Nurses continue to eat their young

Nurses Relations

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I am about done. Where I work there is this culture that allows for day shift nurses to be flat out ******* to the offgoing night shifters during report. It is a poisonous culture on my otherwise great unit.

It stands in such contrast to a few wonderful day shift nurses who will come in and help solve problems and are a calming presence.

Specializes in Peds, School Nurse, clinical instructor.

The term "nurses eat their young" needs to be put to rest.....in every single career path, you will find people who aren't willing to help you succeed....it's not just a nursing issue and I for one am sick of hearing it. :no:

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
The term "nurses eat their young" needs to be put to rest.....in every single career path, you will find people who aren't willing to help you succeed....it's not just a nursing issue and I for one am sick of hearing it. :no:

Quite right, in some work environments it is the experienced and older nurse who is on the menu.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
Those night shifters will eat anything.

Especially nasty things left out for 12 hours during days.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
Those night shifters will eat anything.

Yep! You have to be tough to work nights! If you daylight-types would only realize that we crusty tough night hawks have sleep some time so our scales and crusties don't fall off. That time is usually the afternoon, sometimes the morning and the early evening, and then is precisely when the cable company rep calls to sell me a tier of premium channels I neither want or need. If it isn't that, it's the woman with the annoying nasal voice trying her darndest to sell me health insurance for all our cats and dogs.

Daytimers have persistent paperboys, school meetings, homework, deliveries, family stuff...

I'd say it's a tossup but each half will think they're under greater stress, but it really is about equal. Sometimes it's worse for one an some days worse for the other.

We don't eat every thing we stumble across -- we do have standards and pride. We draw the line at the food in the breakroom kitchen!

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Specializes in CCRN, ED, Unit Manager.

Bite back. and be prickly. prickly helps you to keep from being eaten.

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Specializes in CCRN, ED, Unit Manager.
The term "nurses eat their young" needs to be put to rest.....in every single career path, you will find people who aren't willing to help you succeed....it's not just a nursing issue and I for one am sick of hearing it. :no:

I have to disagree. Coming from a few different fields myself (military, criminal justice, construction, martial arts) it is much more prevalent in nursing in my experience. In some fields, people just want to test what you know. In others, they want to see how tough you are or if you can hang (can they trust you?). When patient care is a priority, neither of those are appropriate.

Just my 0.02.

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Those night shifters will eat anything.

I draw the line at the chicken salad sandwiches in the patient fridge. Those things are evil

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I have to disagree. Coming from a few different fields myself (military, criminal justice, construction, martial arts) it is much more prevalent in nursing in my experience. In some fields, people just want to test what you know. In others, they want to see how tough you are or if you can hang (can they trust you?). When patient care is a priority, neither of those are appropriate.

Just my 0.02.

It's the same thing in nursing...pt care is a priority, and the experienced ones want to know whether one is mentally tough AND smart enough to do this business...it is owed to our pts in their vulnerable state to be BOTH.

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Nurses continue to not understand that there are critical people in all jobs.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

I don't see how this translate to nurses eating their young . . . . I wish that phrase had never been released on a vulnerable population of 'young' nurses who would rather believe that than that some people are cranky, miserable or have bad days.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Oh good Heavens. You've pulled out that TIRED old phrase and it doesn't even apply to the situation you've described.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Bhahahahaha, except it's the old seasonged DAY nurses who are eating the young newbie night nurses, right OP?

Those night shifters will eat anything.
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