Why can nurses be so mean?

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Someone, please give me some insight. I've been an rn for 7 years. I started out on a step-down cardiac unit. I loved heart patients. I did it for 5 years. I hated the beauracracy that went along with hospital nursing and that's why I left. I side tracked into case management for the last 2+ years and have decided that I want to go back to the step-down ccu and do what i've always dreamed of doing which is transition into the ccu/open heart unit.

my problem is that i'm scared out of my mind! my experience with hospital nursing was not the best. nurses talk about you, say mean things, criticize everything you do or don't do, get angry at report time and I feel like i have to be perfect 100% of the time and nothing less is acceptable. i remember coming home some days and being a complete basket case because of something that happened at work some days. and then there is the good part, having a patient look at you and say, thank you for being here for me, sometimes it makes it all worth it. can you offer any words of advice....i want to go back to acute care, but i'm almost frozen out of fear....:o

I was working on a med-surg /ortho floor for about and 5 years and I just started in critical care about a year ago, i was scared out of my mind the first weeks off orientation, i used to go home and fret, did i do this right?, sign this off?, give this med? plus i didn't know anybody so i was really out of my comfort zone. :stone . I really wanted to quit, but then i realized that this is why i wanted this job, i wanted it for the challenge, to meet new people, to further my career....

Like they said, this profession being predominately female, there are always gonna be cat fights, backbiting, complaining... i guess its a part of woman's nature, not to mention the PMSing and the menopausing!!! Critical care nursing is stressful as it is and this just adds on to it. But when you turn around you'll always find that most of the critical/ acute care nurses are the most intelligent, driven, motivated nurses out there. :)

I have always been a positive person and you seem to be too. Hopefully your optimism will rub off. Weigh the pros and cons. All i can say is that, i am glad that i took that chance, the fretting has paid off...this is the best thing i've ever done! :p

:Melody: I haven't worked in any high tech field and I am ok where I am. This won't help but there are always people who end up in a career just for the money and their heart is not in it. I see this in some of the nurses where I work and in the CNAs. I decided I would try to be kind to my patients no matter what because I was hospitalized for several months as a child and some of the nurses were downright abusive. I remember one yelling at me because I dropped the thermometer out of my mouth(accidentally)and another who I still remember her name saying I made her sick because I asked for another piece of toast. I leave my work almost crying from leg aches but I pray every day that I never make a patient feel like I was made to feel as a little girl. QUOTE=minneRN]Someone, please give me some insight. I've been an rn for 7 years. I started out on a step-down cardiac unit. I loved heart patients. I did it for 5 years. I hated the beauracracy that went along with hospital nursing and that's why I left. I side tracked into case management for the last 2+ years and have decided that I want to go back to the step-down ccu and do what i've always dreamed of doing which is transition into the ccu/open heart unit.

my problem is that i'm scared out of my mind! my experience with hospital nursing was not the best. nurses talk about you, say mean things, criticize everything you do or don't do, get angry at report time and I feel like i have to be perfect 100% of the time and nothing less is acceptable. i remember coming home some days and being a complete basket case because of something that happened at work some days. and then there is the good part, having a patient look at you and say, thank you for being here for me, sometimes it makes it all worth it. can you offer any words of advice....i want to go back to acute care, but i'm almost frozen out of fear....:o

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Like they said, this profession being predominately female, there are always gonna be cat fights, backbiting, complaining... i guess its a part of woman's nature, not to mention the PMSing and the menopausing!!!

Please stop saying that. Stop. Stop. Stop. See my above post. Men do it just the same and it is not just nurses either. Some of the most vicious rumors and catty remarks I have heard were made by surgeons in the OR and very few of them were female. Some people are rude and some are not, just like some people are women and some are men. The two have nothing to do with one another.

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Someone, please give me some insight. I've been an rn for 7 years. I started out on a step-down cardiac unit. I loved heart patients. I did it for 5 years. I hated the beauracracy that went along with hospital nursing and that's why I left. I side tracked into case management for the last 2+ years and have decided that I want to go back to the step-down ccu and do what i've always dreamed of doing which is transition into the ccu/open heart unit.

my problem is that i'm scared out of my mind! my experience with hospital nursing was not the best. nurses talk about you, say mean things, criticize everything you do or don't do, get angry at report time and I feel like i have to be perfect 100% of the time and nothing less is acceptable. i remember coming home some days and being a complete basket case because of something that happened at work some days. and then there is the good part, having a patient look at you and say, thank you for being here for me, sometimes it makes it all worth it. can you offer any words of advice....i want to go back to acute care, but i'm almost frozen out of fear....:o

You had ONE experience with one unit in one hospital. There are lots of great places out there (I know because I work in one). Look around. Interview the managers well. Ask the staff who work under these managers questions, find out the turnover rate. There are a million ways to cover your bases. You know what you want......now go out and look for it. Best of luck.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

I always thought it was due to that required course in nursing school

Meanness 101 and 202

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

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LOL!!!!

I always thought it was due to that required course in nursing school

Meanness 101 and 202

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

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Thank you for your words....you are right. We should let others get in the way of what we desire the most. I guess I felt I was the only one who was scared of the environment, but have learned that this is not the case...I love this website, wish it would have been around llooooooonnnnnnnggggggggg ago!

you should not let others determine what you do. if you like that , then go back and do it. It is normal to be scared, but you can do it. You did it before. you don't have to be perfect, no one is like that. the important thing is you like it and im sure your patients will apppreciate the care you give them. co workers can be mean. i know i have come home so depressed some days, but we are in this job to care for people and we shouldn't let nasty co workers influence us. good luck, you will be ok.
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Thank you ail!!!!!!! You are very kind....I'm sorry about your day, it sounds like it was a doozzzyyyyy!!!!! Management can be horrible, comes with the territory though...

You sound as if you are a very compassionate person, and as to nurses being so mean, many of them are burned out, stressed out and are venting. I know it sounds like an excuse but what happens in hospitals to staff as well as patients is a real crime! Management never sees the real picture because the bottom line is they want to operate with the very least they can get away with! Today I worked as charge nurse with 1 other RN, and 2 Lpns, no ward secretary, and had a code, resposible for all orders charts and assessements and patient care for 5 patients! This is unbearable
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Thank you Ana!!!!!!!!! Its nice to know that I am not alone...thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. It sounds like you are going to just great in your new position!:)

I was working on a med-surg /ortho floor for about and 5 years and I just started in critical care about a year ago, i was scared out of my mind the first weeks off orientation, i used to go home and fret, did i do this right?, sign this off?, give this med? plus i didn't know anybody so i was really out of my comfort zone. :stone . I really wanted to quit, but then i realized that this is why i wanted this job, i wanted it for the challenge, to meet new people, to further my career....

Like they said, this profession being predominately female, there are always gonna be cat fights, backbiting, complaining... i guess its a part of woman's nature, not to mention the PMSing and the menopausing!!! Critical care nursing is stressful as it is and this just adds on to it. But when you turn around you'll always find that most of the critical/ acute care nurses are the most intelligent, driven, motivated nurses out there. :)

I have always been a positive person and you seem to be too. Hopefully your optimism will rub off. Weigh the pros and cons. All i can say is that, i am glad that i took that chance, the fretting has paid off...this is the best thing i've ever done! :p

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Bets: thank you for sharing your thoughts and posting a response. Yes, I know what I want...and you are right, now I will go out and look for it. Thanks for the luck, I'll need a little of that and a lot of prayers too!:)

You had ONE experience with one unit in one hospital. There are lots of great places out there (I know because I work in one). Look around. Interview the managers well. Ask the staff who work under these managers questions, find out the turnover rate. There are a million ways to cover your bases. You know what you want......now go out and look for it. Best of luck.
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