Nurses eating their young-venting

missmercy · Mar 22, 2004

Nurses could have so much power, being that we are the largest group of healthcare providers...but we don't use it because we spend so much time fighting with each other.

Isn't that too bad!! We are an awesome bunch of people!! We are so good at taking care of others (patients) we need to learn to take better care of US!! This site is a good start! It's great to find so many of us encouraging one another and helping figure out dilemmas etc!! HOORAY FOR allnurses.com!!!!!

tiliimnrn · Mar 31, 2004

I just want you to know that I have been one of those nurses, the older one, talking to the younger one....I had a newer nurse tell me from day shift that one of my patients was all ready to go, just sign papers and leave. I looked at the chart and nothing had been compleated. This newer nurse had been on shift's before me other days also and hadn't done ANY, repeat, ANY charting on some of her patients....I went to the person who was orienting her and showed her what was going on.....I did this because.......if she isn't being oriented the right way, they need to know about that. It's that newer nurses license....I know she didn't speak to me for awhile until I took her aside and told her that I have nothing against her, I wanted her to get the orientation that she needed so she wouldn't lose her license.

If we don't watch out for each other, who will? We have enough going on right now to deal with. I agree, if we all stuck together, what a world it would be:balloons: .

We need to know what to fight about, what to fight for, and who to fight with, and that's not with each other.... We need to unite for the sake of the patient's we deal with every day. I know that when I end up in one of those beds I don't want staff fighting amongst each other, I want a group of nurses who help each other and watch out for me....Oh yeah, and I hope they make more money then I do...

SCRN1 · May 2, 2004

This certain nurse actually said to me to give my patient a dose of morphine because pt was getting up and down alot at night. I told her no, because the morphine had been ordred for resp distress which this woman wasn't in with SaO2 sats in the upper 90%'s!

Morphine DECREASES respirations...this was ordered for respiratory distress?

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · May 2, 2004

I understand. It is tough. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen. It may be that you are much younger than your co-workers. Maybe they are very careful workers and expect the same out of you. Maybe they don't trust you for some reason. Not sure. When I was in my first year or two of nursing, I found the opposite....the experienced nurses gave me all the heavy patients and left me to swim or drown. I swam, thank God.

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · May 2, 2004

Morphine DECREASES respirations...this was ordered for respiratory distress?

Morphine can increase the oxygenation at the capillary level, although it slows the respirations.

AngAng · May 17, 2004

I truly empathize with you. As a Nurse of 14 years I can tell you that this will

never change. I had a similar experience 2 years ago when I decided to venture

into a new specialty. I went through 6 months of torture by a Nurse with the

compassion of a wet rag. The lack of respect "some" Nurses show towards each

other is appauling. We are in the field of caring yet find are selfs encircled with

hypocrits. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory.:angryfire

LuLu123NY · May 23, 2004

Just wondering, when have you put in enough time to get some respect, or is it just because I'm young. I am so sick of being the scapegoat for all the problems, sick of being treated like I'm not in the same league as them, and foremost, sick of having my ideas and my nursing underminded by others!!!! This morning after giving report, Nurse X went to assess my patient. She comes out saying" Did you take her pulse, because it's very irregular!!" I told her that I did and it was normal for me. A minute later she comes out saying "Did you look at her arm, it's all puffy down to her hand!" I replied that I checked it and it was fine at 0530 and she goes"Well, I have to take it out, and I have to call the doctor because she needs an EKG." The way she spoke and looked at me made me feel as though I hadn't even looked at my patient!! This is the kind of behavior that new nurses are dealing with every day, constant negativity about their work. Just once during labor training, I would have liked to hear an encouraging word . Instead the usual comment would be" That isn't wrong, but it's not the way IIIIII would do it". I began to think that maybe nursing wasn't for me because I could'nt do anything right(Now I know better). Why is it that in a profession where change is constant, senior nurses can't adjust to new people? I just want to say" Guess what, I'm new, and that means I don't know everything like you do!!!" I've been at my job for almost 2 years and see no end to this behavior in sight- maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am their childrens' age? Any body feel the way I do? :angryfire

HI,

I too have gone through much of what you have described. It is appalling and unprofessional, yet it continues. I always ask my self what kind of sick payoff do these people get from undermining a new nurse? I guess those who feel threatened will be that way unless they are a complete sadist. I remember being treated like that when I was a student nurse and we would arrive on the floor for clinical. The nurses would say loudly, "oh no, here they come" . Boy, what a welcome !! When I graduated and worked as a GN, I welcomed the students and helped with what I could. I was GRATEFUL they had 2 or 3 of my assigned pts. especially if totals. I cannot tell you how helpful that is and especially with a total. I really don't think kindness is learned, but a quality you either have or don't.

I have been on a psych floor for 8 months after transferring from a cardiac floor. I have been working some night shifts and an older nurse ( RN for 30 yrs plus) insisted on giving me a hard time. I finally had a discussion with her and I think we ironed things out. I told her I didn't deserve to be treated with disrespect and I would treat her as she treated me. Since then, she now at least says hello and even had small talk with me for the first time in 8 months.

Ever wonder why some nurses insist on working night shift? The money differential isn't that great and frankly, there isn't much medical staff or pt contact during that shift. I think social skills are lacking, at least from the nurses I have worked with on other floors as well as this one. Not all night shift nurses lack social skills, obviously, but in general, only for what I've seen, that is the case.

I think I have been accepted but I don't dwell on it and do what I have to do. I maintain my own standards of good nursing care and I was told in my review by my supervisor, she hopes I can be a role model for others on our unit. It's just that attitude gets in the way when you have to work as a team. Once in a while I remind this old time nurse, that flexibility is a sign of good mental health( of course in a joking manner) . She even offered to help me with a total care pt when I repositioned him and changed/cleansed him for incont.

Of course I was done by the time she came in, but I was flabbergasted she offered to help. I maintain my professionalism and my standards and who knows why she has "come around" , I just do what I have to do and "blow off" her lack of comminication skills. There will be those cliques who still exist and hate you for entering "their space" , even though they are the same ones c/o not enough staff on nights. These people may be registered professional nurses, but doesn't mean they are well adjusted nurses. Frankly, I have nothing to prove and only hope to learn from those more experianced than me. Bottom line,you teach people how you want to be treated. Since our discussion, that nurse and I have remained on good working terms.

Hang in there, pick your battles and maintain your quality of nursing care. You know your capabilities and can sleep well after a hard day's work. Your pts will thank you for it , after all, isn't that why we're in this business?

LuLu

SCRN1 · May 23, 2004

Ever wonder why some nurses insist on working night shift? The money differential isn't that great and frankly, there isn't much medical staff or pt contact during that shift. I think social skills are lacking, at least from the nurses I have worked with on other floors as well as this one. Not all night shift nurses lack social skills, obviously, but in general, only for what I've seen, that is the case.

Excuse me, but I work nights and I can guarantee you that I do have great social skills and so do many of the nurses and other employees that I work with. A lot of us choose that shift to work for many reasons. Mine is so that someone will be home at all times of the day or night. I have a 16-year-old and 13-year-old and they are very capable of taking care of themselves, but if they should be sick or need an adult for any reason, there's one here...either myself during the day or my husband at night. I work part-time...only 2-3 nights/week so that I can still have plenty of family time and social time each week. My patients love me and make many comments about how much nicer I am than some of the nurses they have during the day or evening. I don't think the nurses during the other shifts are any less social than I. I assume there are other stressors affecting them maybe I don't have.

Also, during the night, we do have lots of medical staff with the exclusion of a secretary or physical therapy. Doctors are also around especially the beginning of my shift or at the end, with occasionally one or two during the middle. WE VERY MUCH HAVE A LOT OF PATIENT CONTACT DURING THE NIGHT!!! Maybe not in psyche where you work, but on the Ortho floor and overflow med/surg where I work, people are up all night with needs. Lots have their days and nights turned around, lots are in a lot of pain and can't sleep, and the docs order meds, dressing changes, etc. throughout the day AND night.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · May 23, 2004

Excuse me, but I work nights and I can guarantee you that I do have great social skills and so do many of the nurses and other employees that I work with. A lot of us choose that shift to work for many reasons. Mine is so that someone will be home at all times of the day or night. I have a 16-year-old and 13-year-old and they are very capable of taking care of themselves, but if they should be sick or need an adult for any reason, there's one here...either myself during the day or my husband at night. I work part-time...only 2-3 nights/week so that I can still have plenty of family time and social time each week. My patients love me and make many comments about how much nicer I am than some of the nurses they have during the day or evening. I don't think the nurses during the other shifts are any less social than I. I assume there are other stressors affecting them maybe I don't have.
Also, during the night, we do have lots of medical staff with the exclusion of a secretary or physical therapy. Doctors are also around especially the beginning of my shift or at the end, with occasionally one or two during the middle. WE VERY MUCH HAVE A LOT OF PATIENT CONTACT DURING THE NIGHT!!! Maybe not in psyche where you work, but on the Ortho floor and overflow med/surg where I work, people are up all night with needs. Lots have their days and nights turned around, lots are in a lot of pain and can't sleep, and the docs order meds, dressing changes, etc. throughout the day AND night.

The person you replied to said "some". They did not say "all".

MelissaRN · May 23, 2004

I've worked nights for the last year as a new nurse and I've experienced the "nurses eating their young" scenerio two fold #1 because I am a new nurse and #2 because I work the night shift. The day nurses automatically assume the night nurses are sitting on their butts all night because patients sleep all night. Oh not so!! The confused elderly ones love to stay up all night and the younger ones are up all night in pain.

I think that being a new nurse it's natural to make mistakes or miss things. A good experienced nurse would show the new nurse that this is a learning experience rather than making the new nurse feel horrible for making a mistake. I highly believe in the mentoring system.

SCRN1 · May 23, 2004

The person you replied to said "some". They did not say "all".

You are correct...she didn't say all, but she did say "in general". I have NOT found this to be the case and have worked nights in two different hospitals. I have also worked the other two shifts and have found just as many nurses with no social skills on those shifts as with nights.

fab4fan · May 24, 2004

Morphine DECREASES respirations...this was ordered for respiratory distress?

Absolutely. MSO4 can be totally appropriate for resp. distress...it can help the pt breathe more effectively, and if the pt has some pulm edema, it can help "dry" the pt.