The Culture of Nursing

[nynursey_]

Just out of sheer curiosity, if you could change anything about the culture of nursing, what would it be?

I'll leave it as an open-ended question without adding a poll because I feel as though there are so many different options and perspectives to include in this topic.

Thank you for the feedback! :)

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I would eliminate the knee-jerk, "NETY, NETY, NETY!" every time someone more experienced so much as dares to give criticism. I would also eliminate the blatant prejudice against older nurses.

I second the "Nurses Eat Their Young" cry. Along with "nurses are all mean, 'caddy' (sic) backstabbers" or "women are all mean, catty backstabbers, and it's a female dominated profession."

I'd eliminate the misogyny in nursing. And the ageism.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Where do you suppose the "nurses eat their young" originated from? I'm just curious as to whether or not you agree it exists, or if you think it is a myth perpetuated by newer nurses who feel that they're not being helped enough?

It's a myth started by someone with a paper to write and perpetuated by newer nurses who, usually in their first REAL job, haven't yet learned to get along with their colleagues. "Nurses eat their young" is more self-affirming and easier to swallow than "I was really stupid there."

Newer nurses seem to fall into two camps when faced with their first negative feedback on the job: Either it's "nurses eat their young" or "I really blew it." Often, you can identify which camp the newbie will fall into long before the first negative feedback: the "Nurses eat their young" camp are always blaming someone else for their difficulties rather than looking inside to see what they might have contributed to the mess, misunderstanding or mistake. They are often the same ones who have difficulty with the idea of working nights, weekends, holidays or driving to work in the snow.

Some nurses outgrow the "NETY" phase; others don't. The ones that do seem to last a whole lot longer in the profession and are much happier.

Nice avatar, by the way. I love the colors. I'm glad you finally took my advice.

[KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN]

Quit accepting the crappola that hospitals are doing to cut costs and telling each other that "you are lucky to have a job".

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Can you please elaborate on what you view as a "martyr nurse"?

I'm not redmorgan, but I can't sleep so I'll take a stab at it.

Traditionally, a martyr was someone who was burned at the stake for their cause. A martyr nurse is someone who, with a big sigh, picks up that extra patient, gives up her lunch break, comes in to work on her day off, makes do with less staff and has a Foley taped to her leg. They're not helping us get more staffing, better resources or the expectation of a real lunch break.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

For our role as coordinators of care and patient advocates be respected by refusing to dump more duplicative documentation and non-patient care tasks on our laps. Just because something doesn't fit the job description of any other group of workers, it should not be added to nursing duties, as if our job description is so nebulous.

[SubSippi]

I want nurses to get more REAL respect. I feel like nurses get a lot of the "you're a saint for putting up with those crazy people and wiping their butts" type of respect, but are not always respected as health care professionals who know what they're talking about.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I would get rid of the martyr nurses. They're not helping our cause.

This...also the disillusioned nurses...the weight of being apathetic or twisted devotion are two extremes we are better off without. Also the glory-seeking nurses-the ones who like to screw everyone else...those are the ones who get at the top and FORGET, or add little to NONE for the profession.

[mclennan, BSN, RN]

I'd like the culture of self-care to change. This mentality I see so often amongst nurses that because we take care of everyone else, we don't take care of ourselves! I see so many nurses who are obese, are smokers, have substance abuse problems, chronic conditions, don't exercise or eat right, etc. etc. the list goes on. We should role model the health we are trying to promote/maintain/achieve with our patients!

[TU RN, DNP, CRNA]

The culture of nursing. Whoooaaaa deep man

[nynursey_]

It's a myth started by someone with a paper to write and perpetuated by newer nurses who, usually in their first REAL job, haven't yet learned to get along with their colleagues. "Nurses eat their young" is more self-affirming and easier to swallow than "I was really stupid there."

Newer nurses seem to fall into two camps when faced with their first negative feedback on the job: Either it's "nurses eat their young" or "I really blew it." Often, you can identify which camp the newbie will fall into long before the first negative feedback: the "Nurses eat their young" camp are always blaming someone else for their difficulties rather than looking inside to see what they might have contributed to the mess, misunderstanding or mistake. They are often the same ones who have difficulty with the idea of working nights, weekends, holidays or driving to work in the snow.

Some nurses outgrow the "NETY" phase; others don't. The ones that do seem to last a whole lot longer in the profession and are much happier.

Nice avatar, by the way. I love the colors. I'm glad you finally took my advice.

I think it's dependent upon the individual nurse. I have seen seasoned nurses (I use seasoned since you mention the ageism of nursing--and I agree) that have not yet lost their drive to teach and who absolutely welcome questions, comments, and concerns. And then I have seen more seasoned nurses that, for one reason or another, have just lost their drive to be guiding lights. I think of one nurse in particular on my path that I can recall. And rather than make me want to cry "NETY!," it just makes me sad. She is an absolutely fantastic nurse and I'm sure as a mentor, she's even better. But something along her journey, whether it be the nature of her position or a few bad new nursing apples, spoiled her love to groom the younger generation. It's a shame.

I think that for the younger generation of nurses, it is difficult to balance introspective to what "wrong" you may have committed that contributed to the situation with feeling an impending sense of incompetence. As a new graduate, I have heard two extremes: I am either too cocky with what I *think* I know, or I'm too hard on myself because I think I know nothing. I have taken both of these criticisms and tried to examine how my behavior and/or words contribute to both opinions, and I have finally decided that it is the crux of being a new graduate. It. Is. Hard. And we are constantly learning to balance confidence with cockiness with feeling so down on ourselves, we wonder why we got into the profession in the first place.

I appreciate your feedback, Ruby Vee.

[nynursey_]

The culture of nursing. Whoooaaaa deep man

I can feel the sarcasm dripping from this post. If you'd like to elaborate on why this shouldn't be *deep* then please, feel free.

[nynursey_]

Quit accepting the crappola that hospitals are doing to cut costs and telling each other that "you are lucky to have a job".

Yes! We can be happy to have jobs, but not need to be employed under conditions that could cause harm to ourselves and/or to patients.