Eating Their Young

[futurelnd]

Hey everyone!

I'm curious- which nursing specialty do you think has more nurses that eat their young and is more likely to have a toxic work environment? And why?

[LetLoveNReasonUnite]

Also... to answer your question, I do not think any workplace is immune. The ones that do not value their employees will see a lot more instances of bullying. There's a saying that goes "When someone bullies you, there is someone wrong with them..." The problem, I think, is they feel they are not valued. Anyone that does would not engage in this absolutely reprehensible behaviour. I think the known presence of bullying perhaps sets the stage for increased anxieties of new nurses so that perhaps instances that do not constitute true "bullying" are construed as such.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Maybe it's time sometime noticed a trend with this nurses eat their young crap. If so many people feel this way it cannot be an invalid feeling. I am going to be posting a video on here (as long as administration allows it) talking about this very topic. The hypocrisy of being a 'caring profession' that does this to it's young is despicable and shows a complete lack of empathy.

Speaking of hypocrisy, why is it that the bedside nurses being scolded for their lack of empathy and compassion are the only ones who never get any?

[Davey Do]

Just keep trollin', trollin', trollin', trollin'.

I love that song.

[MikeyT-c-IV]

OMG!!!!! Do a ******* search and read up.

[Emergent, RN]

Where's Ruby? She always shows up on these threads. I hope she's okay!

[Julius Seizure]

Maybe it's time sometime noticed a trend with this nurses eat their young crap. If so many people feel this way it cannot be an invalid feeling. I am going to be posting a video on here (as long as administration allows it) talking about this very topic. The hypocrisy of being a 'caring profession' that does this to it's young is despicable and shows a complete lack of empathy.

I see that you are a new member. Have you been a long time reader, or are you new to these forums? I ask because don't anticipate your future video post to work out well, especially considering that you are a new member. People are already resistant to the topic you plan to post a video about, and having it come from somebody who will be perceived as having just "waltzed in here" is only going to provoke negative and defense responses.

I hope that if you choose to post that, especially soon, that you consider exploring both sides of the topic fairly. If not, I'm doubtful that the post will lead to much good discussion at all.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Hey everyone!

I'm curious- which nursing specialty do you think has more nurses that eat their young and is more likely to have a toxic work environment? And why?

Nurses don't eat their young.

The specialty with the most toxic work environment is going to be the one with the most new grads obsessing over being eaten. I've noticed that those most concerned about finding bullies everywhere they look are most likely to BE the bullies.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Assuming that this is a serious post...

I find that the more stressful the environment, and/or the more

saturated with females (yes I'm serious)... the more likely you

will have nurses "eating their young", as well as any other nurse,

new or seasoned, who opens themselves up to being easily bullied

by having a more passive personality.

I believe med-surge, ICU, and ER to be the worst areas for this.

Don't look now, but your misogyny is showing.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

If I owned All Nurses, I would make using the phrase "eating their young, NETY, eating their students," etc, against TOS because it's become such a trite, overused phrase used to describe anything from actually bullying to not inviting people to lunch, to valid negative feedback and constructive criticism, to not being perky, to not backing down to the actual bully (the new nurse or student), to anything the "victim" just doesn't like. It pretty much means everything and therefore, nothing.

On another forum I visit, we are now forbidden from using the word "troll." They even have a filter to keep you from saying it, like they do for profanity. It's too bad we can't do that here with this constant whining about being "eaten." People should be forced to quit using that term as a crutch or excuse for their own overly sensitive feelings or entitlements. Real bullying happens, but it's far less common than people would have you believe. Same goes for NETY.

For my first forty years of nursing, I saw two bullies. I'm not sure what percentage of the general population consists of bullies, but certainly there are no more bullies in nursing than anywhere else. Lately, I'm forced to admit that there are more and more bullies out there . . . but they aren't the senior nurses munching on newbies. It's the students and new grads constantly crying about bullies and how they've been "victimized". It's the newbies rushing to report their preceptors, charge nurses and other senior nurses for "picking on them", like the original poster of that other thread who went to her instructor to "report" every interaction with the senior nurse that she interpreted as "snarky". Since the OP seemed to have a major chip on her shoulder, I'm guessing there was a lot of running to the instructor. These new young bullies seem to feel that everyone should be nice to THEM, but they have no obligation to be nice to anyone else and seem to lack any idea of what "professionalism" means in the context of work relationships.

Yes, there are bullies out there -- more bullies in the past year than I've seen in the previous 39 years. Many more bullies. But the bullies seem most likely to be the new grad or student who is most invested in FINDING bullies everywhere they look.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Maybe it's time sometime noticed a trend with this nurses eat their young crap. If so many people feel this way it cannot be an invalid feeling. I am going to be posting a video on here (as long as administration allows it) talking about this very topic. The hypocrisy of being a 'caring profession' that does this to it's young is despicable and shows a complete lack of empathy.

Someone has noticed a trend with this "Nurses Eat Their Young" crap. So many people feels this way for a variety of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with nurses eating their young. In fact, the majority of bullies I've seen in my career have been newbies trying to (or succeeding in) tearing a chunk off the older nurse whom they've decided isn't NICE enough to them. We've had threads here from newbies complaining that they've been bullied because the preceptor declined to discuss her family issues with the newbie she met last week while "she talks to all her OLD friends about it!", because the preceptor declined to have lunch with the newbie, because the newbie encountered the senior nurse in the lobby at 0630 and "she never said hello" (never mind that the newbie didn't say hello, either and the senior nurse might not have even noticed her), because the newbie wasn't invited to go to the baby shower for a nurse she's never met, because the newbie was told that she needs to come to work on time and she didn't like the way she was told, because after signing multiple performance plans the newbie was terminated "for no good reason", because the newbie did not understand that adding an extra zero on an insulin dose (especially an IV insulin dose) is a really big deal and thought the preceptor was being unjustly picky in criticizing her harshly the third time in a 12-hour shift that this happened . . . the list goes on and on. Do a search for some of the threads here if you doubt me.

Usually, there are clues in the posts as to why the poster may have difficulty in getting along with her new colleagues. Referring to them as "old dogs who can't learn new tricks," "old dinosaurs who ought to just retire and get out of my way so I can rock the ER," "mean old biter nurses" and "crusty old bats" might possibly be clues as to the identity of the REAL bullies in those situations.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Where's Ruby? She always shows up on these threads. I hope she's okay!

Ruby has intermittent internet issues.

[thetruth7]

interesting video i found earlier.