I am a new grad (RN) with no hospital experience aside from nursing school. This is my experience on the L&D floor I am in. I've come to you all because I don't know what is normal in the healthcare setting. So I am often left alone. On half of my first day orienting as Baby Nurse, I was left alone. My preceptor would leave and I could not find her. On my second day as baby nurse, she called out and I was ALONE.I told them that I did not feel safe doing this and they told me They would not leave me alone and assist me. The charge nurse stayed with me for the first few seconds of life and then would leave. We are always swamped. Our director does not allow the staff to call safe harbor. Which I heard was illegal. Instead she gets on the floor to "Help" although she doesn't have much experience and needs a lot of help,which takes away time from other nurses.
I have tried to seek help and additional resources from my nurse educator but she has been working on the floor swamped with patients and doesn't have time to help me. During my first few weeks we were so swamped that my preceptor would often just take over and I couldn't really do much. MY first few weeks consisted of hemmorhages, stat sections and mothers who were rushed in transitioning. Tensions are high, everyone is always yelling at each other in front of patients. etc. What baffles me is the conversations that go on. One nurse thought it was hilarious that she didn't help a triage patient in time and she almost gave birth on the floor. They constantly make fun of patients especially the ones that go natural they say things like ughhh "Why are they screaming they need to shut the ***** up"! They were disgusted that an incontinent patient was pregnant. They said some of the meanest things about her and how disgusting she was for wearing diapers and having sex. When I ask for help they just stare at me and sit on their behinds and ignore me.
I don't understand it, never have I worked in a place with such insensitive, grumpy, depressed people. Is this the way nursing is everywhere? I have thick skin, but I will never find pleasure in another person's pain. They gossip about patients in front of other patients and families. Once they ware talking about how they would abandon their patients especially the epidural patients in the time of a disaster, active shooter or fire. This conversation was going on at the nurses station with families walking in the halls. They were not joking either.
I am just so disgusted, I have thick skin and I may not know much about the healthcare field but I have lived a very hard life and I have lived through things probably most of these nurses haven't. I am professional and compassionate. SO tell me, is this the norm.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I am just so disgusted, I have thick skin and I may not know much about the healthcare field but I have lived a very hard life and I have lived through things probably most of these nurses haven't. I am professional and compassionate. SO tell me, is this the norm.
Just mentioning this because it really is unfathomable this could occur in this niche of the nursing world. I've seen that cruelty in an L & D unit. They generally kept it confined to staff-only areas. I'm old and crusty and revel in dark humor, I find the "compassion test" irritating at times, but what they said and did I'll never forget.
That is not the norm, and I never understood it. I'll defer to the specialists on the other issues you mentioned.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Right, that's my sole existence...
Here's where I think OP went wrong - it's not about her being left on her own, or the environment there that she may disagree with - she made a point to say that she had it tougher than they did growing up and didn't think the other nurses on that unit seemed to be answering her newbie questions. .
Really? That's ALL you got out of her post?? Frankly, I didn't even NOTICE that part, because I was focusing on the fact that she's a new grad in a highly technical and high-risk specialty thrown ON HER OWN TO RECOVER A NEWBORN (birth, while physiologically normal, is also the riskiest event in terms of death or permanent neurological damage any person will ever encounter - chew on that for a moment), and that the other nurses, who should be in this specialty because they revere the birth process, are mocking women for wanting to have a natural childbirth and are - g-d forbid - vocalizing during their labor.
She asked if this is normal. It is NOT normal. It's DANGEROUS. Focus on that, instead one stupid line that, rereading her post, I STILL couldn't find.
Every workplace has a different culture, and apparently yours seems to tolerate a whole lot more public open contempt and disrespect for the patients than would be acceptable elsewhere.
Is it a particular few nurses, or is at widespread? Is this behavior constant or a reaction to temporary conditions? If the lack of teamwork, especially in helping a new nurse is the baseline, quietly start looking for another job.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I am a new grad (RN) with no hospital experience aside from nursing school. This is my experience on the L&D floor I am in. I've come to you all because I don't know what is normal in the healthcare setting. So I am often left alone. On half of my first day orienting as Baby Nurse, I was left alone. My preceptor would leave and I could not find her. On my second day as baby nurse, she called out and I was ALONE.I told them that I did not feel safe doing this and they told me They would not leave me alone and assist me. The charge nurse stayed with me for the first few seconds of life and then would leave. We are always swamped. Our director does not allow the staff to call safe harbor. Which I heard was illegal. Instead she gets on the floor to "Help" although she doesn't have much experience and needs a lot of help,which takes away time from other nurses.
I have tried to seek help and additional resources from my nurse educator but she has been working on the floor swamped with patients and doesn't have time to help me. During my first few weeks we were so swamped that my preceptor would often just take over and I couldn't really do much. MY first few weeks consisted of hemmorhages, stat sections and mothers who were rushed in transitioning. Tensions are high, everyone is always yelling at each other in front of patients. etc. What baffles me is the conversations that go on. One nurse thought it was hilarious that she didn't help a triage patient in time and she almost gave birth on the floor. They constantly make fun of patients especially the ones that go natural they say things like ughhh "Why are they screaming they need to shut the ***** up"! They were disgusted that an incontinent patient was pregnant. They said some of the meanest things about her and how disgusting she was for wearing diapers and having sex. When I ask for help they just stare at me and sit on their behinds and ignore me.
I don't understand it, never have I worked in a place with such insensitive, grumpy, depressed people. Is this the way nursing is everywhere? I have thick skin, but I will never find pleasure in another person's pain. They gossip about patients in front of other patients and families.Once they ware talking about how they would abandon their patients especially the epidural patients in the time of a disaster, active shooter or fire. This conversation was going on at the nurses station with families walking in the halls. They were not joking either.
I am just so disgusted, I have thick skin and I may not know much about the healthcare field but I have lived a very hard life and I have lived through things probably most of these nurses haven't. I am professional and compassionate. SO tell me, is this the norm.
No, it is not normal to leave a brand new nurse alone. There should always be a preceptor accessible.
And no, nurses should not be gossiping about patients in front of other patients and families. If that is truly what it is. Are you sure it's really gossip and not a request for advice, an update to a more senior nurse, a mini-report before a nurse leaves her patient to go to the bathroom?
As far as hilarity and "mean comments" about their patients, dark humor is how nurses cope. That is normal, and you will find it in most nursing environments; especially the healthiest sort of environments. There are things so awful that you either laugh about them or you cry about them, and dissolving into tears doesn't get the work done or the patient helped. Sometimes, when your patient is irritating the ever loving bejesus out of you, venting about it (or laughing about it) to a coworker who understands is what gets you through the day. I understand that you're new and you don't get that yet. Either you will get it eventually or you won't survive in nursing.
The "compassionate" comment is like nails on a chalkboard to me and to most of my peers. You've heard of "holier than thou"? We have a phenomenon on this forum of new nurses coming here and telling us all that they are so much more "compassionate than thou." It rankles. Compassionate can be faked, and often is. Competence cannot be. Competence is important, compassionate not so much, except that it is often used as a bludgeon to strike at other nurses. "I'm so much more compassionate than her!"
And as far as hard life, you have no idea. If those other nurses are coping with their tough life issues in a healthy manner, you have no idea what those issues are. You don't get points for bringing up what a tough life you've had. For all you know, your life issues may be a walk in the garden compared to the life issues of your colleagues.
That's exactly why I brought up the issue of a hard life, was expecting comments about how nurses become desensitized in a way. It's just odd that I see surgeons, physicians and other nurses that do not have this attitude. I wonder what makes some people turn out this way. Sure they may joke about, poo, blood and guts in private. But it almost seems evil, that they laugh and are slow to tend to a woman who is in fear, vomiting, trembling and begging to be helped.
I'm not certain if it's a reaction to temporary conditions, Maybe it is, I hope not. It is the majority of the nurses sad to say. But the ones that are not like this are so amazing, and kind and patient.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
That's exactly why I brought up the issue of a hard life, was expecting comments about how nurses become desensitized in a way. It's just odd that I see surgeons, physicians and other nurses that do not have this attitude. I wonder what makes some people turn out this way. Sure they may joke about, poo, blood and guts in private. But it almost seems evil, that they laugh and are slow to tend to a woman who is in fear, vomiting, trembling and begging to be helped.
I don't understand why you brought up the issue of a hard life. Do you truly believe that you've had it any harder than Susie in RT or Tammy Jo down the hall? It's possible, I suppose, but since you have NO idea what they've been through, you don't really know.
I suggest you give it more time to get to know your colleagues and your work environment before you judge. And then "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
I think that Klone, quazar, and AliNajaCat have given you very good advice.
Burn out, stress, fatigue, job insecurity, personal problems; any number of things can combine to produce hostile and/or uncaring behavior. I have seen it myself, and am seeing it lately.
I don't think what you experienced was normal. Patients are hurting and/or sick when they come to us. They're vulnerable and still allow us to examine them from head to toe, ask detailed and personal questions, and perform intimate, invasive procedures on them. The comments that you heard shows a complete lack of respect for the trust we are given.
Besides, if the workplace is hectic it's not like we can blame the patients, it's not their fault if our area is short- staffed. Nursing is stressful, we're allowed to vent, but there's a time, place, and a way to do it. I know I've made irreverent jokes and comments, but never about my residents and never out in the open where just anybody walking by could hear me or my coworkers.
I can understand why the OP is concerned, it sounds like she is not being supported in this new role and it doesn't sound like a safe situation at all. Regarding the other staff and the unprofessional comments, I think that those sort of comments may seem shocking at first but sadly have become more commonplace in healthcare. I think it's one thing if these sort of comments are said in the privacy of a breakroom but it absolutely should not be said in public or patient care areas. A lot of nurses resort to dark humor to cope with the stress of their jobs and when you add things like insufficient staffing and or unsafe working conditions I think you will see that the incidents of dark humor increase.
OP, I think that you need to sit down with your manager and clearly articulate your concerns. Ask him/her what your orientation plan will be moving forward and how you can be successful in this position. Personally, I would hold back on discussing the comments the other staff have made at least for now. I think that if you discuss it at this point it will come across the wrong way and someone may try to turn it back on you by saying that you are "just a new nurse who isn't ready for this kind of setting" and that being a novice makes you "think you're better than everyone else". I think that your concerns are genuine and well-founded but for right now I would focus more on getting a quality orientation to this position. Best of luck!
Some good advice here - this is not the norm and should be addressed. Not by YOU, but you should speak out to the unit educator, manager, etc., for advice and perhaps some of these nurses need more training in interpersonal skills.
nursel56
7,122 Posts
Just mentioning this because it really is unfathomable this could occur in this niche of the nursing world. I've seen that cruelty in an L & D unit. They generally kept it confined to staff-only areas. I'm old and crusty and revel in dark humor, I find the "compassion test" irritating at times, but what they said and did I'll never forget.
That is not the norm, and I never understood it. I'll defer to the specialists on the other issues you mentioned.