The Cannibalism of Nursing

This is not what I thought my nursing career would be like after passing the NCLEX. I've never met so many different personalities, it's insane. Sometimes I think, "maybe if I would have gotten pregnant at 17, I'd have 4 kids living on welfare in my section 8 house eating steaks with my food stamp card living it up right now". But no. I haaad to go to college to be a nurse. I could have been a stripper, a drug dealer, or anything else for that matter. I hope my 26k in debt is worth it. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

I've been an LPN in New Orleans now for about a year and a half. I started out just OK with my career choice. Since I'm an LPN, the choices of work that I have are basically nursing home, clinic, doctors office, or if I get lucky, a hospital once I get some experience.

I ended up in a nursing home. I'm not going to lie, I've NEVER wanted to work in a nursing home. I almost quit nursing school in the middle of clinical because I had to go to a nursing home. That setting is just not for me. Well, after I graduated nursing school, hardly any place decent was hiring a new LPN with no experience. So, what did I do? I sucked up my pride, and applied at the closest nursing home that I could find. It was that, or make $14 an hour at a clinic. Besides, working at this particular nursing home saved me a lot of gas money. The pay was actually a lot better than what my other classmates were being paid. Most of my classmates did go to clinics, not for the money, but for the great hours.

Anyways, to get to my rant, the nursing home wasn't so bad. I actually was OK with it. The problems came with the employees. I worked with nothing but ratchet nurses that talk behind your back and CNAs that did half *** work due to their c/o "we gettin paid minimum wage so this place gunna get minimum wage work". The attitudes were horrible.

The CNA turn around rate was also horrible. Always working under staffed and under paid. My relief even started making a habit of calling in at the last minute, leaving me there till a new relief could come. Nobody has any body's back in nursing. I became friends with a CNA and we became kind of close. We were close until she stole something from me and lied about it. I get stolen from a lot on my unit. I guess that's normal, right? On top of that aggravation, The family of the residents are always complaining because their loved ones ADLs are hardly ever completed due to the staff's attitude and under staffment. It's just so much stress being a nurse.

After a year and a half, I feel like it's not necessarily the work load that makes me hate my job, it's the stress of managing my unit and accepting the things that I can't control. I've changed as a person; I think I've even lost hope for the human race like it's gotten that bad. I've never met so many rude, catty, backstabbing, selfish people in my life. I don't know if it's because nurses are all stressed out or if it's me. I don't even know how some of the nurses that I work with even passed high school, much less have a nursing license. One nurse that I work with had to write an incident about a resident that fell on the floor. She literally documented "res found on flow."

I just can't deal. I don't know whether to forward my career and become an RN, or work in a cemetery where there's no complaining. Did I mention that one of my older nursing co workers tried getting me to over dose my hospice patient. Oh his respirators are 9? Give him morphine he's going to die anyway. The saying that "nurses eat their young" is so accurate. Do you know what that makes nurses? Cannibals. Oh you passed your NCLEX? Congrats. Next step? Try not to cry too loud while your co workers eat you alive for their own amusement.

On this site with such a large membership as well as passers by, these articles represent our profession, our level of sophistication, intellect, attitude and experience, potentially to a wide audience. I imagine though they are mostly read by fellow nurses, still not good if they impact our standards.

This^

The problem is they show up on Facebook where they are seen by thousands of people, mostly non-nurses. It's embarrassing to the nursing profession.

Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.
This^

The problem is they show up on Facebook where they are seen by thousands of people, mostly non-nurses. It's embarrassing to the nursing profession.

And Google, when you search for a keyword that's in them.

If this is clickbait, shame for posting it. If it is for real, we have here an LPN who has been working for a year and a half after somehow managing to accrue 26 grand in student debt (for a PN program??), doesn't know what she doesn't know about End of Life care or Pain Management, mocks her coworkers (if she is doing it here she does it there), has problems getting along with absolutely everyone, and comes here to complain that the problem lies with everyone else, not her. And that the reason everyone else she works with doesn't like her is because Nurses Eat Their Young, NOT that the nurse in question is difficult to work with and likely comes across as a know it all (based on the "older nurse who wanted to medicate my patient" comment). Even when she knows very little.

Did I get that about right?

OP if you're for real, don't interpret the responses on this thread to mean that everyone in the entire profession wants to snack on your butt. Interpret it to mean that it's time to evaluate your own interactions with coworkers and what kind of message you are sending about yourself. Take the opportunity to consider making some personal changes. At this point it's not likely that you'll be able to do any better in your current environment as by now no one wants to give you the time of day. Apply to another facility and bring a whole new attitude with you!

Specializes in ER.

I haven't noticed much change. These hit and run posters have always been around. The phenomenon is not limited to this site.

I haven't noticed much change. These hit and run posters have always been around. The phenomenon is not limited to this site.

Very true but posting such things as "articles" seems to be a new thing.

Specializes in ER.
Very true but posting such things as "articles" seems to be a new thing.

I never have read the articles much here. They've often seemed like just longer threads and very amateurish.

I was asked last year to expand a thread into an article. It turned out 'okay' but definitely not magazine worthy. But at least it was written with proper sentence structure, grammar, paragraphs. Conversely, this 'article' is written in a conversaton style, starting one paragraph with "Anyways, to get to my rant...". She makes fun of poor people repeatedly and if I'm not mistaken, is mocking the speech patterns of some African Americans as in "we gettin paid minimum wage so this place gunna get minimum wage work".

I find that poor quality unworthy of a professional site.

...I have to say that I find most of these responses more inappropriate than the original post, as most claim...and if I was OP I wouldnt come back either. As a psych nurse, I have found that most of the time when life becomes "over the top" stressful and emotions are high, a good rant is good for the soul! It usually needs to be done in a safe place, however...sometimes ppl need an ear and then some sound professional(did I say professional?) redirection to get back on track... This is clearly a toxic thread!!

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
This^

The problem is they show up on Facebook where they are seen by thousands of people, mostly non-nurses. It's embarrassing to the nursing profession.

WOW -- This is really embarrassing! I already tend to not read the articles because of poor writing and poor content, but now I'm even less likely to respond to them!

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
If this is clickbait, shame for posting it. If it is for real, we have here an LPN who has been working for a year and a half after somehow managing to accrue 26 grand in student debt (for a PN program??), doesn't know what she doesn't know about End of Life care or Pain Management, mocks her coworkers (if she is doing it here she does it there), has problems getting along with absolutely everyone, and comes here to complain that the problem lies with everyone else, not her. And that the reason everyone else she works with doesn't like her is because Nurses Eat Their Young, NOT that the nurse in question is difficult to work with and likely comes across as a know it all (based on the "older nurse who wanted to medicate my patient" comment). Even when she knows very little.

Did I get that about right?

OP if you're for real, don't interpret the responses on this thread to mean that everyone in the entire profession wants to snack on your butt. Interpret it to mean that it's time to evaluate your own interactions with coworkers and what kind of message you are sending about yourself. Take the opportunity to consider making some personal changes. At this point it's not likely that you'll be able to do any better in your current environment as by now no one wants to give you the time of day. Apply to another facility and bring a whole new attitude with you!

What a complete, articulate and concise summary! And good advice to the OP as well. Sadly, I don't think it's going to get through to her but there is the possibility that other newbies reading this thread will get it.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I haven't noticed much change. These hit and run posters have always been around. The phenomenon is not limited to this site.

They've always been around, but had not previously been "elevated" to Article status. Every forum gets the same hit and run posters, but most sites don't spot light them.

...I have to say that I find most of these responses more inappropriate than the original post, as most claim...and if I was OP I wouldnt come back either. As a psych nurse, I have found that most of the time when life becomes "over the top" stressful and emotions are high, a good rant is good for the soul! It usually needs to be done in a safe place, however...sometimes ppl need an ear and then some sound professional(did I say professional?) redirection to get back on track... This is clearly a toxic thread!!

I tend to agree with you for this reason: Having worked in an SNF as a nursing student, I saw so much evidence of the work ethic the OP is speaking about. I could not believe adults behaved that way.

I would like to caution those who think the OP was being demeaning to African Americans in her complaints. I have heard non-African Americans speak this way also. The written incident report was an indictment on poor education and was probably written exactly as the original writer submitted the form. As far as giving morphine to a hospice patient, I hope no one does this with the comments "they're going to die anyways." That is not acceptable speech not matter what you're thinking. Very thoughtless and careless.

SNFs are very stressful environments for multiple reasons. While some will have strong leadership and staff who understand their ultimate purpose, many do not. SNFs and management are under pressure to perform with limited resources and burdening regulations. Because the OP is ranting and losing his/her mind, the problem does not have to originate with the OP.

I would suggest, like others have said, that the OP continue professional education which will provide many more opportunities for employment options and job satisfaction.

...I have to say that I find most of these responses more inappropriate than the original post, as most claim...and if I was OP I wouldnt come back either. As a psych nurse, I have found that most of the time when life becomes "over the top" stressful and emotions are high, a good rant is good for the soul! It usually needs to be done in a safe place, however...sometimes ppl need an ear and then some sound professional(did I say professional?) redirection to get back on track... This is clearly a toxic thread!!

Rants are fine. We welcome rants. Heck I've had a few myself. The objection is the format. This is a public forum. The OP posted her rant as an article. It appears on the opening page of the site. It is highlighted and highly visible. It's even marked as "featured". It is not an article by any stretch of the imagination. Are these the kind of words we want to project as nurses to the public? Is this how we want to be represented? I know I don't. It's one thing to rant about poor care. It's entirely another to mock other's speech patterns or economic status. You don't do that in public. You. Just. Don't!