As current times have shown, we're short staffed. Administration wants to make money. So cuts are made to equipment and man power. Who has your back? Who can you rely on? Your fellow nurses? I'm not so sure anymore. Why do we as nurses eat our own when we should be teaching them and guarding them as our own. The fact is as we age our young nurses are going to be taking care of us, but there are those all too eager beavers who will in fact burn you. This is my experience.
This is my own personal experience as to why nurses eat their own? I have been in nursing for 20+ years. I've watched a lot of nurses come and go and some trying to move up that corporate food chain leaving a path of destruction a mile wide in their path. It's a very sad thing to have witnessed nursing go from a caring environment to a volatile, stressful, "me" environment.
I personally have never thrown anyone under the bus but I have been thrown under the bus by a nurse trying to move up. I was shocked, not to be naive but how callus and calculating this nurse had become in such a short period of time. She was a new grad. I took her under my wing, taught her in a specialty area just to be told shortly thereafter that there were going to be cuts in this area, and I was one of the people being cut along with approximately 20 more nurses. I then found out that my underling I had taught was at the helm of helping administration make these cuts based on who had been there longest, made the most per hour and new grads or new hires would be cheaper. So it was done and my underling moved up to an office of ease while the rest of us were dispersed throughout the facility or some even let go destroying lives and careers.
Once moved to another area of the facility I witnessed a male nurse dating several other female nurses turning them against each other and ending up dating a charge nurse that was best friends with the manager of that department, so they were allowed to cuddle up at the nurses' station and pretty much did nothing else other than sneak outside. Yes all of this was reported by others than myself, however administration didn't care, bottom line was man hours not pt care.
I've since left that facility after many years. I am now at a new facility and have already picked up on the "eager" young nurses more than willing to talk behind other nurses' backs. This is disappointing. The nursing school and instructors of old that I had the privilege of going to and being taught by would be appalled and would not have tolerated for one moment. Is loyalty, character and earning your title without harming something taught in nursing schools? Should certain psychiatric characters be red flags for school administrators be implemented to prevent cannibalism within nursing?
I feel as if those great women who pioneered nursing to care for the sick, indigent and wounded would be so saddened by the "General Hospital", "Grays Anatomy"; "high school acting" nurses of today. On that note I don't want to diminish the fact that nurses have to be go-getters, usually type A, hungry for knowledge; however there's a professional line where we should have each other's back.
Nurses go to college to achieve a degree of higher learning along with all the nursing classes. You're professionals, intellectuals. Would you compromise your name, integrity and reputation for a easier schedule, a desk job, an office? All you have to do is help relocate or terminate 20 to 25 fellow nurses?
I am curious to the opinions of others, so please post. BTW this underling was moved back down the food chain and eventually out the door and with no friends or references to rely on now.
Before going down this road ask yourself. Why did I become a nurse? To help others who need it or to eat my young? If you answer or turn into the later, I fear you may be in the wrong profession...
Specializes in Ambulatory Care, LTC, OB, CCU, Occ Hth.
Nurse Leigh said:
Oh look all the first-time posters. Lovely way to introduce oneself - by saying nurses eat their young/own then blaming it on females or jealously, or old nurses. Welcome.
Just shows that there is still a lot of education that needs to be done.
You do "Code Dumping", literally, and bail on your co-workers when they need you most by your own admission, so this really means not that much, ya know?
I don't actually use the toilet during those times so it isn't truly code dumping. I close the lid and just sort of take a breather. I wouldn't ever sit on a common-use toilet with the lid up -- ewwww.
Yes, this sort of "nurses eat their young" and the "young biting harder on preceptors" (more like bite the hands that fed you kind of a thing) happens everywhere. It is not only unique to nursing. However, my only take on this piece is to try as much as possible and have a positive attitude towards everyone at work. When we form a negative opinion about a person, it kind of changes our attitude towards that person and invariably affect communication. We sometimes read meanings into co-workers attitude without actual getting deep enough to realize that they may not be out to get us. Fate has a way of playing the game of coincidence on us and it works for the most part. Be positive, do the right thing always. When someone decides to play the "evil one", fate also helps them get the repercussion in a very memorable way!
Replies like this highlight the ops point....mean spirited and nasty....and reading on through many nasty posts continue....why even bother to reply with a snarky negative post....wait I know.....you are nurses....attempting to make yourselves look like you are all that while trying to minimize the credibility of the OP....Unreal
I was thinking the very same thing! Perhaps they should start an online nursing forum? Oh, hmmm....maybe that would require work, they may be the ones eating their own? I like to call it a domino affect. You are correct. SO many chiefs has been the issue for so so many years. We just can't compare nursing to real estate or personal trainers as one did...it's just not the same as hard as you try to make that analogy...lives are on the line. This is skill and heart not the big business they are making it.
I started nursing late in life - in my fifties. Prior to that I was a teacher, business woman, and did a lot of other jobs as well. A BN is my fourth degree. I have a BA, BEd, MEd as well so I'm well-educated. While it's true that nasty people are in every profession, I can tell you with certainty that nursing has the highest number of bullies and nasties, period. And by the way, any idea that nurses are well educated is ridiculous. I completed a nursing degree after my other degrees and I know that nurses are NOT well-educated or well informed by any stretch. The introductory liberal arts courses they take are usually something that they sigh about because they "have to" to take them but, "What does this have to do with nursing?" They are not typically curious or enlightened individuals, which is part of the problem. They are in a rush to be middle class, get a secure job and then stay there for life.
I also believe that a lot of Borderline Personality types are attracted to nursing because of the "angel of mercy" aura that allows them to be nasty and kind at the same time. "Borderlines" thrive on drama, are usually paranoid (need to sabotage others), and live in complete denial of their own behavior. They really do believe their own "split" persona - that is, "I'm a nurse so that proves I'm a good person." Actually, I believe that about 50% of nurses are "borderline" Borderlines, and they wreak havoc wherever and whenever they can, but hide it beneath their angel of mercy disguise, (in their own minds). Never in my life have I encountered so many nasty individuals intent on causing problems for others. Think I'm exaggerating? CK out the literature - 60% of new nurses leave their first job because of bullying from their nurse colleagues. The literature is FULL of articles about horizontal violence in nursing. Just google it and you'll get pages on it, and ck out the professional journals. People have done their doctorates on this subject.
I'm laughing because I know y'all are fuming right now since Borderlines have no insight into their own behavior.....
I'm forced to agree with the above comments about nursing education and its tendency to produce less than well-rounded people.
It is amazing how many ignorant nurses are out there. Tons of them lack writing and critical thinking skills and fail to keep themselves abreast of anything in the world outside nursing. Many nurses don't even know how to play chess or have watched the original Star Wars trilogy. Essentially, nursing is the world to them. Many know nothing of history, literature, politics, or really any other discipline. I majored in both English and Nursing so I know what most nurses are missing as far as a liberal arts background goes, and the amount that many are missing is pretty dreadful. I have a suspicion that many are the same people who, as students, will talk about planning to "brain dump" what they learn in college after they are tested on it. They don't actually care about knowledge for its own sake, just about achieving some financial security.
I wholeheartedly agree with your statement that the type of people attracted to nursing are not knowledge seeking or what I could consider "bright" or "enlightened" individuals. And that is what makes nursing a "trashy" profession in the eyes of many and reinforces its low class underpinnings further. Nurses just don't have the same curiosity about life and well-rounded education that you'd see from doctors, lawyers, and so forth.
Now I know people are going to come at me with statements about how hard nursing school is. Some of nursing school is hard, but much of it is not. Memorizing a whole bunch of anatomy and physiology isn't exactly a sign of brilliance. The so-called "medication math" classes that nurses are required to take are the equivalent of what is taught in middle school algebra: converting fractions to decimals, etc. -- and tons of people STILL fail at it. That's sad. Give most of these "wise, smart, experienced nurses" a seat in a basic calculus class or in organic chemistry and their brains would probably implode. But what else would you expect -- these are the same people who think writing is a useless skill and that it's okay if your spelling and grammar are as bad as a five year old's as long as you are a "wise, smart, experienced nurse."
I was thinking the very same thing! Perhaps they should start an online nursing forum? Oh, hmmm....maybe that would require work, they may be the ones eating their own? I like to call it a domino affect. You are correct. SO many chiefs has been the issue for so so many years. We just can't compare nursing to real estate or personal trainers as one did...it's just not the same as hard as you try to make that analogy...lives are on the line. This is skill and heart not the big business they are making it.
I have skill and heart, but I got into nursing for the flexibility and the paycheck. It is indeed a Big Business.
The rest of your post is kind of hard to decipher.
I gotta step in an say with as much respect as I can muster: you are out of line in a lot of what you are saying. Many nurses have their faults and their petty negativity that distracts them from using the power they have to make real change, but you're out of line saying that the idea of well-educated nurses is ridiculous. You may claim to be well educated and list whatever credentials you have, but they don't amount to squat in your people skills area. You aren't superior to these so called "uneducated" nurses. You are just as ugly and nasty as you claim they are.
I think you're wrong here Jimmy. Jcg1 has got it. A bachelor degree prepared nurse falls short of what many academics in the old days would consider to be "educated people," both in attitude and in breadth of knowledge.
I have skill and heart, but I got into nursing for the flexibility and the paycheck. It is indeed a Big Business.
The rest of your post is kind of hard to decipher.
Hopefully the OP can decipher it. I noticed it wasn't all that well packaged up before I sent it. BTW, I have been here reading for many years, just forgot my original ID and email that I had used. Not sure who is pointing out new posters above, but I am not a new poster. However, with that said, even in 2008 I didn't respond or say much. Hopefully she won't attack me for being new and not agreeing with me either? Ahhh geez here we go.
The OP's post was a description of a type of NETY, so the title is only a bit generalized. IMHO, nurses eat their young because we are an abused profession. We are told what to do by administrators, families, doctors, etc., and told what we should be able to do and with how little. Abused children frequently grow up to be abusers. Experienced nurses frequently say abusive comments to newer nurses, implying that the new nurse will never be "as good as" the experienced one. The cycle needs to stop.
Some Young grad nurses have no talking/communication experience. They lived a bubble wrap life. Give them a cell phone, and they are at home.
Cut backs are NEVER on the top end of the food chain. Our hospitals cut front line, equipment, and new beebies aka Rookies. Everyone is afraid of their ***. Big Brother in some hospitals is watch, look up at the camera at the next patient you see.
Get used to it.
Its all about making MONEY! Got nothing to do with you.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Yep Many of us have seen this. The experienced, older nurse is a threat or at the very least gets zero appreciation and recognition for her hard work and contributions. The young pretty one can disrespect her mentors all she wants. She can throw all her coworkers under the proverbial bus to make herself look good. And she gets promoted in record time. And she will cry "bully" when anyone calls her on her crap.
Now, I don't want to do management. They (the young) can have it and all the nastiness that goes with it. Middle management is one of the most unappreciated jobs anyone can do. So yea, they can have it. But I mind VERY much you stepping on me to get there while management names you "employee of the year" cause you "look good". I have a real problem there. And those people will be supervising and making decisions that they are not ready to make after a year or so total in nursing. Scary.
Sensibility said:
What is really sad is that these young nurses are exalted in the eyes of the leadership. The leadership goes so overboard to try and get these people to stay. I am not asking for people to be treated disrespectfully. I am asking for those same people to notice what's going on and do something about it. Oh, and did I mention that these girls get nurse of the year for doing absolutely nothing over and above the call of duty? People such as myself who are no longer cute or young but do many extras get not even a thank you note. LOL. The system is definitely flawed. All those kudos do not change the fact that many of the young people that get into nursing are not inclined to bedside nursing. They are prima donnas who thought that taking care of poop and vomit would be glamorous and lucrative. It is hard to have to make up the difference to give the best nursing care in that environment. You would not believe the standard that I am held to.
JimmyDurham9
67 Posts
Just shows that there is still a lot of education that needs to be done.