I work at a community hospital that takes pride in "the caring tradition."
What I've experienced so far has been NOT CARING!
Some (not all--not even a majority) of the experienced nurses are so freaking rude--to me, to patients, etc. Last night was particularly bad. One nurse was so rude to me, and in front of my patient, who she obviously felt I was not qualified to care for.
All that "caring tradition" talk is apparently just lip service.
Getting into details would just make me re-live the horror.
Question is: how bad would it look to another employer if I just bolt my first nursing job after 2 months? Did any of you get the cold/rude/crappy shoulder from experienced nurses in your first nursing job? If so, did you stick with it, or leave for friendlier places. I know that there are friendly nurses out there. I know there are places where ongoing behavior issues with experienced staff v. new nurses are addressed and not ignored, as they seem to be on my unit.
I have one co-worker who is extremely rude, and when I speak to her, She orders supplies and suppose to keep them readily available for us. So when I need supplies I get...........DID YOU LOOK IN THE CLOSET....well after so many times her yelling at me........you can bet dang well I looked in the closet prior to coming to her. Or it's ....no one told me you needed those...........uh..that is what I am doing now. The other day I said............."Now don't yell at me when I ask you for this" she shruggs her shoulders.........."it just depends" she states.............I say "Please don't yell at me" and she said "and it just depends." She didn't yell and it really shocked me.
What I really think is terrible is when someone is really rude, but then blames their rudeness on you.........saying you're rude........really you just can't win sometimes.
I would also say to hang in there.It is always like that in the beginning and later on they will realize that they have done the wrong when you excel in your work.Show them that you also have the nursing skills and that you have also been graduated from Nursing College.
Like I said, right now the nurse who humiliated you is more credible in the eyes of managment. They know more about her work. With you they are taking a chance you heard that saying "better to deal with the devil that you know". So hang in there improve your nursing skills and try to win afew souls over. Participate in you Unit activities and just make your self available for the patients and fellow co-workers. After 6 months you can then transfer to another unit even within the same hospital. Jumping from one place to another is not always the solution.
Sounds like a very stressful situation. I agree with other posters who suggested speaking with the nurse and letting her know (in a firm, polite way) that you will not tolerate being spoken to in that matter. I try hard (and am not always successful) to avoid petty gossip and to keep the main focus on my job. I do have some good friends through work and there are other people I could do without. My NM is useless but my night charge nurse and the other experience night nurses treat me well.
Here's one situation I ran into and how I handled it. I was reporting off to a day nurse regarding a pt who had not urinated yet. It was a big kid and had been about an hour or so. Pt had come in for dehydration and had only received one bolus but had running fluids. Let the MD know anyway since the rate needed to be bumped up. Nurse begins rolling her eyes and sighing loudly. I asked her if there was an issue since I noticed her rolling her eyes and sighing. When she responded there wasn't I told her that I was always open to constructive feedback but eye rolling and sighing weren't behaviors I was willing to tolerate. She never did it again.
Second situation involved a nurse (who has since moved on to torture another hospital) who would answer email while getting report. I simply stopped talking and said I'd continue once she finished checking her email. She continued checking so I stayed quiet. Eventually she got the message and never did that to me again (continued to do it to others that hadn't spoken up). It's not easy to stand up for yourself especially when you are starting out but you can do it! It does make a big difference in how people will treat you. I'd pull the nurse aside and let her know that it is unacceptable to treat you that way.
Once confronted most bullies will back down. Stay calm and focus on the pts. PM me if you need to talk. I've been there and still run into it (though less because people know I don't tolerate it) so it does suck. Each time you confront a situation and lay out the grand rules it will get easier. It didn't change my evals any to do this b/c I've focused most of my attention on being a good nurse (which is hard!!) and learning. Try not to take it to heart. You got to this point and you can (and will) do a great job!!
Just let it go. Don't start off by intensifying conflict. Some work enviroments do have cliques. Learn your enviroment. Look for a pattern. Avoid being labelled.
No, DON"T let it go! Address it!!! Decide what you will and will not accept and make it be known. They smell the newness in you and are going to test you. It's done to experienced nurses never mind newbies. Having been a nurse traveler, I had to deal with that. The most common was the "you're getting paid big money to be here so....whatever (ex: take the worst load, don't get a break, figure things out with minimal help, etc...). I learned real quick. Be professional always. Do your best and command your respect.
The LPN who was so rude the other night (reminder--in front of a patient) told my preceptor: "I'm sorry, I know I offended her."
Okay, that really doesn't cut it. That still places blame on me for being offended. The issue was hers. She was at fault.
She was caring for a patient (to be general in using the word care) in the same room with my patient. She told me first that the nurse who reported off to me hadn't changed this man's dressing all day--not true! Then she told me that I needed to medicate him with morphine prior to dressing changes--also not true, and not indicated on the MD order. Then later she said that she had emptied his JP. I have no idea why she would do this since it wasn't her patient.
So my preceptor and I are all set for a sterile dressing change--I'm in gloves and with sterile field, etc. She comes in and asks what we're doing, etc. Says that we're going to dislodge the drain, asks about the orders, etc. I say "you are welcome to look at the orders in my notebook, just watch out for the sterile field nearby." Mind you--I am gloved and everything at this point. She says "this isn't sterile anyway, since you're next to the air conditioner." The patient is not looking happy at this point. So I just ripped off my gloves and threw everything in the trash--I started over after she left.
So now, she's sorry that I was offended?
Am I too sensitive, or was this totally out-of-line on her part?
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
She did and said all this in front of your preceptor?
I think the preceptor should have set her straight, myself. Maybe the preceptor wanted to see how you'd handle it or whatever. If I were the preceptor, I'd have had her out of the room and probably backed against a wall in about 5 seconds flat, because it sounds as if she's not only questioning your competence but the preceptor's competence as well. I'm not the most confrontational person in the world but that would have sent me right off. :angryfire
I agree that you need to confront this person privately and let her know that this is not acceptable. If she has something to say to you, then it should be done in exactly that way.
Even if things don't improve much where you are, I'd try to stick it out for six months. After that, you can definitely say that you gave it a good try and this job "just wasn't a good fit." You will also get six months of valuable experience in that time.
The previous hospital I worked at sounds exactly like that. One nurse, one CNA on night shift were two of the rudest people I've met in my life. They had complaints from patients as well as staff, yet management would never fire them. They actually sent one to anger management, did no good. I was told over and over that the next time the were written up that they would be let go. Five incidents later, I left for another hospital as it was apparent who ran the show there.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Did any of you get the cold/rude/crappy shoulder from experienced nurses in your first nursing job? If so did you stick with it, or leave for friendlier places. I know that there are friendly nurses out there. I know there are places where ongoing behavior issues with experienced staff v. new nurses are addressed and not ignored, as they seem to be on my unit.[/quote']My only advice is to prevent from becoming a target of rude nurses. Mean people are naturally less likely to mess with coworkers that they have deemed "hard targets." Therefore, these people seek out the "easy targets."
I have observed that the rudest nurses target certain individuals, while leaving other persons alone. Unfortunately, it's all about perception. If you are perceived as a nurse who will not stand up for yourself, you'll be targeted for further rudeness, bullying, and harassment. If you're perceived as someone who will put up resistance and not allow anyone to yell at you, then rude people will quickly know to leave you alone.
Some nurses are rude to the same people over and over because they can get away with the bad behavior without any consequences. The nasty nurses tend to pick the easy targets: people who are less likely to respond in a defensive manner to the rudeness. Also, if nothing is done, the mean nurse will continue his/her ugliness, because he/she knows that he/she can get away with it.
Don't allow anyone to be rude or mean to you. If they do it once and get away with it, they'll surely do it again and again. If you become known as an "easy mark" for yelling and abuse, it will make your life at work many times harder.
Many nurses bolt a few months after starting their first job. I would not recommend this unless you really dislike the unit. Do you have a mentor? If not, get one. You can use your preceptor from your orientation for now. Go talk with him or her. You can also speak with human resources - this would be considered lateral violence. I can tell you that the rudeness is not bestowed only on new grads, I have been a nurse for 15 years and still get bullied at times. If possible it would be good for you to stay at least 6 months on your unit. But, if you just can't do it and it is causing you to be depressed/anxious go ahead and try another hospital or unit. There is no shame in caring for yourself.
Mary
I work at a community hospital that takes pride in "the caring tradition."
What I've experienced so far has been NOT CARING!
Some (not all--not even a majority) of the experienced nurses are so freaking rude--to me, to patients, etc. Last night was particularly bad. One nurse was so rude to me, and in front of my patient, who she obviously felt I was not qualified to care for.
All that "caring tradition" talk is apparently just lip service.
Getting into details would just make me re-live the horror.
Question is: how bad would it look to another employer if I just bolt my first nursing job after 2 months? Did any of you get the cold/rude/crappy shoulder from experienced nurses in your first nursing job? If so, did you stick with it, or leave for friendlier places. I know that there are friendly nurses out there. I know there are places where ongoing behavior issues with experienced staff v. new nurses are addressed and not ignored, as they seem to be on my unit.
busy-bee
101 Posts
I have one co-worker who is extremely rude, and when I speak to her, She orders supplies and suppose to keep them readily available for us. So when I need supplies I get...........DID YOU LOOK IN THE CLOSET....well after so many times her yelling at me........you can bet dang well I looked in the closet prior to coming to her. Or it's ....no one told me you needed those...........uh..that is what I am doing now. The other day I said............."Now don't yell at me when I ask you for this" she shruggs her shoulders.........."it just depends" she states.............I say "Please don't yell at me" and she said "and it just depends." She didn't yell and it really shocked me.
What I really think is terrible is when someone is really rude, but then blames their rudeness on you.........saying you're rude........really you just can't win sometimes.