Nasty co-workers??

Once I worked a unit that could be considered toxic. There was a simple solution. I left.

I have since worked several other places, and all were full of wonderful, helpful people. As a matter of fact, the main reason I'm staying with my current employer is the people. I just don't want to leave them.

Keep in mind, that it's usually a handful of people who make the most noise when they're unhappy. And no industry is free of jerks.

Nurses are people. Some I like and some I dont.

Some like me and some dont.

Just like the rest of the society I probably like 95% of them. Those other 5% I put up with, do my job and dont get involved.

is it true that most nurses are absolutely horrible to work with?

That hasn't been my experience.

I've only been a nurse for about three years now .... have worked on two different units, in two different hospitals. There were a couple of people at my other job that were kinda nasty .... but they weren't even on staff, they were registry nurses. The people that I worked with on a daily basis were great.

The place I'm at now ....... same thing. Everyone is great. We all work well together and help each other out when things get busy. Not to sound cliche, but we're like a big family.

If you are working with a bunch of "nasty nurses" and you're miserable .... then you really only have ONE person to blame, and it's yourself .... for putting up with that crap and staying at a place like that.

What I have found is that there seems to be a select, small group of the type of nurses you describe on each floor. Whether or not they are tolerated and their behavior perpetuates to make life miserable for the rest of the staff, seems to be a direct result of managment's toleration of their behavior. Some places encourage it and use it as a way to divide and conquer, others will nip it in the bud and eventually terminate the trouble makers. Conditions on the floor usually come from a top down attitude-management does set the tone!

The place I currently work, is like this. We have one nurse that has been here for years and sets the tone for everyone. When we hire new nurses, they either join in, or leave. I have managed to do neither at this point. I recently received a promotion over her and became the "day shift RN". Life for me has not been easy. However, I love nursing, I love people. Management knows about the problem yet does nothing about it. The problem is the negativity not only affects the other staff, but also many times affects the patient care, and let's face it folks, that is why we are here and in this profession, to help people. I am at a loss how to make things better for myself, the patients and the rest of the staff.

is it true that most nurses are absolutely horrible to work with? i have been researching nursing quite a bit, and found a website called i hate nursing.com (seriously!!) and it seems that the majority of the complaints was that the other nurses were so mean and gossipy! have you had experiences like this or is this just a certain group of people? how do you look past this so you can actually enjoy your job??

This has not been my experience. I work with a great group of nurses who pull together as a team and help each other out. There are a few who don't like one another, a few who get a bit crabby when all he## breaks loose, but overall it is a very cohesive and supportive environment.

I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly since I worked in nursing. While I certainly believe that there are rotten apples throughout all of the careers a person can possibly enter, it seems scarier in medicine, because you are counting on these same people when you are new and inexperienced to save someone's life.

Somehow, I have been fortunate enough to not have many encounters with the truly toxic bunches that gang up on people.

Why would you ask a group of nurses if nurses are horrible to work with? Why, yes, I'm a horrible pain in the butt.

nurses in LTC can be really catty and love to stir up trouble. We had a night nurse who actually spent half her night writing a notebook full of things that days and evenings hadn't done to her expectations. I found her notebook on the counter, thought maybe it was one of our communications books, and wrote: Night shift nurse doesn't do her job! LOL. That was mean, but it stopped the notebook and it never appeared again.

That same nurse was fired from another facility for being nosey and causing trouble. hmmm. wonder why? If anyone wanted a rumor spread faster than wildfire, all one had to do was tell that night nurse and the whole place knew by the next night. She was good at watching what was going on during day and evening shift, but her night shift was actually caught stealing food from the kitchen and sleeping on the job. She was the sleeper! What a great example of a nurse. :angryfire

The nurses I work with are great. I'm a new nurse and everyone has been helpful and supportive. We work as a team and it's been wonderful.

I work in a small hospital, where everyone knows everyone else's business. Many of our patients know each other and the staff as well.

Because our hospital is the "only game in town", the nearest hospital is a good 45 min away in good weather, the majority of nurses stay. We have relatively low turnover - which also means low turnover for advancement and for management as well.

This often creates discord amongst the nurses - as long time management tends to favor their long time nursing "pals". The moral in our hospital is very low - I think new energy is needed to turn things around.

The DON is sister to the Nurse manager of ICU, the ICU nurse manager's husband is the head of radiology, the supervisor in matienience is the DON's cousin, etc... you get my drift. Our bed coordinator is the DON's cousin.

This type of situation breeds discontent. If there we any other game in town, most of us would leave. But most of us are local, and don't want to have to travel, especially since a good part of the year the weather is horrible, not to mention gas prices.

We have no union, and anyone who talks of union quickly dissapears from employement.

I would say that if a facility has good management who set good examples, the staff will follow. I can remember our old DON putting on scrubs and working as an aid on evenings we were short. She said "I may have RN after my name, but it's been years since I did bedside nursing, but I can answer lights, do vitals, bathe people and empty bedpans, so put me to work." It felt odd giving direction to the then DON, but I'll tell you, she had all of our RESPECT because she never left us hanging. We worked harder for her because she worked beside us.

This DON wouldn't get out of her suit if her life depended on it.

The old saying "Poop rolls down hill" - so does a good example.

So in closing, my experience has been unhappy with nursing, at best. Mostly because our management lets you know, you are a number, and you can be replaced. They have said as much to co-workers when they complain.

I hope you find a better place to grow in your career.

God Bless

Most nurses are not like this but those few can make a work environment downright uncomfortable. I have been very lucky in that the unpleasant nurses have been few and far between in my career, but there have been one or two that I absolutely dreaded working with. In my current environment toxicity is literally not tolerated, if the attitude doesn't change then the employee is invited to leave by the owner.