Why are nurses so mean to each other?!

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

It seems like no one notices all the good things I do. The one time I mess up all my coworkers gossip and no one just tells me to my face. I have asked, please tell me first so I can fix it. Don't got gossiping and complaining to admin over something little like trash cans or beds. I go out of my way to make my residents happy, and to get along with coworkers. I just feel like everyone is against me.

Also, nurses never take me seriously. More than once I went to a nurse with conserns for a resident and they blew it off; then days later they end up on antibiotics for a UTI or some else.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
It seems like no one notices all the good things I do. The one time I mess up all my coworkers gossip and no one just tells me to my face. I have asked, please tell me first so I can fix it. Don't got gossiping and complaining to admin over something little like trash cans or beds. I go out of my way to make my residents happy, and to get along with coworkers. I just feel like everyone is against me.

Also, nurses never take me seriously. More than once I went to a nurse with conserns for a resident and they blew it off; then days later they end up on antibiotics for a UTI or some else.

Your header presupposes that nurses actually are mean to each other; something that I have never found to be the case.

At work, you're expected to do good things. Of course people notice when you mess up. Have you cultivated a reputation for accepting negative feedback gracefully and willingly? If not, no one is going to go out of their way to tell you to your face that you're screwing up. No one except someone whose job it is to tell you -- your manager, educator or preceptor. If "everyone" is against you, perhaps the problem is with you. Please do some self-evaluation to determine if that is indeed the case.

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Often I find people at work want to be rewarded for doing "good," which really equals they are just doing their job.

That said, when a bad CNA does one good thing, they are rewarded. When a CNA who is consistently an all around decent worker has one bad shift, everyone notices.

The reason why? They expect more from the "good" employees than they do the bad.

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Specializes in ER.

They say good practice is 10:1 positive/negative comments to people. We SHOULD be thanking, complimenting, praising our coworkers, our children, our bosses.

Then, when we have to criticize, it is more effective due to the positive relationship we've established.

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I don't know whether the nurses are truly blowing off your concerns or not, but there may be more going on behind the scenes than you know. When you report the high fever, the nurse might start looking in the chart to see where the temps have been trending, if any fevers have been reported to the MD, if cultures have been done, if there are Tylenol orders, etc. etc. Just saying that there is more than meets the eye, and just because the RN doesn't immediately go to the patient or call the doctor doesn't mean she's blowing you off.

That's not to say nurses don't ever ignore condition changes and see it bite them in the butt later. Still, you've done your part by reporting it.

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Specializes in GENERAL.

OP,

You sound like a good person asking an age old question just in a different way.

So I will reiterate your question and answer it by asking another.

"Why are nursing so mean to each other?Because nurses are their own worst enemies.

The do not own the means of production and as such they will jump at the chance to undercut a colleague for any kind of personal gain and pennies on the dollar.

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Specializes in GENERAL.

OP,

You sound like a good person asking an honest question.

Unfortunately, you won't get an honest answer here.

But have you ever heard the saying that nurses are their own worst enemies?

Stick with it long enough and you will.

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I have to respectfully disagree with Ruby Vee. I'm dealing with it right now.

Get a clique pissed off at you and suddenly you're the odd one out.

Sure, I could have let a little snowflake use my Littman, he had his i.e. student issued one, but I said no and now I'm the bad guy.

So when he whispered a nasty comment behind my back, and didn't include me in a group text on a location change that would have caused severe problems, and started badmouthing me, I spoke up... I'm the one with the problem now- but it didn't start out that way.

If OP is unhappy, maybe it's a better work environment that she needs.

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Specializes in BNAT instructor, ICU, Hospice,triage.

Its been that way EVERYWHERE I have worked. Even at the schools when I was a school nurse, the teachers all hate each other too. I have learned that all women hate each other. Hopefully we will get more men in nursing. Because everywhere I have ever worked, its been awful!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Its been that way EVERYWHERE I have worked. Even at the schools when I was a school nurse, the teachers all hate each other too. I have learned that all women hate each other. Hopefully we will get more men in nursing. Because everywhere I have ever worked, its been awful!

Psst! Your misogyny is showing.

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Vtachy1 didn't read my post. :no:

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