Is it jealousy ??

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jul 10, 2018

Usually. However, I have met individuals whose years of "experience" just gave them more time to perfect the art of being an idiot...
Somehow they stay off the radar and/or end up working in a place where expectations are low.

That is certainly true enough! Gosh, I've met some experienced nurses whose total lack of sense common or otherwise astounds me. Somehow that still bothers me less than the nurse that proclaims to know everything and never makes mistakes. Especially when they humble brag that they are sure they will make a mistake someday, after all they are only human.

allnurses Guide · Jul 10, 2018

If we take all emotion out of this (which may be hard given how the OP was written) there are a few things we can say regarding nursing outcomes/quality as it relates to experience (from population-level data):

1. Experience is an independent indicator of quality nursing outcomes.

2. Experience is not the only independent indicator of quality nursing outcomes.

And we have common sense which tells us:

1. Not all experience is good experience.

2. Population based data does not prove that at the individual level that experience is directly proportional to expertise.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2018

And you allege to work in ER?

She said in her OP that she works in cardiac step down.

elkpark · Jul 10, 2018

You think school is going to make you a nurse ?

Ummm, yes. Yes, I do.

TriciaJ, RN · Jul 10, 2018

OP, if 80% of your coworkers think you're as stellar as you think you are, why do you care about the jealous 20%? Do you really need a 100% admiration rate? Doesn't that seem a bit insecure?

On a less facetious note, reading OP's posts is like watching someone's toddler climbing up on something he shouldn't be climbing on. You really want to run up and grab him before the long, hard fall. But there have been so many threads like this, and so many of us have tried to be the voice of reason. All you can do is hope for the best.

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2018

Been on my own for 1yr now, was an aide for 2. I am sick of hearing about openness to learning and inexperience. I work on a cardiac step down unit that has a plentiful mix of med-surg patients. A few of the more experienced nurses have commented that I shouldn't do this or that due to my experience level. I have NEVER made any sort of mistake on my floor (but sure I will) but have not yet, and receive more positive feedback from patients than most on my floor. I do ask a lot of questions just not of those who criticize my work (imagine that).
Point is this. Experience doesnt make you good at anything necessarily. Lotta people have been driving their whole lives and are still poor at it etc. Some of us can do in 1 yr what others may need 3 to accomplish.
A good nurse is about time management, foresight, understanding complexities of patient processes/meds, bedside rapport, and others. Experience isnt a guarantee that any of those things develop.
So to all you vets out there recognize the talent not the years. I know many of you feel like you gotta earn your stripes in this work. Maybe be more concerned with the environment you create by trying to exert your stripes.
A truly good nurse has all the attributes to be a good nurse far before they are a nurse. Born not made.

OP, your focus in this post is about experience, as if the only thing that these other nurses know about you is your experience level. That's not the case. They overhear your questions, they see what you do with your patients, they hear about things that happen with your patients the next day when you're not there and they hear how you speak. I know this because you also complained about hearing so much about "openness to learning". I know many inexperienced nurses that I might trust over someone else with (relatively) more experience than others, all because I know about how they ask questions, hear the advice of others and actually act on it (openness to learning).

The other nurses' assessments of you are not just a number of months of experience, they see the other stuff too, even if you don't realize. And if you talk anything like you do here, then they hear you yapping off at the mouth with your apparently very stable patients (if they're never being transferred to higher levels of care) and suggesting that you know more than others.

At one year in, you still don't know what you don't know. You should be learning everyday (openness to learning).

What, exactly, is it that you think they're jealous of? The concept that anyone that doesn't like you or has something negative to say about you is a reflection of their jealousy is such an asinine concept, I'm amazed it survives past middle school age.

Hopefully, as someone else said, you'll look back in a couple years and see where you're being foolish here. But if you're not *open to learning* then no, you won't. You'll still be stagnant, probably another job or two down the line, complaining about how people are jealous.

Have fun with that.

Lemon Headed · Jul 10, 2018

Yes it is. Females are jealous by nature. I'm sure the nurses you are talking about are not male nurses. We are territorial and size each other up , the crusty crabs can never be as cute or as young so they take it out in other ways and pretend to be superior. Now experience does play a big part in being a good nurse absolutely, your post is actually kind of ridiculous. You can be experienced and nice and helpful at the same time. Sounds like you just have some B's on your floor it happens.

babychickens · Jul 10, 2018

I hesitate to respond to any part of this silliness, but here it goes...
How do you know? I have worked with several subpar nurses who seem to get 'thank you' notes from patients all the time. Funny how those notes always include those nurses' first and last names--in the nurses handwriting. Yet some of the best nurses I've worked with never seek out the lime light.
Trust me, I'm not jealous.

Every once in a while I DO learn something from these entertaining threads. I'm one of those naivetÃ©s who wouldn't think of someone writing their own thank you note. Thanks for the scoop! :)

broughden · Jul 10, 2018

A truly good nurse has all the attributes to be a good nurse far before they are a nurse. Born not made.

Wait....so I dont even need to go to nursing school since Im born not made?!? Awesome! Thats going to save me so much time and money!

:roflmao:

newnursingstudent19 · Jul 10, 2018

I will carry on. If you think experience makes you a good nurse then you are the one making a mistake. Care to argue any of the attributes that I listed. Probably not. Does experience trump competency ?

If I were to become like this after I graduate I hope one of my coworkers slaps me out of it hahaha

CelticGoddess, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2018

Let me clarify since you want to be so literal. I have never made a med error, never hurt a patient, never had a patient code, never had to call a MIT, never had to elevate to ICU. And also, I also stated that I will, but until that happens units should recognize when they have a good one on their hands.
How would I know this ? Well I suppose there would be evidence.

You might want to be careful on that pedestal you've placed yourself on, because the fall is rough. And you mght also want to be careful with all that back patting your doing, you might dislocate your shoulder.

So you've never had a patient code and you haven't had to send one to the ICU. It means nothing, except that you have had stable patients. Patients code, they get transferred to ICU and rapids are called on them all the time. I'd say the vast majority of times, it has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the nurse. I'd say that it is mainly due to a patient being stable.

Come back in five years and reread what you have written, it will (or should be) an eye opening experience

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2018

I have never made a med error, never hurt a patient, never had a patient code, never had to call a MIT, never had to elevate to ICU.

The fact that you equate the first two things (which are within your control) with the last three (which are largely not) really says a whole lot about how much you don't know.