My spirit is broken.....

rn/writer, RN · Apr 3, 2012

Can you speak with a school counselor? Do you trust your clinical instructor enough to talk to her?

Unfortunately, there are some twisted souls out in the nursing world who ride roughshod over others. You can't change them, but you can learn ways to make yourself a little less vulnerable. For starters, now that you have seen that this unit is not welcoming, don't look to these nurses to build you up or validate your learning. Find out what they expect, do it, and get out. If you are at all a people pleaser, recognize that fact about yourself and Google assertiveness and boundaries. It could be that this is a double course for you. Maternal/child and limit-setting. Let me tell you, learning how to handle difficult people is a critical skill that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

rn/writer's Nursing Blog - Nursing Community for Nurses

Take a look at some of the blogs on this page that have to do with bullying and taking the target off your back.

It bites that you have run into problems on a unit that you thought would be warm and welcoming. Just keep your head down and keep moving. Try to stay off the radar and finish out the class. Believe that there are better days and kinder nurses ahead. Take this negative situation and learn everything you can from it. Turn a fiasco into a private victory that will make you stronger in the long run.

You can do this.

I wish you the best.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Apr 3, 2012

also, the counselor will help you with coping skills for times like this. you will not be the first student who comes to them ith this problem; they are there to help you. if you were advising a patient you would tell them to get the right help-- an ortho for a broken bone, and a counselor for a broken heart. it will not always be this way. :hug:

and don't even think that going to med school will either shield you from jerks and meanies or somehow make it easier for you to deal with them by shutting down emotionally. that is not a functional approach, and it won't work anyway. forget that stuff and concentrate on the here and now.

one. day. at. a. time. believe it or not, in ten years, no, in three years, you won't remember most of this, and you will be stronger because you will have learned more about yourself, as mentioned above.

loriangel14, RN · Apr 3, 2012

What exactly did you experience? Quite often nursing students have a romantic view of nursing.The reality is not always as pretty as they expect.

Pneumothorax, BSN, RN · Apr 4, 2012

Up until this semester, I knew I wanted to be a nurse. I received a coveted student position at a hospital that allows me to practice skills outside of clinicals. I make excellent grades, dean's and president's list. I still love the idea of nursing but this semester has broken my heart. I have expeirenced some of the meanest, most callous nurses imaginable and I am in the maternal child semester. I thought this was supposed to be the warm semester. I also have nurses at work running to higher ups making outrageous accusations against me. Is this what I am to expect the rest of my life? My clinicals have been in county hospitals so maybe this is a limited experience. If these were isolated incidences, I wouldn't think much of this but every single clinical is daunting. I am considering medical school because at least there if I shut off my emotions, everyone will attribute it to being a prospective doctor.
I need some hope because I am in tears everyday thinking this is what I have to expect the rest of my life.

i found that when i did my ob rotation they werent very ...um friendly to us as students in general. like we were a bother dont take it personally.

Cr8zyamy · Apr 4, 2012

I am sorry to tell you but I think what you have described is becoming "normal" for nursing. I see this in the L&D unit of my hospital and in the hospital where I had clinicals. The nurses behaved as if having students on the unit was a burden. Now as a postpartum nurse working nights, I hardly ever interact with students but my day shift coworkers will refuse to have students because they say they are to busy or just don't want to do it. I'd like to have a student on occasion, the questions they ask keep a nurse on her toes, I think this is a good thing, if I can't answer the question I better know where to look for the answer. I wish you the best of luck and congratultions on getting that student postion, this will help you in getting a job in that facility.

LN1703 · Apr 4, 2012

Up until this semester, I knew I wanted to be a nurse. I received a coveted student position at a hospital that allows me to practice skills outside of clinicals. I make excellent grades, dean's and president's list. I still love the idea of nursing but this semester has broken my heart. I have expeirenced some of the meanest, most callous nurses imaginable and I am in the maternal child semester. I thought this was supposed to be the warm semester. I also have nurses at work running to higher ups making outrageous accusations against me. Is this what I am to expect the rest of my life? My clinicals have been in county hospitals so maybe this is a limited experience. If these were isolated incidences, I wouldn't think much of this but every single clinical is daunting. I am considering medical school because at least there if I shut off my emotions, everyone will attribute it to being a prospective doctor.
I need some hope because I am in tears everyday thinking this is what I have to expect the rest of my life.

Unfortunately, I am in a very similar situation. Since I started nursing school, I have been looking forward to this semester of pediatrics and maternity. It has turned out to one of the worst semesters, and I can hardly believe what has happened thus far. I started on a unit where the nurses refused to work with us on many occasions. Added to that, my clinical instructor was unsupportive and a nurse on the unit blatantly lied about an incident involving me and a classmate. Consequently, I failed peds clinical and am awaiting word on whether I will be reinstated to the school this month. I am literally shocked at what has happened, the lack of support I have experienced at all levels, both inside the hospital from other nurses, and my instructors at the school. It has been an incredible and unfortunate wake-up call that I need to get over my naivete, toughen up and watch my back constantly. This is not what nursing is supposed to be about, and I'm having a difficult time reconciling how important team work is with how I've been thrown under the bus by people I trusted. I am seriously questioning my commitment to this field, assuming I'm giving the opportunity to continue. I hope things turn up for both of us, but it feels pretty dark right now.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Apr 4, 2012

no, this is what being a grown up is all about.it has nothing to do with nursing or nursing school per se (in and of itself). sometimes people are mean, unfair, lying, and venial. they aren't the last ones you'll see. sorry it just happened to be you this time; next time, maybe.... me. we will survive.

Twinmom06, ASN, APN · Apr 5, 2012

i found that when i did my ob rotation they werent very ...um friendly to us as students in general. like we were a bother dont take it personally.

had this experience also in L&D - not so much in mom/baby but the L&D nurses were not only brutal to the students they were downright awful to our CI.

thehawkdr1 · Apr 9, 2012

Dear 'fairy-mary

I am so sorry for your working environment with nurses as gone south, to use a phrase.

I am not a member of the nursing field or medical field but I am a constant patient as I am a quadriplegic/tetraplegic for 16 1/2 years.

I have seen the actions and attitudes head-on for I have

accumulated years of hospital stays. The problem to some degree is in every hospital sad to say.

Please do not shut off your emotions for I need some comfort and real 'care' while in the hospital.

I will say it plainly; most nurses that I have encountered (hundreds), probably should find another field of work. I am being honest.

In that they are giving you problems is they may be seeing their own short comings.

Yours

Dan Hawkins

RN226LIN · Apr 9, 2012

This is so unfortunate that you are going through this, but don't give up. Finish nursing. I was in the same situation as you about a year ago. I couldn't believe how some nurses acted towards patients and nursing students. So many times I remember feeling unwanted and like a burden when i should have felt encouraged and supported. I too contemplated quitting and just going to med school but I decided to stick with it. You can always chase med school afterwards. Just remember you are fully capable of making a difference... Don't let anyone discourage you with their mean words and or actions.

beautiful901 · Apr 10, 2012

In viewing some of the comments, it is very unfortunate that there are nurses out there that are negative and unwilling to assist I teaching. Many older nurses are set in their ways and used to how its always been done and the newbies are often looked down on. I work in a clinic where many of the nurses are very mean and don't like change or the new standard of care. Althoughi am in school now, I can see how your spirit can be broken. Remain prayful and just remember that no matter where or what you so there will always be someone that will criticze what you do. At the end of the day ask yourself are you doing what you r called to do and is it pleasing to you