Nurses eat anybody young old and indifferent

puggy232 · Oct 29, 2008

We worry about the ones who are nasty to us, who we know are watching everystep making our fingers shake in case we do something wrong with a procedure we can do with our eyes closed.
In reality we shoudl be worrying about the ones who smile in our face, who understand our problems but are waiting in the background to stab us hard in the back to make the vultures job so much easier.
Bitter I hear you all thinking as you read this, no not bitter just somebody who has had her eyes opened, somebody who considered herself to be a a good nurse, somebody who has never been written up, somebody who has never written up another nurse yet somebody who is working in a hostile environment watching it happen to others around her on a daily bases and somebody who knows it is only a matter of time before it happens to her

I agree 100% I hate nursing! Just for all of the above, I could deal with the stress taking care of pts, the hateful family members, and lousy pay, if coworkers back you up, helped out when they see someone struggling vs watching and wanting to see someone to fail, conveying all the negative energy-if I knew it was like this before entering nursing I would have never become a nurse. Oprah or somebody ought to do a show on how awful the nursing profession has become, she recently did a show with a neuroscientist who had a stroke, that it effected her right side of the brain, and she was unable to understand speech or speak herself-but she said she could still understand a person's energy positive or negative when they came into her room-when negative energy entered she said it frightened her. It made me think of all the times I entered pt's room after being belittled or berated by a coworker-I know I probably passed on that negative energy. That energy isn't healthy for our pts or ourselves-when I look at some of these energy suckers I know it's not healthy for them either-some of them look like time has marched acrossed their faces frowns and all and-even though they are younger then I am, they look older.

TopazLover, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

I have worked in toxic work environments, also. If there is any way you can leave this place, do so. I noticed that, like sharks, there is also a feeding frenzy when one is "caught" being imperfect. It travels from one person to another with the bulls eye on the back. It grows a more toxic work environment for everyone. The vulture of today may become the target on another down the line. It is not limited to nurses. Other disciplines feed and feed on these things.

I am sorry that any nurse has to work in such a hostile environment. Most solutions involve major changes in management and staff. Best of luck.

amjowens · Oct 29, 2008

I have worked in toxic work environments, also. If there is any way you can leave this place, do so. I noticed that, like sharks, there is also a feeding frenzy when one is "caught" being imperfect. It travels from one person to another with the bulls eye on the back. It grows a more toxic work environment for everyone. The vulture of today may become the target on another down the line. It is not limited to nurses. Other disciplines feed and feed on these things.
I am sorry that any nurse has to work in such a hostile environment. Most solutions involve major changes in management and staff. Best of luck.

My mind went to the National Geographic shows I sometimes watch when I read that. An animal that is in pain and suffering gets shunned and hurt even more by its own. I can hardly stand to watch it, it's so horrible. I'm still a student, but I see it in nursing, even within my class. Definitely the survival of the fittest. I just don't understand this in nursing.

PiPhi2004 · Oct 29, 2008

I do my work and go home. I stay out of the politics and people don't bother me. I help when needed but I don't engage in gossip.

RN1982 · Oct 29, 2008

The problem with all this back-stabbing in nursing is because this is a female-dominated profession. I truly believe if there were more men in this profession, we probably wouldn't be having these problems. Sometimes I think, we as women, are constantly in competition with each other even if we think that we are not. I cannot count the number of times I have been put down by my female co-workers and never by my male coworkers. I really think that says something. I feel that some women are so nitpicky and anal about everything, that it really gets in the way of what is really important. I don't expect my co-workers to finish everything before they leave and I hope my co-workers wouldn't expect that of me. Nursing is a 24 hour a day job. Some things do not get finished in my 12 hour shift. People need to deal with it.

Here are my rules when dealing with co-workers:

1. Think before I speak

2. Treat people how I want to be treated

3. Never expect too much

The people that create these toxic environments are the ones that need to leave the nursing profession...And that includes the nurse standing in the hallway charting at the drop-down that I politely asked to step aside while I take my critically-ill and intubated patient back to ICU last week and all I got was a nasty look.

medsurgrnco, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

I often read on allnurses about Nurses eating their young but the older I get, the more experienced I get, the more I know Nurses do not eat their young they eat anybody and anything that gets in their way....somebody who is working in a hostile environment watching it happen to others around her on a daily bases and somebody who knows it is only a matter of time before it happens to her

So true!!!! Why do nurses have to tolerate hostile work environments?! Why don't other nurses (who are not involved) speak up when they see someone being targeted - do they think it wouldn't help, or do they think they would become target practice next? Still looking for a cohesive working environment where nasty nurses are not tolerated by management.

*ac* · Oct 29, 2008

This is so true, but my real problem is not getting sucked into it myself. Somebody complains about me for something petty, and I want to get even - it takes everything I've got not to. I have recently gone to my manager to let her know about some problems, but refused to name names, because I'm just so against "telling". At my hospital, incident reports are used punitively, no matter how much evidence there is that this is not the way to improve safety. So I won't write one unless there was patient- or very real potential - for patient harm. When I went to her with some general issues, she said that if we cover for each other, we can get in trouble, too and she cannot address problems without names. (I'm talking about things like aids sleeping on the job at night, etc)

There are so many nurses who get a gleam in their eye when they discover something they get to write an incident report for. I think it feels like a chance to get even for all the times they've been written up, often for the pettiest of things.

It just puts such a thorn in your side when you work your butt off, work short, never having supplies or equipment, go the extra mile, put up with unreasonalbe demands from patients and doctors, and then get written up for some petty documentation thing or other, when it was a day we were lucky nobody died. It's so rare that somebody congratulates us for getting through those days from hell. The resentments just build and build...

I don't want to be like that, but I admit I feel the urge sometimes.

Mahage, LPN · Oct 29, 2008

We have at least two nurses on the day shift that we all dread giving report to. No matter how good the report we can rest assured that these ladies will pick you apart on everything. One of them went off on me one morning because I did not tell her which nare the NG tube was in. She then failed to keep the nexium drip going and said it was because it was listed under PRN orders, blaming the pharmacy. I have also relieved her and found a puddle of tube feeding under the pt with a towel over the outside of it.

The other was indignant because I failed to tell her the IV fluid and rate. Not that it didn't come up on the MAC????? Another time, she failed to sign off on her blood transfusion sheet.

Should I have used these opportunities to "get even?" Maybe, but I just made sure the first one KNEW that I knew that that Nexium drip was supposed to run unless the doc said other wise and that I put it back up. The second one did not relieve me that next day, so I didn't go out of my way to say anything to her. I just kept quiet.

I am in my second career and am an old new nurse. I am coming up on my 1st anniversary and there is a crop of new nurses (all young) that have hired in since me, so I am no longer their primary target, but I never know when I will be their handiest target. I have gotten pretty caustic with these nasty gals in turn, but the first one will yell and scream and the second one will continuously nag.

The other thing that bothers me is that their is an anti-gay culture though several of us are gay on that unit. That is so stupid. They will act like you are just wonderful, but you hear them making remarks about gay guys and you wonder what they say about you behind your back. I know it can't be nice, but I refuse to pretend to have a "boyfriend" or hide behind having kids and grandkids to appear "straight."

I don't share a lot about my personal life but I do speak of my partner by name when I am just talking about simple stuff like vacation, shopping, etc. So I know they have figured it out. Then there is the age thing. A couple of them expressed surprise that I enjoy riding a SkiDoo and that I think Meatloaf is a fantastic singer. I guess old folks (56) aren't supposed to have fun and Lesbians arent supposed to get old, LOL!

Mahage:argue:

nursej22, MSN, RN · Oct 29, 2008

First of all, my heart goes out to all those who have been on the receiving end of this cr@p.:icon_hug: I have gotten a little, but I stood up to it, and finally left to a much more supportive atmosphere. And as annoyed as I get sometimes by the coworker that leaves me a pile to clean up, I refuse to throw him or her under the bus. I will approach them professionally and have a discussion. And if they are truly incompetent then they get better or leave.

Secondly, I am convinced that this eat or be eaten atmosphere comes from the top down. Managers overtly or passively allow this kind of behavior. If they are punitive about incident reports then they will be used as a weapon by nurse against nurse. If they allow or listen to gossip then it turns into a wildfire. I have had the joy of working for a manager who is loving and supportive, and in turn so is our unit. Patients, docs and students remark about it.

I absolutely will stand up to a bully, especially for a co-worker. I feel like that is my responsibility as an experienced nurse to support staff and demonstrate that we can get along with attacking each other.

oslogirl · Oct 29, 2008

I once heard something that has always helped me. Just one of those things that stuck in my mind.

Give them half Dr Spock (from Startrack), and half Clint Eastwood. Remain calm, cool, and logical.:wink2:

twistedpupchaser · Oct 29, 2008

I am lucky with Nursing being a second career, if some of the "static" I recieved on my first ward after graduation went to a someone out of school in their first job, they would have doubted their own ability. Luckily? I have received worse static from better people than the trolls who lumber around picking fault.

One Nurse who thought she was up to task decided to abuse me in front of the oncoming shift during handover, I didn't know all the details of a Pt admitted 10/60 prior to handover, (condition, obs and surgical intervention were not enough) This was not the first time she had done it but this day was worse than usual. Sorry to say, I bit back...

"The Federal Aviation Authority, (is their such a beast in Oz?) rang asking you to keep your broom out of the flight paths, you disrupted another landing onthe way to work today"

I know I shouldn't have done it, but her behaviour improved...toward me anyway.