Eating our young and more...

[campbellrn68]

I am attempting to put together some of the scary situations I have experienced in my nursing career. Not the patient scary things but the nurse on nurse issues. The drama, the back stabbing, the blame game. I have a list of them including a nurse manager fabricating a med error (determined unfounded by the state because I had excellent documentation) in order to be able to fire me the day after I refused to increase my patient load when I was running my butt off (1 doctor had just completely re-written all the orders on like 3 of my patients, while several nurses sat reading magazines at the nurses station.) I have been blacklisted from school nurse jobs after I brought documentation to the superintendent that having a teacher's aide suction and tube feed a student is basically practicing nursing without a license (I was informed about a week later that my contract would not be renewed) and most recently I reported an issue to the state (about injury to a patient when someone else didn't do their job) and when the state investigator came the incident had somehow been blamed on me (0nce again my documentation saved me when I had the email I had sent to my supervisor about the incident and she confirmed that the other person had dropped the ball).

So I guess what I am saying is has anyone else had issues? Back stabbing, scapegoating, or just down-right unprofessional treatment? I am to the point where I don't want to be a nurse because I am afraid I can't trust anyone to be honest and professional. What does everyone or anyone think?

[itsmejuli]

A better paper to write would be on "group dynamics in the work place".

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

Many, many older, experienced nurses have no problem perceiving all younger, less experienced nurses as spoiled, entitled, lazy, and unskilled. God forbid you leave a job sooner than they think you should. That isn't harmful to nursing?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Re: the whole female dominated profession = more drama thing...

My experiences may or may not coincide with that theory. Someone else will have a different experience. This is why real research can't be based on anecdotes.

All of the subjects you seem to want to focus on seem based on what you perceived happened to you. Not a good basis to start from.

Agree.

Start by searching scholarly articles; the latest issue of The American Nurse has a good article as well.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I've experienced blatant lack of support from a minority of co-workers. I've also seen it between students I teach, as well as some downright hostility between some groups of students and others.

Some call it lateral violence. That seems a huge word...violence, but it surely can prey on one's emotions and be verbal and emotional abuse, depending on the victim's interpretation and history of other abusive situations.

There's a concept called "Queen Bee Syndrome" that applies to the nurses eating their young thought. The internet has oodles of information about it.

[campbellrn68]

Thank you...this is what I was looking for...It sucks when you don't have the support from management.

[campbellrn68]

T-Bird79, Thank you...this is what I was looking for...It sucks when you don't have the support from management.

[WoosahRN, MSN, RN]

It's still an unprofessional way to go about doing a research paper. You're asking people to sit around and spill their stories about how they were wronged? And you don't see how that's not going well? Especially if you mention NETY. It's a powder keg and I suspect you know it. Look up research. Your anecdotes are not going to have a place in any well done research paper and I feel as if this thread is more self-serving and self-validating than anything. A venting session. I could talk to co-workers about specific incidences but I don't feel the need to go to a website and spill this stuff because how does that help anything? It doesn't solve any problems and just helps perpetuate the "drama" you stated happens when a bunch of women get together.

[campbellrn68]

I'm not doing research...just looking for ideas

[campbellrn68]

And many seem to be pulled into this...if you don't approve of the forum, why do you keep posting in?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

have seen a lot of issues like this especially where I came from. nurses blow up their young ones mistakes while Dr cover up their young ones mistakes

Nurses blow up their young? That's pretty dramatic. And doctors cover up mistakes? Which would you rather see -- a mistake that is reported, addressed and fixed with minimal harm to the patient or one that is covered up until the patient suffers?

Now, about your avatar . . . .

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/about-that-avatar-900567.html

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I'm not doing research...just looking for ideas

I like something you mentioned in a previous post...are nurses punished for med errors? Should they be? How does this impact reporting? How does this impact improvements to safety in the future?

Rather than make enemies with the NETY approach (this sounds like a new hashtag to me), the issue of how med errors are dealt with is of more benefit to the profession...IMHO.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I just was trying to get some feedback for a paper I am starting for school about nurses eating their young...or whistle blower issues...something of this sort....many of us have seen these things happen and I was just looking for some other things that people have seen. I was not looking for anyone to give me advice on what I should do or even to confirm my thoughts on my situation. I was just looking for some other scary stories people may have. We all know we are not always treated well!

"Nurses eat their young" is a convenient excuse for people who receive negative feedback, for people who haven't yet figured out how to get along with colleagues at work and for people who don't present themselves professionally and make themselves targets. Whining about being "bullied" or "eaten" says far more about you than it does about your unit, your colleagues or your profession.