ER. After reading your post, I am appalled that someone would treat another co-worker like this.
The ER, especially a Level 1 trauma center, can be a high stress environment with a lot of strong personalities. It is easy for a newer nurse to feel intimidated. Having said that, the attitude of these coworkers is absolutely unacceptable behavior.
My co-worker FRIENDS and I give each other crap all the time when we miss "easy" veins and stuff but never berate anyone like you are describing.
If you have an option to transfer to another department or get another job, I would strongly suggest leaving this toxic environment. If given the opportunity for an exit interview I would be 100% honest in the reasons I was leaving.
I just uprooted/moved/new job/etc., I know it's difficult. But I have you say you have guts/fortitude/strength in making a move like that! Change is scary, and you flat-out embraced it, claws and all. Be proud of that.
MillennialNurse
6 Posts
@Buyer Beware, I'm afraid that disclosing my city would reveal my identity, and if any coworkers saw this, I'm afraid of the repercussions. Suffice it to say that I work at a large New England city. If you want to know more, feel free to PM me. í ½í¸Š
Thanks everyone! It helps to know that I'm not alone. I'm trying to just ignore the comments, accept that I'm there to gain experience and not to make friends. It's hard when you don't know anyone in the area, so you literally have no social life or support network. All I do is work and go home. That kind of stinks. I'm trying to be nice to the new residents, the techs, and any new nurses. Hopefully someone will be open to a friendship.