Why do nurses treat each other do way they do?

Nurses General Nursing

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I posted a respond to another thread and it really got me thinking. This was part of it:

But its not only doctors with bad attitudes in hospitals. Nurses treat other nurses like crap. I've seen RNs do some really callous stuff to CNAs and LPNs. I'm not sure when the "I'm better than so and so because I'm an RN and she/he's not' attitude became so prevalent in nursing. I have to say the relationships between experienced nurses, new nurses, and nurse aids is what is the bigger issue. Doctors can have sticks up their behinds all day and it still wouldn't have a huge effect on patient care. But if the communication between the nurses break down it makes a stressful and unsafe work environment. :twocents:

My question is why do nurses treat each other the way they do? Why do the aides get treated the way they do too? Granted I'm a new nurse but in my other career field I never experienced so much backstabbing and total disregard of other staff as I have with nursing. Maybe it is the nursing schools. I've seen many new nurses that believe as RNs they are above poo or messy direct patient care. As a student I watch many nurses just leave a room or call in an aide to change patients or to clean up messes. A nurse I was assigned to one day even told me not to bother with "that type of work' because I was not going to school to learn to wipe someones behind. She said that will leaving the room, going back to the computer to shop online. :eek: Also I've read many posts here from new nurses with more experienced nurses trying to make their life as miserable as possible. I know we are very concerned with these mean insensitive doctors. But when will there be a change in the way nurses treat each other?:confused:

Can anyone shed some light on this? Or share their experiences.:nurse:

Specializes in Medicine.

I feel a lot of RNs lack Camaraderie.

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Specializes in psych, medical, drug rehab.

Quote: My question is why do nurses treat each other the way they do?

My response:

*Because they can.

* Because they are not held accountable for their actions nor behaviors.

* Because it is a female dominated profession.

* Because they are stressed out , overworked and have high Patient to Nurse ratio's and they are exhuasted.

I have been an RN over 20 yrs. In that time I have worked many different jobs. (Been a traveler for ten years) And I also have a tendency to have more than one job. I enjoy variety so I am constantly exposing myself to new experiences and types of Nursing.

Recently I have been a receiver (not victim) of Horizontal workplace violence which in English is bullying.

I returned to my hometown and took FT paying jobs.

Here are my experiences:

Job #1 wanted me to fraudelently document, write Doctors orders (like write them all out , not verbal orders ) they ignored Emtala Regulations and I was constantly listening to everyone gossiping and talking badly about their co workers.

Job #2 -- Lied about me.

It was a community nursing job. I told them that I was not available to do visits on a particular weekend. The scheduler basically forgot to schedule a visit with a patient and I was their scapegoat. Unbeknownst to me at the time , they placed a statement in the patients chart using my initials and stated that they emailed and called me about making this visit and basically I "blew it off" . I never realized this until I went into the office to do the recert and saw this in the patients chart. I was shocked!! I quickly left the office. Wrote a letter to the Director and CC to the Nurse Administrator. There was NEVER a resolution after I gave them plenty of opportunity to professionally resolve this matter so I left.

Job #3--- I was subjected to ethnic slurs in regards to a patient and it just so happened that I was of this ethnicity. Also the preceptor that I had was not invested at all in training me in this particular arena and acted like I was a nuisance and inconvenience the whole time. Answered any questions with a one word response, made no eye contact and was condescending like I was a total pain in her butt. I had to just about chase after her because she constantly left me high and dry all the time. My Supervisor was also sarcastic and condescending, like a snake in the grass(I have heard her described this way) and now that I am gone an inside source told me she was fired.

In ALL my years of Nursing this was the first time I personally have confronted all of the above and to think it all happened in my hometown!!!

I have EXCELLENT references, have always gotten along with my Co-workers and have never had issues with my interpersonal relationships.

HOWEVER with that said : I have witnessed and observed first hand the recipients of bullying and horizontal workplace violence within the Nursing field. I think its deplorable!

As a result of everything I have written above I never encourage people to go into Nursing... EVER. I tell them to go into PT, OT, radiology and other areas where you are more well respected, not working every other weekend, holidays, high nurse -patient ratio's, subjected to bullying, gossip, rotating shifts to the point where you dont know whether you are coming or going( you see this in some areas more than others) :uhoh3:

I am so sorry if this is coming across as negative. Thats why I usually dont respond to these posts but I just had to share this time.

This has been my experience(unfortunately) And now I have been at a contract where everyone talks about everyone so much my head is spinning and there is great dissatisfaction and unhappiness amongst the nurses.

Now just to offer the flip side of this coin: I have also worked with Nurses who were the MOST wonderful Human beings I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. But generally job satisfaction plays a VERY major role in this presentation. And unfortunately too many places are just way too abusive to their Nurses especially nowadays with the economy being what it is. :twocents:

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I think it's a kick the dog syndrome.

**** rolls downhill.

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Specializes in OR, OB, EM, Flight, ICU, PACU.......

:mad: I've often heard, in my career, that "Nurses eat their own!" And like most of you who've posted here, I've seen some of the same scenarios acted out in my lifetime. I think it all comes down to what you are willing to accept from co-workers, and what kind of Nurse you want to be.

From the time I first started in Medicine as a young Army Medic, having been in Combat (Artillery and Infantry) and deciding I wanted to be a Medic more. My first assignment out of school was an ICU in a large Army Medical Center. I was on the night shift- no supervisors to get in the way of good patient care, and lots of opportunities to learn new things! Sincce I had a lot of command/supervisor experience, I was the defacto Shift Leader. I was, at that time a young Sergeant E-5. I ordered a medic in the SICU to help in MICU, as they were getting slammed (as usual!) She, being a Specialist E-4, but thinking she had been a medic her whole (short) career, and I hadn't,told me she wasn't going to take orders from someone less experienced than her! She sure didn't expect the as*-chewing she got from me that evening, and was much more surprised when the MPs showed up to escort her to the Stockade, for refusing a direct order and deriliction of duty! It was amazing how well she performed her duties after that!

Maybe some of what I do in my practice is because of my military service, but I've never really been the kind of person to put up with, what we in the Army call, B.S.! Not from co-workers, not from peers, not from Management and Administration, not from Physicians. Just so you don't think I just like to cause trouble, I always make sure I know what I'm talking about before I start anything: be it violations of SOPs/regulations/hospital bylaws, etc. If you want to play games , go to an arcade (do they still exist?), but if you want to do your job, I'll be there to help.

Unfortunately, Surgeons seem to be the worse, most likely because Managment/Administration tells us, " well, you can't do anything about their bad behavior, because they're Doctors." Seems Mangement/Administration didn't like my comment that, bad behavior only happens "when it's allowed to"! It's been more than once I've had to square off against a Surgeon that was verbally/physically abusing one of my Nurses or techs. My rejoiner to the threats/attempted intimidation/threats of firings etc. is/has been: "so what are you going to do to me, take away my breathing privledges and send me to Vietnam/Panama/Iraq/Afghanistan?"

I guess it all boils down to what kind of Nurse you want to be. Do you want to be part of the problem, and be like all those Nurses you dislike, or to do the right thing, no matter what the cost? Tough decision, isn't it?

Just my :twocents:

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Specializes in Med-surg,icu,er,surgical floor,recovery.

When I was a new nurse I thought I needed to go to a big hospital to learn as much as I could, but when I was there I got treated as just a number. The other nurses had the attitude like 'ugh another new grad nurse' like I was getting in the way. I quit there not long after starting and went back to my hometown hospital and I was treated as a person and some of the nurses still acted that way as the bigger hospital so all in all every hospital is the same. But I love my work now and I always tell my aids that I have been in there shoes and I jump in there and help them out whenever they need help or when I have the time. My thought on the subject is; when I get to the point where I think I'm to good to help out another nurse or coworker then I need to find another career.

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Don't think for a minute that this behavior is limited to nurses. Years ago as a green mechanic at an airline, the guys set a mousetrap in my cubby.

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It's not just in healthcare it's the way of the world. The whole world is divided by "classes". Upper class, higher middle class, lower middle class, low class. People are taught to treat people that they feel have or KNOW less than them with anomosity and disdain. That's just how it goes. Your true wealth is not what degree you carry, how long you've been in the nursing field. It's about your spirit. Half of the people who come to work b*tching are probaly having troubles at home anyway.

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I think also there are a lot of big egos in healthcare. Not just physicians but a lot of nurses. We should be proud of our profession, but I think some people feel like if they know how to help improve/save someone's life, that excuses and allows them to treat people like crap.

But in the end, we'll all be old and unable to work, and then all they'll be left with is their crappy personality and no excuses.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.

I've helped out my fellow nurses before and get negative remarks from them for doing so. Like I helped a pt while I was in the room with my pt and the other nurse asked me if I'd like to do the rest of the care for them - so effing rude I tell you.

I work around many crappy nurses. They are ego driven to the

max. Even an LVN I work with acts like she is queen of our floor and knows every thing. I'm so burned out of this profession already and dislike most of the nurses I work with.

I still try to be kind but I feel my self becoming moody just like they are, maybe it's rubbing off on me. I need a change, I use to like my job but these EGOTISTICAL women I work with make my job miserable for me.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.
I think also there are a lot of big egos in healthcare. Not just physicians but a lot of nurses. We should be proud of our profession, but I think some people feel like if they know how to help improve/save someone's life, that excuses and allows them to treat people like crap.

But in the end, we'll all be old and unable to work, and then all they'll be left with is their crappy personality and no excuses.

Great minds think a like, LOL

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I really do think that people who act like that are the most insecure. If not in their knowledge, than in their position. They feel inferior in the role of the nurse and the behavior is them making themselves feel important.

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I am still hoping that there is one RN out there who will come forward and say...yep, that is how we roll on my floor. I know you are out there somewhere. The fact that no one has posted this tells me they know it is wrong, but they don't care and it feeds the ego and makes them feel uber important!!!!

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