Nursing is a profession built on compassion, respect, and care — not just for our patients, but for each other. When bullying happens among nurses, it breaks down the very foundation of what nursing stands for.
You may have forgotten, but every nurse was once a beginner. We all had shaky hands, unsure voices, and moments of doubt. No one becomes strong by tearing someone else down.
Bullying isn't leadership. It isn't toughness. It's a betrayal of the oath we took to advocate, support, and heal. When you bully, you create fear instead of teamwork, silence instead of learning, and pain where there should be encouragement.
"Nurses eat their young" should never be a tradition — it should be a warning that something needs to change.
If you've bullied someone, it's not too late to reflect, apologize, and do better. Real strength is shown in kindness. True leadership lifts others up.
Be the nurse you once needed. Be the colleague who heals with words, not wounds.
The OP is unambiguously addressing the unique problem of bullying in nursing.
The problem I have with the phrase "nurses eat their young" is that workplace bullying is not unique to nursing nor is it perpetrated only by senior nurses. I agree with Tweety that the statement needs to go away and instead of pointing the finger at one particular group recognize that this is an issue that impacts all humans in all walks of life and somehow we need to figure out how to make it stop.
This is hysterical and so amazingly archetypical of the precise attitude this post is targeting.
Tweety, do you really believe this post is saying that bullying in nursing really isn't a thing, and that people should stop saying it? Could anyone who can read come away with that understanding? You're forgetting this the internet, where passive aggressively pretending to be oblivious to the situation at hand in order to force your point of view doesn't work, because we don't know or care who you are.
if you genuinely believe bullying in nursing is overhyped, that's a totally fine opinion to have. However, you tell on yourself big time when you seemingly are unable to directly confront the OP's point of view with a genuine response. What it says is "I have no argument against this but I'm compelled to be defensive anyway, so…”
I validated the original post. But not at length. I didn't feel I had anything further to say other than it was a good post.
I'm regret that your takeaway is something that I don't think I said, but I'll take responsibility because that's how it was perceived, but I also won't elaborate further because I said what I said: "Tweety, do you really believe this post is saying that bullying in nursing really isn't a thing, and that people should stop saying it?" No people should address bully situations head on.
I've been a floor nurse for 34 years now and obviously have come across bullies in nursing. My issue is branding the entire profession with a vile statement "Nurses Eat Their Young". I might have mentioned that's a trigger statement for me.
It's very unfortunate that nurse bullies are out there. I don't post much on this side (mostly in the break room area) but in the 20 odd years I've posted, I've been supportive of nurses who feel they've been bullied and do so without branding the entire profession.
It's also unfortunate that when (particularly a new grad) comes across one they brand the entire profession as "Nurses Eat Their Young".
So in all this time I can confidently say that probably 99% of us nurses are good people working in a tough situation that sometimes breaks us, burns us out and sucks the life out of us. I've had all that happen to me and yet I still don't see my profession as on that eats it's young and has a lot of bullies.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe nurses eat their young and is rampant with nurse bullies. For context I was a sissy boy and was bullied mercilessly growing up all the way to high school, so I have extremely thick skin and a tolerance and a wall built up around me. I don't get bullied and when and if I do by nurses I know how to handle it.
I know for sure a new nurses it's a tough and demanding profession and period to get through and they are more vulnerable to bullies than a seasoned nurse like myself.
It interesting through all of that I would become a nurse, care deeply for patient's wellbeing, and now I'm an elder nurse mentor who never left the bedside and never let "nurses eat their young" jade me or the few bullies out there affect me.
Takeaway what you will and form your own opinions as you should.
I validated the original post. But not at length. I didn't feel I had anything further to say other than it was a good post.
I'm regret that your takeaway is something that I don't think I said, but I'll take responsibility because that's how it was perceived, but I also won't elaborate further because I said what I said: "Tweety, do you really believe this post is saying that bullying in nursing really isn't a thing, and that people should stop saying it?" No people should address bully situations head on.
I've been a floor nurse for 34 years now and obviously have come across bullies in nursing. My issue is branding the entire profession with a vile statement "Nurses Eat Their Young". I might have mentioned that's a trigger statement for me.
It's very unfortunate that nurse bullies are out there. I don't post much on this side (mostly in the break room area) but in the 20 odd years I've posted, I've been supportive of nurses who feel they've been bullied and do so without branding the entire profession.
It's also unfortunate that when (particularly a new grad) comes across one they brand the entire profession as "Nurses Eat Their Young".
So in all this time I can confidently say that probably 99% of us nurses are good people working in a tough situation that sometimes breaks us, burns us out and sucks the life out of us. I've had all that happen to me and yet I still don't see my profession as on that eats it's young and has a lot of bullies.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe nurses eat their young and is rampant with nurse bullies. For context I was a sissy boy and was bullied mercilessly growing up all the way to high school, so I have extremely thick skin and a tolerance and a wall built up around me. I don't get bullied and when and if I do by nurses I know how to handle it.
I know for sure a new nurses it's a tough and demanding profession and period to get through and they are more vulnerable to bullies than a seasoned nurse like myself.
It interesting through all of that I would become a nurse, care deeply for patient's wellbeing, and now I'm an elder nurse mentor who never left the bedside and never let "nurses eat their young" jade me or the few bullies out there affect me.
Takeaway what you will and form your own opinions as you should.
My takeaway is that I have a lot of empathy for nurses and the working conditions that they endure, and I 100% understand that these conditions mean that it's not always possible to be perfectly pleasant and congenial with fellow colleagues, especially where they're making your job more difficulty. I do get that--I am not coming at this from an irrational nor inherently biased perspective.
You have to understand, though, that prioritizing the good name of veteran nurses such as yourself over new nurses who consistently report workplace cultures in which they've been harrassed, hazed, and abused sends a very clear signal. You're very clearly setting the priority of addressing said abuse as more marginal than addressing the harm done by that clichéd phrase, which is honestly absurd when evaluated on-face, and confirms an attitude of hostility that you make explicit when you characterize such nurses as being like "sissy boys" who should "develop thicker skin."
Honestly, if you think "nurses eat their young" is a vile statement that should actively be suppressed, then perhaps an even further thickening of the skin would do you some good as well? Why is the sanctity of the public image of nursing more important than addressing a widespread problem that, deny it or not, is brought up ceaselessly and is an oft-cited as a reason for attrition from this line of work?
While I _personally_ do believe that hazing and office politics is leagues worse in healthcare than in other professional domains, my opinion actually doesn't even matter in the end. If there is a problem of bullying _equal_ to that in any other profession, it still merits being addressed, not being diminished nor dismissed over concern over micromanaging the terms in which it is discussed, lest it harm the public face of the profession that, empirically, is considered among the most well-respected in North America.
I'm glad and respect that you, in your professional career, haver stood up for nurses who've been bullied on the job. The only thing I wish to impart is how the defensive offense nurses in the field take to the issue being addressed is a roadblock, and even more so that ANY tolerance for bullying in our field is acceptable.
My takeaway is that I have a lot of empathy for nurses and the working conditions that they endure, and I 100% understand that these conditions mean that it's not always possible to be perfectly pleasant and congenial with fellow colleagues, especially where they're making your job more difficulty. I do get that--I am not coming at this from an irrational nor inherently biased perspective.
You have to understand, though, that prioritizing the good name of veteran nurses such as yourself over new nurses who consistently report workplace cultures in which they've been harrassed, hazed, and abused sends a very clear signal. You're very clearly setting the priority of addressing said abuse as more marginal than addressing the harm done by that clichéd phrase, which is honestly absurd when evaluated on-face, and confirms an attitude of hostility that you make explicit when you characterize such nurses as being like "sissy boys" who should "develop thicker skin."
Honestly, if you think "nurses eat their young" is a vile statement that should actively be suppressed, then perhaps an even further thickening of the skin would do you some good as well? Why is the sanctity of the public image of nursing more important than addressing a widespread problem that, deny it or not, is brought up ceaselessly and is an oft-cited as a reason for attrition from this line of work?
While I _personally_ do believe that hazing and office politics is leagues worse in healthcare than in other professional domains, my opinion actually doesn't even matter in the end. If there is a problem of bullying _equal_ to that in any other profession, it still merits being addressed, not being diminished nor dismissed over concern over micromanaging the terms in which it is discussed, lest it harm the public face of the profession that, empirically, is considered among the most well-respected in North America.
I'm glad and respect that you, in your professional career, haver stood up for nurses who've been bullied on the job. The only thing I wish to impart is how the defensive offense nurses in the field take to the issue being addressed is a roadblock, and even more so that ANY tolerance for bullying in our field is acceptable.
I'll leave it alone at this point because I don't want to sound like I'm not supportive of the many new grads that pass my way or anyone that reports work place bullying.
I'm just thankful that in my current job we have a reasonably positive culture. I work med surg and new and young nurses pass my way a lot. We're not perfect and often the stress of being a new grad is overwhelming to them and as far as I know no one has reported that we have a bully. They just feel overwhelmed with all the work. Heck, even I do.
I'm also thankful when I was a new grad I wasn't bullied and the older nurses were supportive and treated me with respect. It was the older LPNs that took me under their wing as a new grad RN and never was I bullied. That doesn't mean I think that's the reality for everyone.
That doesn't mean I don't have compassion for the many people that report that workplace bullying is a problem for them. I agree that any work place bullying is a problem while thinking it untrue that as a profession it's the norm that nurses eat their young.
I would never stay in a profession where "nurse's eat their young" and had a culture of bullying nurses, but it also does't mean I need to defend the profession when someone is bullied and says "nurses eat their young" even though they are usually talking about one person and not all of us. I will use my thick skin to attempt to not be triggered by that phrase.
I would never want to be considered a roadblock for improving the profession.
Wuzzie
5,242 Posts
The problem I have with the phrase "nurses eat their young" is that workplace bullying is not unique to nursing nor is it perpetrated only by senior nurses. I agree with Tweety that the statement needs to go away and instead of pointing the finger at one particular group recognize that this is an issue that impacts all humans in all walks of life and somehow we need to figure out how to make it stop.