Older nurses vs younger nurses

Nurses Relations

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I'm sick and tired of the older nurses vs younger nurses crap. We all have the same damn degree and we do the same damn work. I was at work the other day and two senior nurses were in the break room bragging about how when they were in nursing school they had to work so much harder than nowadays and yadda yadda yaaaa. In my head I said, " whatever *****, I worked hard for my degree. Please don't discredit me, and just because my NCLEX test was computerized doesn't make it easier. Half of these old broads in my facility can't even charge their cellphone without my help I could imagine them taking the boards using a computer" sry people I just needed to vent. We nurses can sometimes be our own worst enemy. Forget the docs and administration, we love to knock down the newbie so that we can feel better about ourselves. Stop the madness people

Some things I strive to live by; respect all people, try to limit your judgement of people, when something comes out of your mouth, what purpose does it serve? does it serve to uplift a person or belittle them? when I use to hear other nurses making snide comments, even if not to my face, I would personalize it and feel wronged..now older and wiser, I let in go in one ear and out the other(as my dear departed mother would say;-)and if someone has a real problem with me, they can to come to me, other than that oh well. I can't control what people say or do. I can only try to spread some love and kindness through what I say and my actions. Everyday I really do try and become a better person, if even to smile at another fellow human being!

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Some things I strive to live by; respect all people, try to limit your judgement of people, when something comes out of your mouth, what purpose does it serve? does it serve to uplift a person or belittle them? when I use to hear other nurses making snide comments, even if not to my face, I would personalize it and feel wronged..now older and wiser, I let in go in one ear and out the other(as my dear departed mother would say;-)and if someone has a real problem with me, they can to come to me, other than that oh well. I can't control what people say or do. I can only try to spread some love and kindness through what I say and my actions. Everyday I really do try and become a better person, if even to smile at another fellow human being!

You left out extra syrup on the pancakes. I mean, without that..........nothing matters.

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I'm sure your attitude, spoken aloud or not, is coming through loud and clear.

The only relationship I strive for with newer nurses is one of support and encouragement.

Yours should be showing respect, for the experiences we older nurses have not only survived, but learned from.

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I'm sure your attitude, spoken aloud or not, is coming through loud and clear.

The only relationship I strive for with newer nurses is one of support and encouragement.

Yours should be showing respect, for the experiences we older nurses have not only survived, but learned from.

My dear the only respect the older nurses deserve is the same respect we all deserve. 20+ years or not we are all RN's

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You say you want to "stop the madness", yet you refer to us as "old Broads" and make fun of the lack of experience with some new technology.

I have recently learned 4 different EMR's with 3 hours of training.

You have an obvious disrespect towards older nurses, yet complain "newbies"aren't respected.

My initial response was, respect is a 2 way street, I'm not feeling it coming my way.

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You say you want to "stop the madness", yet you refer to us as "old Broads" and make fun of the lack of experience with some new technology.

I have recently learned 4 different EMR's with 3 hours of training.

You have an obvious disrespect towards older nurses, yet complain "newbies"aren't respected.

My initial response was, respect is a 2 way street, I'm not feeling it coming my way.

:rolleyes: and so......

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:rolleyes: and so......

And so you might want to consider that demanding respect while harboring contempt is probably not going to give you the results you desire.

The truth is that the younger nurses have fresh energy and enthusisam, the latest and greatest knowledge, and bright and shiny technology skills that older nurses would do well to welcome and make use of. The older nurses have much more life experience, perseverance and determination (or they would not have lasted so long), and wisdom which is the ability to apply raw knowledge in the right way at the right time.

The sparks can fly both ways, but so can appreciative regard.

Nobody, no matter how long they've had RN after their name, should be snacking on a co-worker.

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My dear the only respect the older nurses deserve is the same respect we all deserve. 20+ years or not we are all RN's

"My dear".... is that meant as an exclamation or is it meant to be condensending?

If it was the latter, that is incredibly rude.

Older nurses do command more respect. They've been there and done it.

The same as respecting your elders.

Experience = respect.

I'm not saying we do not all deserve respect, I'm saying that those who have the experience and knowledge and those who have the power to teach us (and know what they are talking about and will save your rear end) command great respect.

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I see where the OP is coming from. And, she's ranting and frustrated and yet it seems she's being torn down for doing so while it would be okay for a more experienced nurse to come on these boards and complain about the newbies on their floor but would not be met with the same kind of responses by the newbies.

Whenever I see these types of posts and someone speaks of the more experienced nurse, somehow, eventually it turns into an "older" age thing. I don't think age has anything to do with it. You can be an experienced nurse at 40 with 18+ yrs under your belt or you can be 40 as a new nurse.

I understand her frustrations. Nurses, no matter how old or how many yrs of experience should stick together and help one another out, whenever possible. And yes, we're ALL nurses. I'm an older new nurse and I love hearing how those that have gone before me learned and did/do things. I don't think the OP is opposed to that. What isn't right is how these more experienced or older nurses are dishing it out (some of them, not all-there are plenty that are wonderful about it and I've been lucky to only experience that so far, except for maybe one i can recall). Being a new nurse is tough, no matter when you enter the profession. Being made to feel like you know less just because the older nurses had different hurdles to cross or a harder road to get over those hurdles doesn't do anything for the new nurse except make her feel bad. There is a right way and a wrong way to get your point across and if people would sometimes just think before they speak, a lot of this separation among nurses of different generations wouldn't be there. Like another poster said, is it too hard to think first how your comments will affect another human being before you speak them? And yes, it's usually best to just slap a smile on your face and keep your comments to yourself, we have to do it all the time with patients so extend it on down to your coworkers, it's not difficult. As Thumper said in Winnie The Pooh, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!"

We would live in a much kinder world if more people adopted this thought and exercised it!

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Thanks for the articulate reply, Miranda.

After I received the"and so", I gave up. That was equal to a "na,nah, na, nah nah.

there is no reasoning with THAT!

I sincerely hope .. someday..she learns that us"old broads" are the heart and soul of nursing.

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So what are the younger nurses?? The @ss of nursing??

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Thanks for the articulate reply, Miranda.

After I received the"and so", I gave up. That was equal to a "na,nah, na, nah nah.

there is no reasoning with THAT!

I sincerely hope .. someday..she learns that us"old broads" are the heart and soul of nursing.

You've missed my point entirely. Never have I disrespected any of my coworkers, more or less experienced. I've never had an issue with my peers but my point was that why is that more senior RN's have this need to fell validated and will put down the less experienced nurses. "our education was better, we were better coming out of school, etc" ????? If you want respect shouldn't you give it. When you gossip about others like schoolgirls you will be treated as such. Relax, we get the same check, we work in the same unit, and we are equals. Whatever you think or feel, keep it to yourself and vent at home. Your bitterness, or apparent anger, is poison to moral. A new nurse has enough uphill battle which he or she must overcome, your rudeness is the last thing needed

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