moosha1

I've heard that it happens to LPNs at nursing homes where they are generally short on staffing on a daily basis. I can imagine that it is frustrating and dangerous too.

My favorite part of nursing is advocating for a patient or family of patient, learning that what I did made a difference and the cherry on top is the occasional, heartfelt "thank you". It makes me want to come back tomorrow.

Amen to that-Callacode! Take everyone off restraints, personal bed alarms are gone too! All the talking heads gather around to question why the patient fell-but don't want to hear about burn out, understaffing, huge patient load-they only want to to why you weren't THERE! Ha. Insanity.

When I took my test, I logged onto the nclex website after two days and had the results. There was a credit card charge (I forget the amount). I hope all goes well.

My reaction has always been feigned ignorance of the thinly-veiled insults or calm replies to the screaming beat-downs. It does, however, take its toll! It is so difficult to deal with oftentimes difficult patients and their families when my reserve strength has been spent on keeping myself from a good cry. Not to mention my concern that my patients think me simple minded because I don't react. I often doubt they think it is professional to offer a cool smile when being berated in front of others-but an act of cowardice or stupidity.

I am amazed at how this topic is relevant to all! While I agree that expectations vs reality is a driving force of the bully, my experience is that the bully nurse is protected by management and those who cannot tolerate her behavior are floated or so misused that they eventually quit. Foolishly, I thought I was made of sterner stuff and could handle the bully by just being "me". After a night of reading other's stories, I am aware that I must control my reaction to her action, protect myself and not feel the burn of the petty crew that surrounds and engages her. The words of a prior post are so true that they jumped out at me: The bully surrounds herself with others of her mindset to infuse herself with power and to compensate for her many shortcomings as a nurse. Thank you, all.

I let the honey and sweetie slip from time to time, but I am with geri patients and most often I'm responding to being called honey or sweetie. Much prefer honey and sweetie to some other names I've been called.

What an eye opener! Tonight I was sleepless and depressed because I felt I was all alone in my misery with bully nurses, loud-mouthed social workers, smug unit clerks, stone-faced management and high-strung managers. I see, quite clearly, the caring, hard working and intelligent, but we are too busy running from patient to patient to connect! Thank you all for your stories and advice-I feel surrounded by professional peers who have time for commiseration!