Do you in nursing land find that old time nurses, those with many years in the career, dont want to learn new things?- like learning to care for a new kind of patient than they are used to, for instance going from LTC to a more acute setting or rotating from a geriatric unit to a unit with younger, more alert residents, which would require learning new skills?
Ive spoken to a few old timers, and they seem only to want to coast until retirement.
They dont seem to feel obligated to stretch themselves, to maintain and update there skills- wouldnt they feel better about themselves as nurses if they did take on new responsibilities?
Is this the normal course of evolution in the career of nurses?
Specializes in MR Peds, geris, psych, DON,ADON,SSD.
It's true, nurses really do eat their young.
Flame away...
This was a quote i heard about two weeks out of nursing school and didn't believe it until i'd been out of nursing school about 3 weeks!! we must remember even tho we may have been nurses 20, 30 years (22 years for me) we all started as new grads and made the same mistakes by thinking we were all knowing just out of school. give them a break. there are a lot of things that "old" nurses dont want to change. Love to all nurses "new" and "old"
Grasshopper, cogitate on the difference between "aggressive" and "assertive".
I'll try to be less cranky and critical. Even if I am bitter about the system, I don't feel that way about the profession - wouldn't do anything else.
I know there is a difference between aggressive and assertive..I have found though that the ones who from the start don't take any s%$t and are very confrontational fare much better. I myself found that the minute I stood up to one bully and really gave it back to her, she left me alone. I tried taking the high road but that didn't work. No more high road for me-I'm nipping this hazing nonsense in the bud right now. And it's not just the old ones either-there are plenty of young ones who think they are still in high school. I agree with the person that said it comes down to respect. I think it's horrible that older nurses were referred to as dogs-I have respect for my elders. I just don't think I should be subjected to bad treatment because I am new. Everyone was new at one point.
supernurse65
87 Posts