Older nurses jealous of new young nurses?

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Are older nurses intimidated by new younger nurses? What do you think

Hmmm...I'm a new nurse (2 years). When I was in nursing school doing my clinicals I had the illusion that SOMETHING was wrong with the "old" nurses. "Old" nurse being defined for me as a nurse with 10 years or more on the same unit with lots of knowledge, knows the docs, knows the paperwork inside and out, ect. They all seemed so grumpy and I misunderstood that as either jealousy and/or disqust with how irritating an inexperienced nurse can be! I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I am still a new nurse of only 2 years and the ones I thought were "old/experienced" grumpy nurses are now just "tired" in my eyes. Tired of seeing new nurses come and go and while they are there screw up the paperwork for lack of experience and make their job harder when they come on shift. But I'll tell you, I have NEVER so far approached an "old/grumpy" nurse with a desire to learn more about the rational of a subject and had them not brighten up a bit. They are so full of experiences to share and they may go back to being grumpy and judgmental afterwards but the few minutes they took to explain something is worth a pound of gold to me. They deserve to be grumpy as far as I'm concerned and after only 2 years I can already feel their pain. I'm getting grumpy too.

So my summary: NO "OLD" NURSE HAS THE ENERGY LEFT IN THEM TO EVEN THINK ABOUT BEING "JEALOUS" OF A NEW NURSE. IF ANYTHING THEY PITTY US DEEP INSIDE. THEY HAVE BEEN THERE AND THEY DON'T WANT TO GO THERE ANYMORE!!!!!

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"old nurses" don't have the energy left in them to be "jealous". They are just tired but yet so full of information......so take their irritability, squeeze the answer to a question out of them and move on. You will be in their shoes too soon. Feed them candy and take them a cup of coffee and and leave it at that. As far as I'm concerned they deserve the right to be grumpy because this is too tough of a profession to not eventually turn grumpy. By the way, I'm a new nurse. We all know THAT is NOTHING to be jealous of!!!??? (having trouble with my computer (?) this may be a double post.

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Oh I have to comment on this one. Am I jealous of a new nurse. Absolutley not!!! I have alot of knowledge and experience and Doctors never yell at me. Am I afraid they'll take over?? God No, they can have the place. And Bollweevil you did the right thing, I am sorry that nurse was too stupid to see that. She's not worth your time. Oops there's my:twocents:

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I just graduated in December and throughout school, we were told by several different instructors that "nurses eat their young".

We experienced a lot of the cattiness and rude attitudes during clinicals.

One time, during OB clinicals, the nurses in L&D went even so far as to ignore the 5 of us there for the morning. We asked questions politely, waiting to be answered, but they just talked amongst themselves. We didn't even get to see a patient! When our instructor came to check on us and we told her what was happening, she was furious and went to their manager who had a word with them.

From then on, they spoke to us, but you could see the resentment and disgust in their faces.

Sadly, in a profession where we should be known for compassion and helping those in need, there are a lot of people who act just the opposite.

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heck, i can honestly say i have never been jealous of newbies.

i know the work they have cut out for them, and there is nothing enviable about it.

it is the wise nurse who embraces constructive input, regardless of who it is.

i've worked w/many new nurses who have shared w/me, the latest data.

i'd check it out at home, return to work the next day and give 'em a great, big hug, filled w/appreciation.

we learn from ea other.

and it's not just in nsg.

every human interaction is an opportunity to learn.

even working w/the truly obnoxious, i learn i never want to be like that.

jealous?

hardly.

such a useless energy.

leslie

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what a wealth of good information and knowledge! :bow:

i'm a newly qualified nurse at the age of 58 so i have a foot in both camps. i personally take advice and help from wherever i can get it. i can learn from everyone, including auxiliaries - a good auxiliary is worth his/her weight in gold.

the truth is that there are nasty, mean-spirited people in every walk of life and age group. we all need to respect each other and work together as a team for the benefit of each other. that's the main way that all of us, including the patient, will gain hugely. it makes for a much nicer working environment and patients unerringly pick up on the fact if there is discord on a ward.

mutual respect and teamwork - it works!

hang on in there!

linzi

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Specializes in Trauma acute surgery, surgical ICU, PACU.

NO, not even remotely.

We get p-o'ed when the manager treats the new staff better than they treat their experienced, proven staff. But mostly that resentment is saved for the manager, and I would not call it "jealousy".

I think it's really hard on the old ego to be "new", to be "low man on the totem pole", and to be so insecure as you are learning. I think that's what breeds attitudes like "they're jealous of us". It's an ego-fluffing thing, imo. I can see where it comes from, but I still don't like it.

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Specializes in ER.
:deadhorse

Wondering how long it'll take before this gets fugly.

Haha I thought this post was hilarious! My thoughts exactly! :)

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What a sad place to be teaching new students. Reread some of the encouragement on this posting, and if you work there when you graduate, model your emotional intelligence. If you don't, it's their loss!

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This is for experienced and new nurses. We all have value. The issue appears to be amongst nurses however the true instigators are often times who is signing the paycheck and please think this through before judging what I am about to convey. When an employer hires they already have calculated what a full time employee will cost them during a course of a full career. They will utilize the employee to the best or least of capacity and when that is complete so is your tenure with the particular company. At will employers are not required to explain themselves to anyone unless a serious employee event has occurred. Now the one thing that is evident is when pitting employees against one another employers remain in control. If employees ultimately agree and team together that control is lost because the numbers in nursing for example are so massive. This unfortunately is why we read about the tolerance of lateral work place violence. There is a solution and it requires all nurses to actively promote and example a work environment that accepts all nurses and does not allow ourselves to be drawn in to attacking one another. To accomplish this each of us needs to do self reflection and cliches will fall to the way side. I am speaking from personal experience. I was told I was too smart and did my job too well. It was viewed as a threat and I was terminated even with an exemplary employee profile. Be careful everyone is at risk. The need is to realize the methods applied to control and disseminate and learn to stand together against it. This is the way to make the conflicts stop. Peace.....

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My swag is they were verbally pacifying you. No one is 'too' good to prevent nosomial diseases (4th leading killer in USA) or know everything in complicated humans physically, mentally, and spiritually. If your number one goal is not the Pt and your fellow workers, then everyone is in danger.

Hospitals steal years off life spans, so consider it a blessing. Yes, the Lord does work in mysterious ways.

Of course you get what you pay for, OR we really are jealous of you being 'too good'

:nurse::nurse:

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If we do not come together as a team we are only defeating ourselves and that hurts nursing and the patients we are devoted to. In all my years anyone who has remained is because of dedication not a paycheck or status.

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