The young eating their young

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Obviously the topic of old nurses eating young nurses comes up a lot here. The problem is I've never actually experiences that. What I have experience is young nurses eating younger nurses OR younger nurses trying to eat slightly older nurses.

It all ends up being very petty too. Things like. "Well I know that why don't you." or "Why didn't you do such and such." (which does not apply in this situation)

I often come across nurses who will get their knickers in a knot over certain documentation which doesn't not apply. Like insisting that a hospice chart needs a 485 when that's a document that applies to home health not hospice even to the point of calling my supervisor who just calls me and asks me to explain it to them (nicely).

So the question is WHY. Why complain bitterly about experienced nurses being mean when young nurses often show the same unprovoked behavior.

EDIT I'm primarily referring to young in nursing years though age can play a factor.

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Specializes in cardiac, stroke, special care.

Easy answer- it's a ******* contest in some new nurses minds. Shameful but true. Who can **** the farthest. Tune it out and keep on trucking. Good luck

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

DISCLAIMER: I am 31 years of age, so I am too young to be considered 'older' and a little too old to be considered 'younger.' I suppose I fall somewhere between the distinct catergories of young and old.

With that having been said, I admit that I have observed 'the young eating other young people' on a small scale at various workplaces. Most often, the offender will be a nurse in his/her twenties with less than a year of experience and more confidence than a movie theater popcorn maker. The 'younger' nurse, typically a know-it-all, will whisper about how the other nurses are doing it all wrong.

Older nurses eating their young and younger nurses eating their coworkers...this is the reason nursing has a long way to come. No one will respect us until we stop the silly derision and learn to respect ourselves.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

I should clarify I mean young in primarily in nursing years though actual age also plays a factor.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

I have to ask if this is a cross-post with my thread in the First Year forum? The timing and similarity of the content among your posts here and there is striking.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

It is a combination of points brought up in your post and some behaviour I have noticed amongst my coworkers and in nurses in general.

So no this is not directly about you.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

I think healthcare is unique in one way: it relies on teamwork. True teamwork, every single day in every single moment. The biggest problem where I work is "department wars." They complain about us; we complain about them; management has to resolve it somehow.

When I worked in corporate America, teamwork was needed sometimes, and other times it wasn't. There were some projects done in complete isolation from other disciplines. On those projects where true teamwork was needed, i.e. a multi-step process where multiple departments had a hand in making it work, and work product flowed from one department to another, that's where it got ugly.

I really do think it's the nature of the beast. Work product flows from one nurse to another, from one department to another, every single day, every single shift. Conflict is bound to happen, and we will always run into those that can't rein in their negative thoughts to ensure that whatever they are thinking comes out of their mouths as constructive criticism.

Only one co-worker I have could be truly categorized as a bully. And people don't like her much. ;)

Then, again, some things can be misunderstood. I have one coworker that says whatever she is thinking at any given time to anyone. Some of what comes out of her mouth has a bite to it. When I first met her, I thought, "Whoa. You hungry or something?" Then, after a time, I realized it's just the way she is because she has the same bite whether talking about work, non-work life, food, travel, nearly anything. She's very opinionated, and it can easily be misconstrued as "eating co-workers" if you haven't been around her.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
"Why didn't you do such and such." (which does not apply in this situation)

I do that. Im guilty. I will actually ask why did you do that. But I do it from the point that I want to learn and Im not trying to be an a-hole about it. I learn a lot when people say do this because of this. It sticks a lot better for me that way. Granted tone is a lot and I ask nicely.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

I'm going to give you an example of what behavior I am talking about. I'm an agency worker and right now primarily do hospice staffing for 24/7 continuous care for actively dying patients. On one case the RN case manager with an epic 4 months experience dropped some pre-filled syringes without leaving any needles. Ok no biggie my coworker called her and ask for some to be dropped off. The first words out of her mouth weren't "Ok no problem I'll get them over asap so you can sedate your combative patient." No what she actually said "Do you know how to do an IM" in a condescending tone. My coworker has 20+ years of experience. Of course he sniped back "Yeah it requires a needle."

And ironically the same thing happened to me for the same case another new grad nurse dropped off some refills and been for-warned I asked for some needles and got the reply "Oh they already have the needles on them" No they don't. So she picks them up and peers at them as if to find some way to prove me wrong. Then she went out to her car and got some. Now both nurses I like and find them easy enough to deal with once they knew me and knew I wasn't trying to give them a hard time.

So where does this challenge and criticize attitude come from and how can we prevent it. Would being more supportive from the get go be a start?

I myself only have an epic 3 years experience so I really don't understand this kind of behavior. Is it supernurse syndrome? or it anxiety r/t not being a super nurse or the pressure to be a supernurse.

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So where does this challenge and criticize attitude come from and how can we prevent it. Would being more supportive from the get go be a start?

I myself only have an epic 3 years experience so I really don't understand this kind of behavior. Is it supernurse syndrome? or it anxiety r/t not being a super nurse or the pressure to be a supernurse.

You can not prevent it. This is the person's core personality/attitude he/she will be and is the same way in all areas of life. Would be the same if he/she was a waiter, clerk, exotic dancer, lawyer, anything. I think it is a variety of things. some people who act like this really are the better nurses and they know it, some are putting on a show /offense in case others see that they are just like the other nurses and do not know other things, they build themselves up by putting others down, some people enjoy mocking,criticizing, making fun of others.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
I'm going to give you an example of what behavior I am talking about. I'm an agency worker and right now primarily do hospice staffing for 24/7 continuous care for actively dying patients. On one case the RN case manager with an epic 4 months experience dropped some pre-filled syringes without leaving any needles. Ok no biggie my coworker called her and ask for some to be dropped off. The first words out of her mouth weren't "Ok no problem I'll get them over asap so you can sedate your combative patient." No what she actually said "Do you know how to do an IM" in a condescending tone. My coworker has 20+ years of experience. Of course he sniped back "Yeah it requires a needle."

I can hear this in my head, and case manager was sarcastic, which was met with more sarcasm. No one wins, as if it was a contest to begin with.

And ironically the same thing happened to me for the same case another new grad nurse dropped off some refills and been for-warned I asked for some needles and got the reply "Oh they already have the needles on them" No they don't. So she picks them up and peers at them as if to find some way to prove me wrong. Then she went out to her car and got some. Now both nurses I like and find them easy enough to deal with once they knew me and knew I wasn't trying to give them a hard time.

I don't know. Picking them up and looking at them may not have been a challenge to you, but rather a "Really?! I thought they did!" to herself.

So where does this challenge and criticize attitude come from and how can we prevent it. Would being more supportive from the get go be a start?

Using only these examples you provided: In situation #1: professionalism; no tolerance for passive-aggressive sarcasm from either side. In situation #2: avoid looking for the worst motives in people unless they create a track record of questionable motives.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Honestly I'm going to take any comment you say with a big tub of salt since I class you in the same category as the aforementioned. The fact that you had to come over to this thread and ask if it was about you says a lot.

You should have taken your own advice regarding not looking for the worst motives for your agency worker instead of writing a 500+ word article on all her shortcomings. Don't you think?

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