So, we have all heard the "nurses eat their young" stories right? Well I was one who would say that the nurses with the worst attitudes are those who have one foot in the burn out grave, and I found out I am correct about this. Last Sunday at work I was the plump, juicy, worm sitting on the hook waiting to be eaten, and one of the meanest, nastiest, nurses on my unit took a bite! After her temper tantrum, in which she verbally attacked me at the nurse's station, I was stunned by her outburst and by the way I responded to her! I stood my ground and told her she was being ridiculous. Since her little outbreak took place in front of two other nurses, two techs, and one doctor the rumor mill was in full swing by the time I returned to work on Wed. and as I was called into the director's office I felt like I was on the verge of breaking into tears. My director had been told by someone else about the outburst, I did not plan on speaking to her about it. I had chalked it up to one of the rites of passage. Being called into the directors office can be very intimidating and I had thoughts of my director taking the nurses side, but I was very wrong! My director told me that yes nurses do get burned out, and it is the attitude from burn out that adds to the frustration and ultimate failure of many new nurses. She said the nurse behavior is not acceptable in her unit. She said new nurses are the future and that she hired me and other new nurses with the hopes that our abilities will be a reward to her unit, she did not hire us to be lambs sent in for sacrifice. She told me to come to her with any problems. She also said she would speak with the nurse who made a spectacle of herself and there would be "conditions" to her returning to the unit. I have never felt so protected. This unit, up until this point, has been incredible and I refuse to allow this one nurse to ruin any part of my experience. In reality the nurse's outburst will be one of hundreds in my nursing career, so the fact that I stood my ground taught me a great lesson.
Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.
I can relate. After completing three semesters, I'm not sure if I got eaten or not but there was definitely a meal going on and I was the main course. The nurse in question is one whom both staff, other students, my then clinical instructor and her supervisors have issue with so I don't feel so bad. What's really the pits is that she's a recent grad of my program and in her first year as an RN. I stood my ground too and at the end of our rotation, my instructor served her up on a platter to her clinical director so I guess she was the one who got eaten in the end.
too negative. i have never had anurse be ugly to me in anyway, maybe talk to me as if i knew nothing but they are doing it to teach... which is a part of the job. maybe if u look at it in a possitive way then u'll see that they do not eat their young... just doing what they feel is best for u to learn.
After seeing how completely ridiculous this woman looked while throwing her tantrum and the reaction she got from the staff I will think twice before I throw a hissy fit. The fact that she screamed GOD D***** at the top of her lungs while sending a rolling chair flying across the nursing station made this 'hissy fit" more than just a mean nurse putting a fellow employee in her place, it was hostile, aggressive, and a very unprofessional reaction to a minor incident (I opened the ambulance entrance for a walk up patient). Whether you are a veteran nurse, new nurse, or student there is never any reason to act in this manner. But I see your point, if the students already have a bad attitude then where can you expect it to go from there......only to get worse! :stone
Yowsers...she cussed you out and tried to hit you with a chair because you opened the doors for a walking patient???
Sounds like your coworker has ISSUES... I'm sure she gave the other patients on the unit their daily dose of entertainment in that one episode.
I'm sure she gave the other patients on the unit their daily dose of entertainment in that one episode.
mariedoreen
819 Posts
I LOVE IT! I wouldn't wear it to work... or probably even around town... but I bet it would get a ton of use on vacation! I can see it now:
On the front: Attention all nurses who eat their young...
On the back: ... BITE ME!
You might want to copyrite your saying right quick Paleobug, I sense a fortune-a-coming...:chuckle