Nursing Culture

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Wondering what you all think what encompasses a healthy work environment and characteristics of an unhealthy one? Also, what are some challenges in work culture we face today.

thank you to all who have cared and taken the time to contribute. I have thought about putting together a type of staff developmental piece on trying to be more cognizant of our co workers.

Are you are looking to cultivate respect in the workplace? If so, I don't think articles on intergenerational differences in nursing will help. I think articles about civility in the workplace and discussing the issue with human resources staff, may help you to create a staff development piece that will enlighten the staff, without alienating them.

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I have thought about putting together a type of staff developmental piece on trying to be more cognizant of our co workers.

There are any number of business training sites that will provide you with plans for assessing and working with different types of personalities-- google "understanding personality types workplace" and you'll get tons of it. Fads come and go in this HR-ish world, so you'll eventually come to "http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test". Knock yourself out on your staff development piece; perhaps you'll come up with a novel way to apply it to your workplace, but don't think it hasn't been done to death already.

Fact is, people are people, and always have been. Probably the best way to do what I think you are trying to do is to encourage people to take themselves less seriously and make like a duck-- let it roll off your back. Ol' Dr. Phil says most folks would be astonished if they learned how very little others thought about them at all; this is a good way to proceed when you start overthinking work relationships and taking offense at more turns.

Oh, god, have I just restarted the old "NETY" thing again? May the goddess forgive me. I'm an INTJ, known it for years and years.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Transplant, Intermediate Care.

Dear arborguy, I went into nursing because I wanted to help people. Since then, I have become a very different person. I was in my 30's, had 3 children (2nd was born with Down syndrome), and I had been through some things in healthcare that I thought no one should have to experience. I became a CNA, got a job on a busy med-surg floor and went to an accelerated ADN program. I learned fast and the hard way that most in this field are not caring or compassionate. I was very naive and I admit it.

I love my job and the people I am privileged to care for- I just don't like most of my co-workers. Each shift is a race to see who can get out of taking the high-acuity patients, who can be "busy" and not answer call lights, and sometimes even who gets to leave early. I received no orientation. I was told "you're a nurse, go be one". Now, after about 10 years of nursing, I still am jealous of the younger, newer nurses who get full orientations, and, yes- sometimes 2 orientations.

What makes my life difficult are; know it alls, people who are impossible to hand off to because they #1 don't listen to me and ask me what I just told them, #2 want to laugh at or question what I am reporting, even though I am not responsible for the facts, backstabbing co-workers, lazy co-workers, and management that will not address the danger of the big picture--patient safety. New CNAs that will not do more than vitals and blood glucose checks. I could go on.

The biggest thing that stays with me though, is the fact that I had to experience one of those nursing instructors who wanted us all to think she knew more than doctors, always singled out at least one or two in the clinical rotation and rode them hard. The injustice of all of this bothers me.

I was very naive going in, and have become hardened by what I have seen and lived through, but I still enjoy going to work each day and giving our most vulnerable people the best care. Arborguy, if you come up with any ideas to fix any of this, please let me know. Please forgive any spelling/grammatical errors fellow nurses.

Be of good cheer.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

What is "&nbsp"?

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Specializes in Cardiac, Transplant, Intermediate Care.

No idea why all that extra stuff made it into my message! sorry...

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What is "&nbsp"?

Non-breaking space

HTML Entities

(line break)

HTML br tag

As far as I know these HTML codes are normally hidden and won't show up as text, I'm not sure what's happened here.

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Non-breaking space

HTML Entities

(line break)

HTML br tag

As far as I know these HTML codes are normally hidden and won't show up as text, I'm not sure what's happened here.

Heidij's email set up is sent to send in HTML; those are instructions for HTML to implement. She should go into the control panel for her email and set it for "plain text" or uncheck HTML.

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Is this discussion over?

Instead of starting a new one, I just want to make a comment..

It seems we are on both sides of the fence. Reading the different type of complaints posted on this board, are we understaffed and overworked with too high of expectations or are we lazy, gossipy and sit back while others are sinking?

I'm embarrassed by the behaviors described on this board. If they're true and not an exaggeration, it sure takes the wind out of some of the over worked arguments.

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I'm embarrassed by the behaviors described on this board. If they're true and not an exaggeration, it sure takes the wind out of some of the over worked arguments.

Whatzat again? I have no idea what that means. Could you help me out?

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I'm on my phone and can't quote but this is in response to Grn Tea..

The stories on the "Only AA on Staff" thread is the most recent where I've read of deplorable behavior.

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Yea, I was orientating with a nurse & politely asked him to slow down during change of shift report because I was hard of hearing and wear two hearing aids. I tried to explained to him that it was harder for me to hear the faster he talked because he has an accent (He is from Africa). He took offense to that and immediately starting treating me badly and then started talking to me like I was stupid. I get heart palpitations when I have to work with him now. I'm afraid to ask questions. He also told some of the C.N.As that I was racist. My son is half African american and I am far from being racist. I tried to speak with the DON about it but she basically said, "Oh he's just sensitive about his accents". She has a polish accent and stated that she knows how HE feels. Really? I completely understand that some may be sensitive about their accents but it still doesn't give someone a right to yell and belittle someone. Anyway, I have to work with him Friday and I'm so stressed out about it:/

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Specializes in Cardiac, Transplant, Intermediate Care.

I am very interested in the generational aspect, but mostly nursing culture. I have had many other jobs and careers, and have never seen anything like nursing. Nothing is comparable.

It is very interesting to me to really watch the people I work with. I am on a very busy intermediate care/step down unit. Once a shift begins and the call lights begin to go off, I watch to see exactly what the people who applied for their jobs, interviewed- tried hard to gain employment- do to get out of doing what they came there to do.

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