In it there is article by RN under "sharing" in the index called My Worst Enemy. It is a first hand account by a nurse that makes peace with a controling, critical supervisor. This relationship went on for years. Eventually the supervisor becomes the nurses patient. When the nurse ask the supervisor why she had made her life a nightmare with her hypercritical ways. The supervisor tells her "I knew you had 'some' potential, so I always made a special effort to make you better. If I'd been lax with you or over praised you, would you have tried so hard to become better or would you have been satisfied being mediocre?" I marked the word 'some' because I think she stuck a little dig in there also. Then a little while later they have another conversation about why this supervisor always asked for this particular nurse when she was admitted. "She explained to me that she knew she was ill and was going to get a lot sicker, so she'd put me through what she called a training program. She knew she was going to need me one day to care for her." Ugh! more control, more manipulation. I am really glad for Barbara Totora RN that she made her peace with this woman. However, I find their relationship somewhat sado/masochistic. A long time ago I also found myself with a rare supervisor or instructor like this and I put a lot of distance between myself and those persons. I immediately recognized that the person subscribed to some sort of old fashioned "improvment through critizism idea" and I for one was not going to go along with it. I very quickly guessed it was not me that was the problem it was them. It is alright to put up with something like this for a little while or in small doses but the author herself says, "Why, Why did you hound me and torment me, yell at me more than my own mother?" Like I said, Ugh! I just would like to get someone elses opinion on the article. I quit subscribing to this particular Nursing Mag many years ago. I thought I would try it for one more year just to see if it had changed. The articles they run always make me feel guilty because I would never do what the nurses they feature do. What do they do? They always seem to play the victim. The magazine just seems to reflect managment attitudes that the nurse is allways wrong. There is no empowerment there. Once again I would appreciate some input from some one else who read the article. By the way, I won't be renewing.
Last edit by oramar on Oct 25, '02
Oct 25, '02
Page 48 and I will have to read it.....
renerian
Oct 25, '02
I read it. I didn't like it.
It DOES make us (or attempts to anyway) all feel like heels because many of us would have reacted just like the nurse in the article. Then at the very end it gets all touchy-feely about how it was done because Ms. Evil Supervisor saw some potential in Barbara RN. Awwwwwww. And they lived happily ever after.
Glad I'm not the only one. They have also had stories like that before with the relationship being nurse patient, nurse family member, etc.
Oct 25, '02
I also didn't like it, seemed like an abusive relationship to me and I didn't like the magazine promoting an aggressive demeaning approach to precepting new nurses and students.
Oct 25, '02
I had Mean Ole Clinincal Nursing Professor....I stood my ground and passed my class. (and had "bad" feelings about her). SHe bullied a boat load of other students. That story brought old feelings up...feelings aside right is right and wrong is wrong.....someone that power pressured is NOT a GOOD professor, preceptor, or nothing else. (patient)
wasnt good reading iether.:imbar
Last edit by CMERN on Oct 25, '02
Oct 25, '02
I believe those articles are fiction." Happy stories for good nurses". I write as a hobby. I 'll sudmit anywhere if i think they'l l publish. (I think alot of us here are closet writers..) I have long thought that magazine had a roll over and play dead mentality. Hope this offends no one- a personal not professional opinion.
Oct 25, '02
You guys all seem to be able to say in a couple of lines what it took me 2000 words to say. Thanks
Oct 25, '02
Did anybody read the pain management article? Scary that so many nurses don't seem to know the most basic things.
Oct 25, '02
I agree with canoehead, it does sound controlling and abusive. I personally would distance myself as far from that situation as possible. I agree that many of those articles seems sugar coated and just not realistic for todays nursing.
Oct 25, '02
I might have bought into it if Ms. Evil Supervisor was riding her hard for her entire orientation or first year or some short amount of time, but as I recall (and I'm too lazy to go find the magazine) she was riding the poor nurse for YEARS before the touchy feely part. Nope didn't like it.
And they very well could be fiction. Sometimes they put one in there about the patient/wife/son/daughter from hell that turns out to just need a hug. And then all is right with the world and the patient then dies
Oct 26, '02
Yes.
This is how professional nursing journals tell us how to behave, what is right.
No wonder.
Bye y'all.
Oct 26, '02
I don't take that particular magazine.
Am I to understand that this article is promoting victimization as a "professional" standard in nursing? Glorifying and praising humiliation? Encouraging submission over assertiveness? And if we just allow abuse in our lives we will someday have the glorius reunion with our tormenters, and they will give us that acceptance we always craved from them? Sounds to me like the battered woman syndrome wearing a nurse's cap.
I'd like to read this article. You say it was in Nursing October 1950?
Last edit by Youda on Oct 26, '02
Oct 26, '02
Youda, 1950 He he, good point! I agree with the people that wonder if these first person accounts are fiction. That thought has crossed my mind, they seem to all contain somesort of heavy handed message and the message is usually one of oppression. Perhaps Psychnurse should write them a story about a nurse who faces down the forces of the past that try to keep nurses in line. Forces like this magazine that exist to maintain the status quo. I bought the first ever issue of that magazine. It has been out for over 30 years. I remember when it was the latest thing. I can't believe how they have fallen behind the times.
Last edit by oramar on Oct 26, '02
Oct 25, '02Occupation: RN, MS home health Joined: Aug '02; Posts: 7,472; Likes: 49Page 48 and I will have to read it.....
Oct 25, '02Occupation: Level III NICU Specialty: NICU ; From: US ; Joined: Oct '00; Posts: 1,605; Likes: 929I read it. I didn't like it.
Oct 25, '02Joined: Oct '00; Posts: 8,729; Likes: 8,412I also didn't like it, seemed like an abusive relationship to me and I didn't like the magazine promoting an aggressive demeaning approach to precepting new nurses and students.
Oct 25, '02Joined: Oct '02; Posts: 1,079; Likes: 53I believe those articles are fiction." Happy stories for good nurses". I write as a hobby. I 'll sudmit anywhere if i think they'l l publish. (I think alot of us here are closet writers..) I have long thought that magazine had a roll over and play dead mentality. Hope this offends no one- a personal not professional opinion.
