Vent about resentment from older RNs toward NP students

[SteveNNP]

So, sorry for the vent that is about to follow, but I have to let it out or I'm going to go crazy.

I am a NNP student, finishing up my degree in December, after working and going to school full-time for nearly 2 1/2 years. I work at a huge Level IIIc NICU with about 8-10 other nurses with similar 3-4 years of experience who are all pursuing their NP degrees, either as PNPs or NNPs. Luckily our hospital system reimburses up to $12,000 a year for school!

Anyway,

The older nurses in our unit are continuing to become more and more vocal about their displeasure of us "younger nurses" sucking the good patients and experiences, and knowledge of the older nurses out of the unit. They see us as using the unit as a stepping stone to being an NP. They constantly complain right in front of us in the lounge about how we all shouldn't be allowed to take the sick patients, or get our schedules adjusted for classes (we all work almost every weekend, the senior RNs rarely work WEs) since we are just "abandoning the unit" after we're done with school.

Many of us work FT, work most weekends, and must constantly adjust our schedules to fit classes in. The senior nurses ask why "nursing isn't good enough for us."

I'm so sick of it. I expect to be able to care for the same patients they do, and maybe even a little more often, since they have had decades with which to perfect their skills, whereas I've only had 4 years. I chose to become an APN to understand the physiology of neonatal disease processes, perform advanced skills, and have increased autonomy. I have no problems with bedside nursing. I am just sick to death of being made to feel like I am a leech, sucking knowledge off the unit, only to run away when I graduate. I feel like we should be invested in MORE, since we will be the ones writing the orders. How am I supposed to become a competent NNP when I can't have the support and mentoring of my senior colleagues?

Ugh. How do I deal with this?

Steve

[larelsail]

Hi Steve,

I can totally sympathize. I am 4 days away from finishing the final work for my NNP program, and while I have had a lot of support from the nurses where I work, the same hasn't been true in all of my clinical experiences. On my last day of clinical (hour 597 or so), the nurse for one of the babies I was caring for asked how long I'd been a nurse. When I told her 4 years, she nearly shrieked, "Oh my God, only 4 years!! How can you become an NNP with ONLY 4 years nursing experience?!"....and she proceeded to tell me how, as a bedside nurse, she is still learning things after 20 something years.

It is such a slap in the face to work as hard as we do, studying, attending class, working full time and fitting in clinical, only to be treated like a fool for thinking that we might advance our knowledge and practice.

There is no answer for nurses like that....she would have told me to work another 20 years at the bedside (at which point I would be 47), then go back to school. But, if I got to that point, maybe she'd be the type to criticize and want to know why an experienced colleague would bother going to school so late in her career!

I just smiled and explained that the NNP role is different, that I want to complete my education while life is still fairly uncomplicated, etc.....ugggh.

Anyway, no advice here, just understanding!

P.S. Isn't it ironic that first year ped's residents, who don't even know what CPAP is, get waaay more respect than the second year NNP student with 4 years experience as a NICU nurse!?

[PrettyPrisonNurse31]

I started out as a Receptionist(and darn proud!) then I became a CNA, then a Medical Assistant, then an LPN. Do you think I am going to stop before I have ARNP behind my name, just because a few old hens in the henhouse.......uh uhh...wrong answer!

Kudos to anyone who wants more out of life! I could resent the fact that my old boss was a 28 year old, pretty, young ARNP...but then I would have lost a good friend.

Tell her to worry less about your education and more about her patients...no wait...you might get hurt....think of something nice to say, like Mona B recommended.

[carachel2]

While I don't doubt there is resentment out there, I do wonder if the response to this question perpetuates the feelings? "I have been exposed to this several times, and my response is not that I'm trying to move "up" in any way because I feel nursing is an amazing profession and isn't one I want to "get away from." I have simply told other RN's I want to do something different because I find I have a passion for primary prevention and I felt this was the main way to break in. I don't mention $$ or authority or more education........just that my career interest in nursing was leading me down a different path.