Why do you put up with the abuse?

Specialties Operating Room

Published

*rant following*

Surgeons who swear, throw instruments on the floor, scream at you for giving them what they asked for instead of giving them what they wanted? Backstabbing sabotaging coworkers who systematically run off new orientees so they can keep making overtime? Managers who give you a few shifts of cardiac scrub training and then put you out on your own in a ruptured TAA, even though you've never seen one before?

I know why senior nurses stay. They're the ones actually treated like human beings by surgeons and coworkers. I already started NP school, so I don't plan on hanging around the requisite 5+ years that it takes to become uber-proficient in the OR. I'm already a darn good circulator, but even if I wasn't, that still doesn't make it okay to belittle me and scream at me in public.

Newer nurses/techs...why do you do it? Is cleaning up poop really worse than being treated like it?

I don't need a pep talk. I don't need a lecture about thick skin. I'm not 'overly sensitive' because I object to being treated like dog doo. Don't tell me things are rough all over because I have new grad friends on many floors and none of them are being abused by their co-nurses. I was treated better as a student nurse in the ICU/on the floor. Heck, I was treated better as a registrar in the ED.

Basically where I work is hell (going on a little over a year now) and I'm staying just long enough to get my ACLS and CNOR. And then I'm splitting. Will my evil co-nurses snicker amongst themselves how I couldn't hack it? I'm sure they will. But where I'm from, the weak one is the one who sticks around and lets herself be treated like a b#tch.

I just wanna know what the heck motivates everybody else. And if your OR isn't chock-full of arrogant sacks of crap...well, it'd be nice to know places like that exist.

LF

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Bills to pay.

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Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

How long have you been a nurse and how long in the OR? I work in 2 hospitals and ALL the surgeons are decent people to work for, not saying they have their occasional bad day. Even the heart surgeons are pretty good to work with, gods you know! No sympathy from me.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I'm someone who doesn't put up with the abuse..I figure, the union takes money out of my check each week so they best start earning their keep. I've been utilizing them a lot more lately.

You're right though, the OR can be a sick, sick environment. You have to look after yourself first. Get your training and then leave..you owe these jackasses nothing. I don't admire those who tolerate the crap for years and years because they don't want to lose seniority etc. Life is too damn short. If you're someone who has options then use them . Good job OP, it sounds like you're one of the smart ones.:yeah:

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

Any closed unit can be vicious. Sort of depends upon what management sets as the standard and supports on a casual level.

You sound pretty angry...not saying you have no cause...if so you should probably find a way to exit asap before you **** someone important off and get fired.

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Specializes in OR, ER, Med-Surg, ICU, CCU, Home Health.

I'm sorry you're are having a bad time in your OR. That's a shame. I have worked in ORs like that. I didn't stay. Maybe it has come with my many years in the OR, but when someone starts to talk down or nasty to me, I look them straight in the eye and say, "I know you're not talking to me like that!". Usually stuns them enough to stop and think about what they are saying. They will either apologize or keep on ranting. Their ranting will bring my supervisor to my room (at my bequest). This behavior is not tolerated at our hospital.

I wish you well in your educational endeavors. I'm sure you'll be a great NP.

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I feel the same way as you. I have workd in OR before as well as LTC. I just started at a new OR and, WOW, there are some rude surgeons. Not only that, there is one nurse who is a total *****. I like this place less each shift. I really want to quit.

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Specializes in 2 years school nurse, 15 in the OR!.

I trained in a place like yours. During my internship one of the nurses who was learning with me would cry daily. Her preceptor was the biggest b**tch I have ever seen in my life. To this day, I'm scared she'll walk in my OR as a new employee. Those nurses made me look so stupid for 6 months that I had to leave at the end of the internship. How could they expect me to work with these surgeons that have heard how stupid I am for the past 6 months? I have never seen so much back-stabbing in all my life. They would set you up and I was just miserable.

The good news? They aren't all like that. I love where I work now. We all get along so well and the backstabbing is minimal. The surgeons are OK. There are a few-don't get me wrong, but it's a good job.

I left the OR briefly to try school nursing. Guess what? I couldn't cut that. I just wanted to go back to the OR. I love it. I'm sorry you are so unhappy. You definitely need to get out of that toxic environment as soon as you can.

I've been in the OR for over 10 years now. I do it because it's my thing, I love it, I know what I am doing, and patients need me. They need you too, you can't let all the other crap bring you down. I strive not to be like that b%^ch I remember so well!

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Specializes in OR.

Not all ORs are like that. Sounds like a very toxic environment in which I wouldn't stay for any amount of money. We have a few people in our OR that I consider to have toxic personalities. I steer clear of them and do my job with my head held high and the positive attitude with which I choose to live my life. I know those miserable people have miserable lives and I feel sorry for them.

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Thanks guys, for your honest opinions. I've been in the OR at a big teaching hospital for a little over a year.

I've calmed down some. I may go talk to HR or an EAP counselor about the best way to deal with being screamed at, so that I don't eventually snap, cuss out a surgeon, and get fired. (Our docs have mastered how to stomp and scream without using the F word so thet if anyone reports them it's all subjective as to whether they were yelling, talking sternly, etc.) And you know, I don't begrudge them getting snappy when the case takes a turn for the worse, but when the patient is totally stable and they expect everything rapid-fire from a newbie scrub just so they can go home early or squeeze in an add-on...I just want to turn and inform them that I'm not sticking myself with a Hep C needle so they can make an extra 5 grand that day.

It bothers me even more to see coworkers (especially the ones who aren't evil) abused than it does to take it myself. Yesterday was grueling for a couple of my friends. Surgeons screaming at them when they didn't even do anything wrong. Nurses--preceptors even--humiliating them during the procedure and talking about how slow and stupid they are behind their backs. As the circulator in a couple different cases, I felt so helpless. I became a nurse because I don't like to see people suffer and I want to be able to help. Instead I feel like I'm forced to watch my coworkers suffer at the hands of other healthcare professionals. How messed up is that?

And we've tried to talk to our manager but she just gives us the "difficult personalities/thick skin" lecture. Once or twce she's tried to tell our unit that everyone needs to be nice. Well, nothing ****** off a bunch of hostile nurses like telling them they need to be more nice, you know? Where I work is cardiac vs' non-cardiac, scrubs vs. RNs, part-time vs' full-time, old-timers vs. new nurses, etc. You gotta come prepped for battle every day! No wonder I'm so exhausted...

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I don't disagree with anything that you have written. Upon starting the OR, I was amazed that people with so many psychoses could congregate in one space.

Cold, hard facts? It's a lousy economy, even for nurses. If you're in a position at 1+ year to leave and go somewhere else, do it. Getting your CNOR can occur anywhere, it's just a matter of having the proper number of hours and passing the test, if I am not mistaken.

Hospitals are sitting on a time bomb vis a vis OR nurses. They're not really hiring right now and many are not training, but when the economy improves, look out. There will be massive Nurse movement from those who have only tolerated their present gig due to the lack of hiring.

In the meantime, if someone is abusing you, make notes. Take it to your nurse manager and ask her to give you something written to confirm your meeting. Bullies go after those that take it. There are enough lawsuits out there to menace hospitals. They don't want anymore. Courts and juries don't like harassment.

Good luck.

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Specializes in OR, ER, Med-Surg, ICU, CCU, Home Health.

I'd be exhaused, too, with all that going on. I work in a big university hospital and we don't have much of that. We have to work off service frequently and work with nurses and techs from other teams on our cases. It just doesn't make for a safe patient environment when everyone is bickering or backstabbing. It makes my day go better and faster if I help that off service person with the "tricks" of a particular surgeon or case he/she is not familiar with. Sounds like you're working in an "all about me" OR, not an "all about the patient" OR. I wish you well, there are better ORs out there with better managers that support their staff.

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