The young eating their young

[tothepointeLVN]

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.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

In the situation you describe, I don't think it was a case of nurses eating their young. Rather, my guess is that it was the delivery from the RN case manager during clarification that rubbed the wrong way.

When dealing with potentially snarky exchanges, I tend to "over-communicate", but I do so in a self-deprecating manner that puts the listener in a mental place where they aren't feeling threatened. The best advice I got from my mother was that a confident and wise person knows when it is better to be KIND than to be RIGHT. Example:

"Hey Judy, I need some refills for XYZ. I am almost sure that they don't come with needles, so could you check that for me before you drop them off? And would you let me know for sure if they come with or without needles? I ran into this question before, and there was some confusion. Thanks!"

YOU already know that they don't come with needles. But giving a new grad a clear task and having her report back her findings will make her feel valued, and it will make her feel as if she is contributing. (It matters not that you already know for a fact that they don't come with needles. Your goal here is to outline a purposeful task and subsequently build confidence in the new grad.) The more valued we feel, the more confident we are, and the more apt we are to be thorough. That's a good way to be at once supportive AND prevent defensive behavior.

When you are faced with conflict from a co-worker or if you are mediating a conflict between two co-workers, remember that rational people can react in irrational ways. You have to dissect down to WHY someone is reacting irrationally. It takes effort, time and understanding, but if you are willing to take the time to learn how THEY communicate, you can adjust your communication skills to more effectively resolve conflict.

The greatest thing a leader can accomplish is to foster a sense of purpose in the people they lead. On the whole, people are more satisfied when a clear delineation of purpose is set forth, the implementation of the purpose is broken down into simple tasks, and the tasks accomplished lead to a sense of fulfillment, which ultimately results in a strong employee who is willing to share knowledge with the next person.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

To the OP: Please dial it back a notch. There is absolutely no reason to take offense to anything I've said in this thread. You seemed to take offense in the other thread, I responded there, and that's that.

I've also responded here, and I'm done. I will not get into a catfight with you.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

To the OP: Please dial it back a notch. There is absolutely no reason to take offense to anything I've said in this thread. You seemed to take offense in the other thread, I responded there, and that's that.

I've also responded here, and I'm done. I will not get into a catfight with you.

There is no notch to dial down. I posted the issues I wanted to discuss in a seperate thread rather than bring the original thread off topic. The first thing you did was jump over here and demanded to know if I was cross posting and if it was about you and then you responded to every single post.

You need to dial yourself down several notches. Kettle Kettle Black Black

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Thread closed for time out. May or may not be re-opened.