Is it just me , or does it seem that soooo many new nurses are posting questions about being stressed and overworked ? I understand that nursing is a stressful job but my goodness. I'm not complaining about them I'm just concerned about why their stress level seems to be to the point many of them want to leave nursing. Is it that they are not getting the proper training for what the job entails.(4 year and 2 year) I know that the nurses I precept come to the unit with little experience with pt care. It seems the little things stress them out because they have never done them. Therefore, somehting like a critical pt, completley discombobulates them. Many times they can't get past a simple procedure let alone critical thinking. I've done ER /ICU/OHRU for almost 30 years now. I'm " Old", and many days I feel busy and overworked but, I can still keep up with the best of them. Nursing is no more stressful now than it was in the 80's. Sometimes I just want to say , put your " I'm a nurse now, panties on" , stop whining and start learning. If you didn't learn it before you got to the hospital, you need to learn it sometime.
I am a Mental Health nurse and going for my Masters and who knows maybe a PHD after. I work mostly in High Dependency unit and talk about stress levels. But at the end of the day we all, those of us on the floor can turn to each and say thanks for a good shift we all got through it and will be back tomorrow or when ever our shift is and that is real team work and effort on everyones part to ensure clients and staff are okay and a shift well done with as much compassion as any one else in any other area of nursing. Team effort and team work and a few smiles and laughs on the way with some of the clients always give our STRESS levels a hand!!
I'm a new LPN at 37yrs old. I have had a few jobs in the 9 months since I graduated and burnout is apparent. Only a precious few really wants to precept the newbies....and my goal is to be one of those preceptors some day.
My 1st few months working post-licensure were bad! I reconsidered going back to my previous career because I found it to be true that NURSES TEND TO EAT THEIR YOUNG, and I was chewed up and spit out a few times.
As with any career, we all can get burned-out from the daily grind. But in this field we are taking care of people who can't care for themselves at that time. Take a breather and think about why you became a nurse in the first place, and if the spark doesn't come back, then it may be time to move on.
I know this is probably a bunch of blah-blah-blah for those who have been at it for many years, but nurses will ALWAYS be needed and I the new ones aren't treated with some respect and patience, they will move on or maybe not even work in the field...which leaves a shortage and over-worked staff.
Ok, I'm done.
Here is my favorite quote from Mother Teresa....maybe it will inspire someone to be nice to a stressed-out newbie!!!
Robin
Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. Mother Teresa
Remember how it feels when someone overgeneralizes about all new nurses are whiners? Its the exact same to overgeneralize and say nurse's eat their young.
This overused, broadly-applied expression needs to be banned, thrown in the dumpster and lit on fire.
(p.s. I'm guilty of having said it in the past, too).
Although you do have a point, this was not my quote. This was told to me by another (older) nurse, who is now a nurse educator. She said bluntly that although she hated to admit it, this was often the case. I do not believe this is the case for all nurses, however, I won't argue the point with the head of nursing education!
I also think preceptors and those thinking about being preceptors should have a class so that they know the appropriate way to help the new nurse. When I precept I ask/take the interesting pts so that my new nurse can see as much, and care for the most variety of pts. I also send my orientee in to see other procedures on pts that we don't have. I let the orientee know that when the dr comes in and they haven't seen/done a procedure to tell the dr and then the doc goes into "teach mode" so that the nurse will be more comfortable when the doc comes in and does the procedure again. Everything I can do to help the new nurse decrease their stress, unfortunately not everyone does that:(
It is absurd to have people precept w/o appropriate training to do so effectively. If nothing else, a good course of study in being a good preceptor will weed out some of those in it just for any extra money, etc.
I'm gonna hazard a guess that it is because new nurses get NO HELP from the staff they are working with to ease them into nursing. I know I didn't. In fact, I had an older nurse activly amused by how much she could mess with me. It so turned me off of nursing that I swore off nursing with someone else and went into home care. To this day I get an anxiety attack when I have to go into a nursing home. It was the very worst year of my life. If I had not had previous experience as a CNA/HHA I would have been sunk. I got called into the DON's office every couple of weeks for a mistake I had made the first few months before I figured out I was being set up. When I asked the DON about it, all I got was I should have been more on top of it. I got no training and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. If the new nurses are having half as bad a time as I am, then that explains everything. The ONLY reason I stayed in nursing was that I had alot of home care experience and had good memories of that and connections that I could use to get back into that environ.
I feel bad for the nurses who have been treated so poorly, quite honestly I think in every occupation, (I only know nursing) there are Bullies out there. Its unfortunate but a sad fact of life, its like you have to prove yourself constantly or maybe try to stand up to them, really, some should be reported. So much backstabbing, I can't stand it some days, that alone can wear you down, just know you are not alone and there are alot of compassionate experienced nurses out there, really there are- sorry you were treated so badly:(
As a brand new nurse, I too was treated badly by everyone. Nurses, aids, administration, you name it. They were mean and I was chewed and eaten a few times.
I did just the opposite, I killed them with kindness and learned on the job while being called the "underdog". They were totally stunned, and said, "We treat you so mean, you take it and you remain so nice". It was hard, not everyone can do it, but in the end I knew my job well enough to pursue a better hospital for work.
I still think nursing pits nurses against each other. The system is designed to create havoc not harmony.
I oriented (and still work) on the floor where I worked before nursing school, so I knew my way around the unit, a bit. I can honestly say I don't think there was a single nurse there who wanted me to fail. A couple may not have been losing any sleep over it, either way, but most were as supportive as you could ask, and no one was ever "out to get me."
Even so, it was high on the list among the most stressful experiences I've ever had.
I can think of one nurse I thought, at the time, didn't get a fair shake, but I'm not so sure, now. I wasn't a nurse, at the time, so I saw things a bit differently, and I liked her personally, so maybe I underestimated the extent to which she was unsafe. I've seen a couple of others chewed up and spat out who clearly had no business in nursing. Not pretty to watch, but it seems pretty clear they weren't even trying. For my part, I think I got credit for doing my best, even when my best was atrociously inadequate.
So count me among those who think the expression "nurses eat their young," needs to die. It isn't fair, but even more importantly, it shifts the responsibility. The system by which new nurses enter the field is brutal. Maybe it needs to change, like some sort of residency for nurses. But I wasn't inept because my co-workers were mean or my instructors were incompetent. I was brand new at something really hard, and for all the help others could, and did, give me, it was up to me to learn to swim. I suppose that's what's meant about "big girl panties (or boxers)."
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i think another problem lies within the structure of the nursing school itself. students now-a-days are taught (myself included) what my instructor would call hospital usa. the perfect scenario. however i think they should also be made aware of what is like to work as a nurse. students are not told about the constantly changing environment that is a nursing unit. they're not told that they'll sometimes have to work overtime or stay over to catch up on documentation. they're not told that they'll have to deal with ridiculous bosses, doctors, coworkers, patients and families. unfortunately they learn that all on their own. that's another sad part as to why many new nurses feel overwhelmed.
a constantly changing environment, overtime and documentation are not unique to nursing -- they're elements of working for a living. ridiculous bosses, demanding clients, marginally crazy co-workers -- that's all part of having a job. none of what you've mentioned is unique to nursing. i can't imagine where these students were brought up that they didn't already know to expect some of the less desirable parts of working for a living. unfortunately, many people who are graduating from school now and starting their working lives have been shielded from the harsher realities of life. it's sad, but it's not just our profession. it's teaching, accounting, firefighting and just about every job under the sun!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i am a new graduate and totally agree with your point of view. the older nurses had the opportunity to ease into it gradually. today you are expected to know it all in a short 3 week orientation. clinical time in school is limited and not a true preparation for the "real nursing world". nurses - stop eating your young and start nurturing them.
i am an "older nurse" who does remember what it was like to be new, and i didn't have an opportunity to "ease into it gradually." nor did anyone i knew way back when. a three week orientation? after the three days in the hospital orientation signing up for benefits, watching the fire safety movie, etc. we were thrown right into it. no preceptor, no orientation. on my very first day, i had 15 patients all by myself on a busy med-surg floor.
nurses don't eat their young, but that phrase seems to be clutched at repeatedly by someone who has failed somehow to make the grade to explain why it wasn't their fault!
If you didn't learn it before you got to the hospital, you need to learn it sometime.
Remember how it feels when someone overgeneralizes about all new nurses are whiners? Its the exact same to overgeneralize and say nurse's eat their young. 
marie beechey
1 Post
Hello to all,
I am a Mental Health nurse and going for my Masters and who knows maybe a PHD after. I work mostly in High Dependency unit and talk about stress levels. But at the end of the day we all, those of us on the floor can turn to each and say thanks for a good shift we all got through it and will be back tomorrow or when ever our shift is and that is real team work and effort on everyones part to ensure clients and staff are okay and a shift well done with as much compassion as any one else in any other area of nursing. Team effort and team work and a few smiles and laughs on the way with some of the clients always give our STRESS levels a hand!!