If your thinking of going to school to become a nurse please take a moment to reflect on my experiences during the 17 years I have been in nursing. To be honest up front, nurses are treated like dogs. If you have the compassion to take care of others then thats awesome but I must warn you that no one is going to foster that compassion once your in the real world. You will be expected to never make a single error and even to the point as having to consistently correct a physicians mistake. Oh yea, thats right. You must tell the physicians what needs to be done all the time and catch all their errors or else you the nurse will be punished or scolded. Most of you who are not a nurse probably think nursing is very rewarding. Wrong again. Nurses are not commended for a good job done because it is expected even when you correct errors there is no special recognition. Also the attitudes of todays patients aren't very grateful but can be downright mean and hateful towards nurses. Furthermore, physicians hardy even assess their patients adequately leaving you to wonder if the doctor really saw everything with the patient that needs to be assessed. For instants any skin issues or wounds. Most of what is the duty of the MD the nurses wind up doing.
Look, I can go on and on but here is some helpful info to help you decide if you wanna be a nurse for the rest of your lives.
Do a google search for "the truth about nursing" and see what comes up. This is a great way to see just how awful the nursing profession is.
I have been a nurse for 16 years and I am in my 40's as well and I can definitely relate. To those who are not nurses I don't feel you have room to talk. To those who are and feel differently I'm glad your experience has been different. However, the comment overall is true. This can be found by doing any small amount of research about the nursing profession and the stated reasons for burnout or leaving the profession. All nursing boards are aware and are working to find solutions. It may be offensive to some to hear this about their profession but it is non the less true.
The problem is that it's not what I signed up for. In school they tell you about delegating but in the real world there is no one to delegate to most times. Further, why am I held accountable for a mistake of my superior? No, that's craziness and you don't find that in other professions. Moreover, bedside nurses are overloaded with tasks and held accountable for most things concerning patient care yet they have NO say so in developing patient care policies and standards. By and large they are taught to allow themselves to be disrespected by doctors who can be abrasive, loud and down out right ugly. We are taught to overlook their behavior as "boys behaving badly" so to speak rather than developing a"0" tolerance. To respond in a way other than tolerance causes reprimand of the nurse, instead of the perpetrator.
Lastly, with JCO core measures and ACA pay for performance there has been even more tasks added to nurses plates; yet there has been very little income growth over the last 20 years. The starting salary of newer nurses is only a few dollars more than it was when I started 16 years ago. The profession overall is disrepected and I believe its because it is a female dominated profession where showing compassion has been portrayed as the main skill rather than promoting health and saving lives. But of course if that's a nurses platform then what will doctors be known for?
To those of you who say leave.....It's not your profession to allow me in or put me out. I EARNED the right to be here. I love caring for patients. I hate the circumstances in which I have to do it.
Eloquently put! Kudos to you for telling it like it really is!
I've been a nurse for forty years, worked in five states in a number of different hospitals and I've never encountered more than two real bullies in all that time. I've never encountered coworkers "using energy to be mean to other nurses", making fun of or humiliating one another or "straight outta junior high". Sure, I've encountered some who were more or less clueless about teamwork, some managers with unrealistic expectations and some patients and family members who are toxic. I'm not sure it's just dumb luck on your part (or mine); I think it's the result of working at workplace relationships rather than just expecting something from a workplace relationship that isn't realistic and being unhappy when it isn't forthcoming.
You are the exception. I have never been targeted by bully nurses but I have seen them in action in every facility I have ever worked.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I don't say this to indicate I don't believe you, I'm just sincerely curious -- where do all of you people who talk about what horrible experiences you've had in nursing work?? I've been in nursing >30 yrs, in now five different states, too many employers/facilities to keep track of without actually looking at my CV, and I can probably count of the fingers of one hand the number of seriously, consistently unpleasant coworkers and bosses I've encountered in my career. I've never worked anywhere where my coworkers were "using energy to be mean to other nurses. Making fun of another in front of other nurses and humiliating another in front of patients. Very cliquish and definitely straight outta junior high." Sure, the work is hard, physically as well as mentally/psychologically; lots of the clients make you want to beat your head against the wall; the bosses have a lot of more-or-less-unrealistic expectations and demands; but not the kind of generally toxic relationships with coworkers that I hear so many people complain about in threads like this one. For the most part, I've had positive relationships with colleagues and we've worked together to support each other in getting through the day. Maybe it's just dumb luck on my part.
If I had found myself consistently, repeatedly in the kind of toxic work environment I hear so many people describe on this site as the general state of nursing, I would have left nursing a long time ago and found something else to do. I wouldn't just keep putting up with it.
I'm not the only person who hasn't experienced vast crowds of mean people and nasty bullies at work.
"Do a google search for 'the truth about nursing' and see what comes up. This is a great way to see just how awful the nursing profession is. "
I haven't had an actual account here for very long and already I'm seeing a pattern. Who's to say this person isn't the creator of the aforementioned website making an inflammatory comment to get traffic. C'mon! Puh-lease! Is this what this forum is about?! I joined because I'm eager to become an RN, not to have to critically read and "consider the source" every time I read something.
What makes me not like my career at times is not patient care or even the technical skills, it is my coworkers and hospital management. Bullying is a huge issue, doesn't matter if you are a new or experienced nurse. Thankfully, I have not been bullied much. But I've seen nurses get in screaming matches at the nurses station, belittling our techs, and taking advantage of nicer nurses. The worst I've seen is one of my coworkers being followed by another nurse into our lounge and yelled at. The way that I've seen some nurses treat each other would get them fired in another industry. Unless the issue is a patient related problem, HR cannot fire you just for nurse to nurse fights.
this is disgusting to hear that bullying is still rampant in the nursing culture of work.
Those who look for bullies and bullying will find them. Those who don't look for them seem not to find them.
Sorry, I respectfully disagree. While I acknowledge that abuse is, at times, a relative perception, your statement, in a way, negates many's legitimate concerns by implying that if you've not witnessed it, it therefore must not exist-a classic non sequitur argument! As a caucasian male, I've not personally witnessed racial discrimination, however, I know that it is all too real for many and is a terrible blight upon our society! Your casual dismissal of these bullying assertions tells these nurses, in effect, that they just need to 'suck it up' or 'grow thicker skin'! Sorry, but this isn't the world we live in any more and people, whether they're Walmart workers, coal miners, or nurses should be treated with honesty, respect, and civility! Our profession deserves better than this harsh, antiquated approach-sorry!
Those who look for bullies and bullying will find them. Those who don't look for them seem not to find them.
You are in denial. Bullying in nursing is so pervasive it was part of my nursing education. That is a fact. Just because you haven't experienced it does not mean it does not exist.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Sorry, I respectfully disagree. While I acknowledge that abuse is, at times, a relative perception, your statement, in a way, negates many's legitimate concerns by implying that if you've not witnessed it, it therefore must not exist-a classic non sequitur argument! As a caucasian male, I've not personally witnessed racial discrimination, however, I know that it is all too real for many and is a terrible blight upon our society! Your casual dismissal of these bullying assertions tells these nurses, in effect, that they just need to 'suck it up' or 'grow thicker skin'! Sorry, but this isn't the world we live in any more and people, whether they're Walmart workers, coal miners, or nurses should be treated with honesty, respect, and civility! Our profession deserves better than this harsh, antiquated approach-sorry!
Actually I have witnessed -- and experienced bullying. There is an enormous difference between true bullying and the "my preceptor won't talk to me about her personal problems" and "my preceptor hates me and she's mean -- she didn't say hello to me when I ran into her in the hospital lobby this morning and I didn't say hello because she should say it first, right?" type of encounters that we see so often on this site.
Yes, there is such a thing as true bullying -- there was the one where the assistant manager took a dislike to a new nurse and would change her schedule every single time AFTER it was officially posted, would tell patients and family members that "she's on probation here, so please tell us if she is unsatisfactory in any way," would lie to the manager about the nurse's care and competence and shoved the new nurse across the room once at work and once at the tavern where the whole night shift was having "Liver Rounds". She also told lies about the new nurse to all of her friends at work, and because of her position the lies were repeated as fact over and over until everyone at the hospital had heard and believed them. ("Oh, so you're the one who was having the affair with Dr. Donkeybutt while his wife was pregnant and on bedrest.") That's bullying.
To say that the other stuff (my preceptor doesn't smile at me when she tells me I overdosed my patient with 1000 times the ordered dose of insulin) is bullying devalues all of the true bullying that is out there.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You are in denial. Bullying in nursing is so pervasive it was part of my nursing education. That is a fact. Just because you haven't experienced it does not mean it does not exist.
It may be a fact that bullying was a part of your nursing education, and that may indeed why you in particular seem to "see" so much of it out there. Bullying seems to be a matter of perception, and these days the perception is to treat any uncomfortable interaction as bullying. The definition of bullying seems to have become so watered-down that it's meaningless.
When someone systemically sets out to damage you, shredding your reputation with lies, endangering your livelihood, changing your work schedule or assignments, badmouthing you to management, patients, visitors, ancillary staff and physicians, calling you at home in the middle of your sleep period over and over to demand answers to inconsequential questions, scheduling you for every single holiday shift, seeking out your SO to flirt with them and tell them lies about you cheating on them, blaming you for a sentinel event that was caused by the nurse working next to you despite the fact that you never went near that nurse or her patient because you were busy helping the new grad on the other side of you all night and someone else was helping that nurse at the time of the event . . . That's bullying.
Chastising you for incorrectly calculating the insulin dose, failing to get it double checked and overdosing your patient AGAIN is not bullying. Failing to ask you to lunch, again not bullying. Not saying hello (because she couldn't see without her glasses, which were all fogged up) is not bullying. Giving folks encouragement to see all the minor stuff as actually bullying really takes away from the experience of those who have experienced actual bullying.
There is bullying out there -- there are bullies. I've seen two in forty years. That does not mean that everyone someone perceives as bullying is actually bullying.
It may be a fact that bullying was a part of your nursing education, and that may indeed why you in particular seem to "see" so much of it out there. Bullying seems to be a matter of perception, and these days the perception is to treat any uncomfortable interaction as bullying. The definition of bullying seems to have become so watered-down that it's meaningless.
When someone systemically sets out to damage you, shredding your reputation with lies, endangering your livelihood, changing your work schedule or assignments, badmouthing you to management, patients, visitors, ancillary staff and physicians, calling you at home in the middle of your sleep period over and over to demand answers to inconsequential questions, scheduling you for every single holiday shift, seeking out your SO to flirt with them and tell them lies about you cheating on them, blaming you for a sentinel event that was caused by the nurse working next to you despite the fact that you never went near that nurse or her patient because you were busy helping the new grad on the other side of you all night and someone else was helping that nurse at the time of the event . . . That's bullying.
Chastising you for incorrectly calculating the insulin dose, failing to get it double checked and overdosing your patient AGAIN is not bullying. Failing to ask you to lunch, again not bullying. Not saying hello (because she couldn't see without her glasses, which were all fogged up) is not bullying. Giving folks encouragement to see all the minor stuff as actually bullying really takes away from the experience of those who have experienced actual bullying.
There is bullying out there -- there are bullies. I've seen two in forty years. That does not mean that everyone someone perceives as bullying is actually bullying.
While I respect your opinion and agree to a point, I still stand by my position. Like you, I have been a nurse a long time, in several practice areas and numerous hospitals and states. As such, I certainly don't need a definition or examples as to what constitutes 'bullying', nor do I believe most reasonable nurses do either. Nursing is very 'cliquish' and God help the poor souls that, for whatever reason, don't quite fit in to their unit's culture or others' expectations-in those instances, it's not enough to be a dedicated, conscientious and competent practitioner. Judging from my experiences and the comments of younger nurses, bullying is a pervasive problem that affects us all and which we all need take active steps to overcome. As I've said before, our profession can do better!
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Eloquently put! Kudos to you for telling it like it really is!