Nurses 'Eat their Young?'

I'm preparing to graduate nursing school and move into the workforce as a professional nurse. I'm so excited but the closer it gets the more nervous I become. I've heard the phrase 'Nurses eat their young.' A lot lately. The phrase implying that the more experienced nurses aren't helping and like watching the new nurses struggle. I've also heard the first year of nursing is very difficult. Help!

Any advice or tips/tricks on surviving the first year as an RN would be super helpful?

[TriciaJ, RN]

kbrn2002 said:

Entry level nursing is a beast, that first year or so often has a brutal learning curve. I've noticed recently that more new nurses are entering the workforce woefully unprepared for the realities of real world nursing than used to be the case. Just the simple fact that a new nurse needs a lot more on the job training than in the past can cause strain on the senior staff that need to help the newer nurse thrive. Not all those senior nurses are able to cheerfully accomplish that task. I don't think that the intention at all is to "eat their young" but it might seem that way when a new nurse is getting pushed harder and faster than they are prepared for.

I agree with this. There seems to be a bigger disconnect between nursing school and actual nursing. It makes for a brutal first year or two out of school and it's easy to blame the people who are in closest proximity - your new coworkers. The blame really lies with nursing schools who don't adequately prepare their graduates for the realities of the work place and with hospital administrators who want to squeeze every erg out of every nurse.