do nurses eat their young

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2006

Learn to cover your a**. :)

Seriously.....

allnurses Guide · Nov 11, 2006

No, nurses do not eat their young . . . .some folks in all walks of life are grouchy and rude and meanspirited. Has nothing to do with being a nurse.

Stand up for yourself in a polite way and don't take any crap from anyone.

Also, do a search for this subject . . there are many many threads.

steph

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2006

No, nurses do not eat their young . . . .

I have met some nurses who eat their young. Overall, most nurses have been helpful in teaching me skills and giving advice.

PANurseRN1 · Nov 11, 2006

If you make mistakes, then you should accept feedback on what needs to be corrected instead of pointing fingers at what other people do. Getting negative feedback is not the same as being "eaten," especially if you are making errors.

If your mistakes are "not your fault" half the time, then that means that half the time they are your fault. Stop playing the blame game and learn what you need to do to improve yourself.

Mulan · Nov 11, 2006

There are some that eat the young, the old and each other.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2006

You have to learn to pick and choose what you write up VERY carefully. Im not saying let important things go. But you have to learn what to clean up for a nurse from a prior shift and what really needs to be handled. They need to understand that there is always another shift that comes on, that is why nursing isnt an 8-5 job. You cant do EVERYTHING and some things have to be left for the next shift.

Other than that, yes,, CYA and double check things before you leave. Especially medications and other important things that are shift sensitive. It will make your life a lot easier.

pyrolady · Nov 11, 2006

yup - a lot of them do. Hopefully you run into some who are professional enough to be a preceptor. Unfortunately you did something that someone reported. My suggestion is the same as a previous post - learn to cover your bottom. How? Well, sometimes I get anal retentive - also remember that you won't get everything all of the time and guess what?? Some of us are actually human. Do your best every day and it's all one can ask.

buddiage · Nov 11, 2006

No, nurses do not eat their young . . . .some folks in all walks of life are grouchy and rude and meanspirited. Has nothing to do with being a nurse.
Stand up for yourself in a polite way and don't take any crap from anyone.
Also, do a search for this subject . . there are many many threads.
steph

Well said.

I've come across the helpful, friendly, indifferent, and cranky as a nursing student.

There are miserable people in every job.

camrave · Nov 11, 2006

I personally, think some nurses do eat their young. When I graduated from nursing school, 4 of us new grads started on the same med-surg floor (they were really, really short) and if we had questions for the older, more experienced nurses they would look at us like we were crazy and shouldn't be asking any questions, we were picked on if we did make a small mistake, not anything life threatening. I would think they would be happy to have some help. I stayed 6 months, that's all I could take. I think some of it is a lot of the older nurses are pissed because these new grads are coming in making what it took them 15-20 years to start making, which if you think about it, most people would be pissed about that but they shouldn't take it out on the new nurses, they should go to management.

PANurseRN1 · Nov 11, 2006

Maybe they were exasperated because they already had a heavy workload plus the added responsibility of having to precept new nurses. Usually there is no assignment accommodation for the nurse who has to precept. You're expected to be able to manage a full load plus watch over the new nurse and her pts.

New nurses have no clue how difficult it can be for staff. I'm sure new nurses have had their days when they were les than polite to their older colleagues. A little understanding both ways could help immensely.

You'd be touchy too if you had to put up with all the stress at work and then read on a website how horrible you were because you were an experienced nurse. I know my feelings about students and new nurses has changed after reading thread after thread about what an awful person I am because I'm an experienced nurse. Fortunately, my unit does not take new grads, so that's one issue I don't have to deal with anymore.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Nov 11, 2006

Mulan said it well. There are just grouchy people everywhere. Nursing is stressful. Nursing is also rewarding. When you get to be the senior nurse remember how you felt as a newbie. And yes, you will make mistakes, and anyone who says they've never made one has selective recall.