I'm starting to think this field attracts a lot of crazy people

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm currently in my 3rd semester of nursing school, and much of the behavior I've seen from nursing students and nurses alike has been quite alarming. With a few exceptions, the nurses at my clinical sites have been downright rude and condescending. Half the students are self-important jerks. Even some of the instructors have this superficial kindness about them until you rub them the wrong way and reveal their true personalities. It just seems like this field attracts jerks who just want to go out of their way to convince people they're kind and compassionate. It's scary to think about bullying culture and being surrounded by these types on a daily basis.

Define jerk. I don't know anything about being a nurse, or a nursing student, but I've spent three semesters as a pre-nursing student and there have been quite a few days where I'm a tad snippy. When people are tired, stressed, and overbooked they tend to be less than bubbly. I say this at 2am as I take a break from my micro and A&P binge.

Why are you rubbing all of your teachers the wrong way?

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Hmmmmm interesting, so everyone else around you in class is a jerk huh?........ Hmmmmm........if the problem is everyone else and not me, what are the odds?, One must wonder whether the problem is them or in fact me or my perception......

Ha! Exactly what I was thinking! If you run into one jerk, they're likely the problem. Running into many jerks, however, means you're probably the problem.

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I think the real problem is when people expect nurses to be made of soft, 24-carat gold. You seem to be genuinely surprised that nurses are human.

I say, quit. It's that simple. I work with incredible nurses and had an awesome one in clinical today. You can't hang? Get out now.

These two are probably the types I'm referring to.

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These two are probably the types I'm referring to.

If everyone around you is a self-important jerk, perhaps the problem lies with you.

Out of curiosity, what are you doing to rub your instructors the wrong way? It's been my experience that most people are pleasant until you "rub them the wrong way."

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Specializes in ICU.
:banghead::banghead:
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Specializes in oncology/tele/med-surge.

Hey, don't be too hard to Swirlies. Not every day as a nursing student was a perfect day. It can be horrible, and everyone can look like a jerk sometimes. I met bad nurses/bad classmates/bad instructors too. You cannot even imagine how badly they treated me. I have also met good coworkers/ good classmates/ good teachers. I remember my first clinical day as a nursing student, and my nurse who I shadowed yelled at me-everyone heard it because it was very loud. I gave a glass of water to the patient because the MD canceled/changed fluid restriction. She did not see the new order, and yelled at me banging the door like a crazy people. Nobody stood for me even though they all knew that it was a very abusive/threatening behavior. The bystanders are equally guilty. Unfortunately to the nurse, I followed the order so there was nothing for her to do to put me in the bad position. The nurse is a jerk without doubt.

It is unfortunate that you have met a lot of jerks, Swirlies. Hope that you meet better people, and I am so sure that there are people who is not a jerk in nursing field. Be strong.

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Specializes in ICU, Postpartum, Onc, PACU.

In my classes there was always at least one know-it-all, but at the most only 3-4, which isn't bad when you consider the size of most classes. The nurses, on the other hand, I don't know what to tell you. I only ever had a couple in school who seemed to truly hate having students (no matter how hard we tried to please them), but they always got students assigned to them because they were amazingly smart as well.

I do know that, for the right or wrong reasons, there are schools from which I've enjoyed taking students from more than others. I heard the same things from nurses when I was a student as well. According to them, the students from the big state school in town were typically harder to deal with than those from the smaller city college and I don't know why that was/is.

Maybe you just have a rotten time of it for now, but after you graduate and get a job, hopefully your feelings will change. That being said, nursing is a job where you will be around people (good and bad) for the rest of your career, so getting thick skin and proving to not be another jerk could benefit you (and could even help you get a job after graduation).

I've not experienced many of those nurses in my staff jobs at all, but in traveling, you have to work hard sometimes to get people to trust you and your judgment, not to mention cementing the kind of attitude and work ethic you have. Time is just not on your side (unless you extend a contract) and 13 weeks later, you're off somewhere else doing it all over again.

Get thicker skin, don't pay attention to the "jerks", do your job/clinic prep/schoolwork the best you can, ask questions, and find something in each situation to be thankful for. Someone else ALWAYS has it worse :geek:

good luck!!

xo

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The last two responses above mine are sensible and kind. I was in some really toxic-seeming workplaces during clinicals and they scared me. Didn't mean I "couldn't hang". And yes, I agree with another poster that as a traveler you can kind of see the worst... and get treated like you just might be the worst yourself, because the traveler before you was an unsafe nurse and/or an antisocial person. (IMO some people take up traveling because they don't get along with people well enough to be part of a workplace team. Definitely not saying that about all or even MOST travelers, but the ones who are like that make a lasting impression.)

Another poster up the list mentioned stress. I don't know if nursing does attract "difficult" personalities, but you can be sure that you will be seeing people at their worst--not always, just sometimes. I've heard the same is true of restaurant kitchens. Put a bunch of people in a high-stress situation that fundamentally relies on them working well as a team and you will see some bad stuff.

Nurses also tend to feel vulnerable all day long. Their work is constantly critiqued by patients, family, doctors, other hospital staff (there was one CT technician who raised my blood pressure twenty points just by appearing on the floor, pushing a stretcher, because he was so continually critical of nurses), and management. It can be a struggle not to get defensive in that environment. If someone snaps at me for asking a question, as if I was making a criticism rather than asking for clarification or information, I'd bet 80% that's a nice and competent person who's been working in a toxic environment.

My Fundamentals professor told us about the one time she quit a job after just two days... she was horrified by the standard of care and the fatalistic way the nurses talked about it. She didn't complain or anything, but one of the nurses told her when they saw her trying to do a thorough job, "Just wait, in six months you'll be just like the rest of us." If the nurses on one unit seem unpleasant and/or unhappy, look elsewhere for a job.

Oh, and regarding nursing students: at first, I thought I was going to like very few of my classmates. I thought they seemed harsh and competitive, or else kind of flighty, in general. I found a small group of friends that I connected with. After a year or so (three year clinical program), I got to know a lot more people. My closest friends remained my core group, but I found there was a lot to appreciate among most of my classmates. The quiet ones had slipped my notice, and some of the others I had judged unfairly because I hadn't gotten to know them. The ones I really didn't care for and didn't want to work with were few, by the end.

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