Why are Nurses so mean to each other?

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I can't quite understand it. Nursing students, pre-nursing students and Nurses come here for support and advice but unfortunately they are greeted with a bunch of negativity and discouraged by fellow Nurses. We are professionals. I know it makes it easy to say negative things because you're hiding behind your computer but this is childish behavior.

I understand this behavior is not everyone. I would like to thank those who have been supportive of myself and others.

Specializes in Mental Health, Hospice Care.
Uhm, ya, there's that.......

(saracasm button off now, REALLY......)

awww Jade....bwhahahahaha:cheers:

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Very true ... but on a nursing forum you get the added kick that anything less than blind cheerleading is somehow *un-nurse-like* because it's not positive or supportive enough.

I agree. But then you also get people slashing and burning before they even know the details of the OP's story. People jump the gun in both directions, rather than taking a moment to pause and reflect.

Assuming that lateral violence in nursing is a reality, might the bullying common in secondary (and primary) school possibly be a root?

]On Kissing Like a Horse by Becca Woolf (about girl-on-girl bullying in middle and high school).

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Uhm, ya, there's that.......

(saracasm button off now, REALLY......)

This is a good example.

The comment couldn't be left alone.

Snark will out.

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This is a good example. The comment couldn't be left alone.Snark will out.
Yeah, but some comments just beg to not be left alone.
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Nurses are mean to each other .. mostly because they are fried with their current situation.

They realize that only other nurses HAVE to put up with the frustration and anger that they are feeling.

It's a no win situation of course. It is what it is.

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Specializes in Trauma.
Nurses are mean to each other .. mostly because they are fried with their current situation.

They realize that only other nurses HAVE to put up with the frustration and anger that they are feeling.

It's a no win situation of course. It is what it is.

How about because some people are just miserable mean people that have no control over their life, and some of them become nurses?

Why would you say only nurses HAVE to put up with frustration and anger on the job? Trust me nurses do not have the market on that. There are MANY people that are trapped in a job due to finances. Besides, a nurse can leave their job as easily as anyone else can.

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Besides, a nurse can leave their job as easily as anyone else can.

It's really not that easy, and I'm not talking about the job market, or that the situation is likely to be no better at another facility than it is at your current one. Rather, it's that nurses deal with people in need, and that if everyone just takes off, those patients will be left in a rough spot.

Nurses suffer some of the stresses of middle managers, where they have a lot of responsibility, but little power.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

The internet can be a great facilitator of meanness it can also be a good conduit for support. When you post something online you really have no idea who will read it and how they will respond to it. It is entirely possibly that something you post will be as offensive to a person as the response you will get back. Its the nature of the beast. When your dealing with someone you either know or are face to face with you can taper what your saying to the situation. In the internet however things can be contextual less.

I DO hope that people come to AN for something other than being patted on the back and are open to new concepts even if they may seem a little flame tinged at times.

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Specializes in Trauma.
It's really not that easy, and I'm not talking about the job market, or that the situation is likely to be no better at another facility than it is at your current one. Rather, it's that nurses deal with people in need, and that if everyone just takes off, those patients will be left in a rough spot.

Nurses suffer some of the stresses of middle managers, where they have a lot of responsibility, but little power.

If someone is that stressed out by their job then they need to rethink their career choice. If no other reason than for their own health and well being. Not everyone can handle stress. Why do you think a very small percentage of people that join the military stay to retirement? It is a very stressful job. Yes, nursing and the military are very different. At least in nursing you get to choose where you want to work, you get to choose where you want to live, unless you choose travel you are home everyday, if you don't like your boss you can quit. The US military is the closest thing to legalized slavery in the US. They tell you what you are going to do as a job, where you will live, when you can go home, and if you don't like it, tough, you will be leaving in a couple of years anyway.

I fail to see why it would be considered acceptable by anyone for a nurse to be mean to another nurse. Dang, you are all in the same boat. This is a big difference I see in a male dominated field compared to a female. In my previous jobs, male dominated, if we were treated like crap we banded together and raised Hell with management not each other. Often with women it seems they take their frustrations out on each other. They don't need management to keep them down, they do a good enough job doing it for them. How professional can they seem to management when they act like a bunch of squabbling 5th graders?

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Y'know HM-8404 quite a few of the meanest post I've seen here in the past few months have been from you so does that mean you need to reassess whether you can handle stress or not? Or is it that you don't view your statements as being mean?

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Specializes in Trauma.
Y'know HM-8404 quite a few of the meanest post I've seen here in the past few months have been from you so does that mean you need to reassess whether you can handle stress or not? Or is it that you don't view your statements as being mean?

I've posted mean posts? I've often replied in kind, but don't think I have posted anything mean out of the blue. Could you give an example or two?

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.
Lol I already did. I view AN this way. Anything that is said isn't in my face unless I want it to be. Its not a face to face situation so everything can be ignored.

That's very true and something I've been trying to practice lately. I'm very, very bad at that Lol.

And now the rest of my night is going to be wasted looking through every post HM-whateverthe#is has ever posted. Thanks.

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