I don't understand this profession..

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been a nurse for almost 8 years. During these years, I have worked in many different areas at two different hospitals. What I do not understand is the bitterness, bickering, and unprofessional behavior that happens on the floor.

I think this has always been a problem, but it seems to have become increasingly worse. Yesterday I witnessed a colleague rip apart another nurse, the director, and a nursing assistant. The other nurses on the floor then began to tear into the first nurse and it became a very tense working environment.

Nurses are in such great demand and I see why. Unless you have thick skin and can take being harassed by coworkers, you will leave the profession too.

Nurses not only eat their young, but also their old, strong, weak, and whoever else.

Yesterday, I was ashamed to call myself a nurse. I am a second career nurse and I have never witnessed behavior in coworkers in my life. The incident yesterday was just one example there have been many others of nurses bring each other down.

I needed to vent about this because it makes me sad. I have a niece and nephew that both were thinking about the nursing profession while in school. Thanks heavens that I was able to talk them out of it. They deserve more out of their career.

I too believe the root of this evil work enviroment is related to stress.

Yes, but stress is relevant. After combat, nothing stresses me...............................................I thought, then came Chemistry :crying2:

TOO FUNNY!!!! :rotfl: I agree though, I thought raising a husband and three kids was rough...but nursing school and now being a floor nurse is a PIP!!!!!! :uhoh3:

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Hi Lisa! I'm Lisa too! And I totally understand what you mean. I was a secretary and stay at home mom for many years before I decided to give my "Dream" of nursing a try. I've been on the job for two months now and there are times when I really wonder if I made the right decision to become a nurse. I'm feeling very confused right now and I don't want to give up (I hear that the feelings I'm experiencing are normal for a new grad.), but there are moments when I just want to run for the hills! I'm the type of person that want's everyone to like her and wants everyone to get along. But I'm slowly beginning to realize that that isn't going to happen. I've come to the point that I just want to do my job for my eight hour shift and go home. Once upon a time I wanted to make a difference in nursing...amazing what a couple of months can do to a person. Thanks for letting me vent :-)

Wow. :o This totally mirrors my situation--except I do not have kids. I want to get out of secretarial work and have a "career". I can only hope I don't have to move around too much to find a good position.

I just have to say that where I volunteered for 4 months I saw NONE of this. Do they just not show bad things in front of volunteers??? Maybe I was on a good floor?

These stories are So. Scary. To. Me.

Just do your job, and go home. Why cause all the drama?? I'll never understand it. I know Nursing is not the only field this happens in, it happens EVERYWHERE, believe me. But, some of these stories are HORRIBLE. I guess some people are miserable and have to make everyone else feel their pain also?? :confused:

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Hi Lisa! I'm Lisa too! And I totally understand what you mean. I was a secretary and stay at home mom for many years before I decided to give my "Dream" of nursing a try. I've been on the job for two months now and there are times when I really wonder if I made the right decision to become a nurse. I'm feeling very confused right now and I don't want to give up (I hear that the feelings I'm experiencing are normal for a new grad.), but there are moments when I just want to run for the hills! I'm the type of person that want's everyone to like her and wants everyone to get along. But I'm slowly beginning to realize that that isn't going to happen. I've come to the point that I just want to do my job for my eight hour shift and go home. Once upon a time I wanted to make a difference in nursing...amazing what a couple of months can do to a person. Thanks for letting me vent :-)

Lisa,

I'm not Lisa, too, but boy can I relate. And I'm not even done with school yet. Isn't it funny that the posts seem to have one theme - no, it's not the grosser aspects that's bothering people, and let's face it, not a whole lot of people can deal with that. These folks get filtered out early. No, it's the stalwarts who hang in there, wondering how long their egos and sanity can deal with the abuse. I am extremely allergic to abusive people. Are you consdiering any other options? After all, there are options with your hard-won RN.

Diahni

P.S. I haven't even taken the NCLEX and feel ready for a support group: "Hi everybody, I'm Diahni, and I'm an RN...."

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TOO FUNNY!!!! :rotfl: I agree though, I thought raising a husband and three kids was rough...but nursing school and now being a floor nurse is a PIP!!!!!! :uhoh3:

This is scary, everybody. You just commented that raising three kids (husbands vary) is hard, but nursing school and working is harder. Someone else compared the course work to pst from combat. Maybe I'm heading for the hills, too. Actually, I'm already in the hills, but hospitals are more or less the same everywhere.

Diahni

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Here's what has worked for me in these situations. I act the same way, whether dealing with people who seem out to get me as I do for those who are pleasant. I make it a point to give them a salutation, ask how they're doing, and say have a good weekend/night/day when they, or I, are leaving. It's amazing how many REALLY grumpy people show nicer colors in a very short time. I think that their bad behavior causes those around them to become grumpy themselves, in turn making the initiator even more miserable. This has worked well in all aspects of my life, including 25 years as a hair stylist (another hot spot for this kind of bad behavior from co-workers and customers). I started doing this when I was 16 as kind of a game, a challenge to myself to see if I could persuade this one waitress to be more pleasant to me; the results amazed me, and still do to this day. The more spiteful one is, the more of a challenge I have, I kind of enjoy it, keeps me on my toes! Of course my form of enjoyment is spending a weekend over a chessboard trying to solve problems there, so I'm prolly just weird! I know now that I wrote this I'll meet an unchangeable, cantankerous cuss that'll cause me to bang my head against the wall in defeat; :rotfl: if I do, I'll be back to ask for advice :p ~ Diane

I do this also. It works in other situations too. I can tend to get stressed out while driving. Aggressive drivers make me nuts. My daughter suggested that if someone is being especially mean that I should not let it get to me but to anticipate their reaction when I blow them a kiss and smile...the results have been priceless and so much more gratifying than other gestures or words! :p

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I do this also. It works in other situations too. I can tend to get stressed out while driving. Aggressive drivers make me nuts. My daughter suggested that if someone is being especially mean that I should not let it get to me but to anticipate their reaction when I blow them a kiss and smile...the results have been priceless and so much more gratifying than other gestures or words! :p

Diane,

It's amazing to me how we are all so different. Crazy drivers do nothing to me. When someone gives me the finger, or yells something, I smile and wave. I did this in Newark, and the jerk followed me at my side honking his horn and screaming out the car. Just doesn't get to me. Other stuff does. Even if I smile in a bad situation, it doesn't knock out the fight or flight reaction. Immediate reactions are one thing, what do you do when a really bad scene gets you cranked up for a long time? Ideally, we should get some high level exercise - I have an exercise bike for this. However, when we're really abused, I just don't know how to deal with it, and really take it on myself. It takes days to not feel bad. Chemicals, maybe?

Diahni

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I agree.Anyone who wants to get into nursing I tell them to run for their life and never look back.It is disgusting the waty nurses are treated by each other and aministrators.Especially administrators who are new to a facility and don't even know your name but think they can judge you,immediatly jump you when they walk on to the unit about a cup in the wrong place!Never mind that you have someone in critical condition,families yelling about DR.'s in your ear.and you still have AM meds to hand out at 1130AM! It's to much.I never thought it would be this way.:angryfire

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I have been a nurse for almost 8 years. During these years, I have worked in many different areas at two different hospitals. What I do not understand is the bitterness, bickering, and unprofessional behavior that happens on the floor.

This happens on my unit too. Right now people are sniping at one another over who will take control of a retirement party. Never mind the true aim that the party be a nice affair for the honouree. Who put her in charge?

It is very silly. Sometimes you just have to dismiss it as the trash that it is. There are times when you have the wrong mix of people and the hormones just fire away. It is too bad that many nurses aren't a tenth as nurtring to their co-workers as they are to their patients. I find myself getting caught up on a bad day sometimes too. It is best to just walk away when possible. This is a very stressful job. We are entrusted with our patients' lives, but often treated like kindergartners by our administrators. There's little chance to advance at the bedside and this breeds frustration.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Hormones???:uhoh3:

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Sorry Marie. No offense to you or anyone in particular meant. I see other women (and me) and men get themselves all fired up over nothing in particular at different times. Is it hormonal? Maybe. My three teenage girls get quite wound up at different times, as do I. This reminds me of the behaviour at work.We have several male physicians who act aggressively and speak aggressively at different times about things that may not bother them at another time. They are what i wold term hormonal too.(In fact two of them will tongue in cheek cite their "hormone" problems). I feel they have PMS (pampered man syndrome or Please Me Syndrome). As much as anything, it may be a poor choice of words to some on my account. I just saw your post earlier about it not being a woman related thing. I agree that more than that it's the mix of people that you have who incite bytching in one another. My husband has worked w/ his share of male and female back-biters in an office where it's a more mixed crew in terms of the sexes. (I miss your Corporal Klinger-I loved watching MASH as a kid)

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I don't buy the hormone excuse. More like a clash of personalities.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
It is disgusting the waty nurses are treated by each other and aministrators.Especially administrators who are new to a facility and don't even know your name but think they can judge you,immediatly jump you when they walk on to the unit about a cup in the wrong place!Never mind that you have someone in critical condition,families yelling about DR.'s in your ear.and you still have AM meds to hand out at 1130AM! It's to much.I never thought it would be this way.:angryfire

I worked as a bookkeeper and accountant before going to nursing school. When I worked for a large corporation, everyone sat up at attention and looked busy when the president and CEO took a stroll through the office. However, respect begets respect. I don't ever remember the CEO telling people their desks were too cluttered or to get a coffee cup off their desk. If there was a problem he sent the message down the chain of command. Even the mob bosses know enough to put buffers between them and the guys who do the actual dirty work. I'd just chalk it up to insecurity and inexperience on the part of the administrator and laugh if off. When we were new at our job, I'm sure we each did some things that weren't quite in our job descriptions because we were nervous that gave others something to talk about and point a judgmental finger at. Can't we be forgiving of a new learner?

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