“Nurses eat their young,” a saying I heard in school. What exactly does it mean, well, more or less it’s a work culture of bullying. Typically, the saying stems from a seasoned nurse bullying the newer nurse, it could be from a nurse with six months more experience. I`ve witnessed more passive aggressive forms and seen more straightforward bullying.
#1 Nurses are human and make errors
The most popular form is when a mistake is made by the new nurse. The nurse who caught it may just fix it but then bad mouth the new nurse to other co-workers. If you notice a mistake, out of the room and away from the patients, ask them about the mistake, they may not have known they did something wrong. Make the opportunity to make it a teaching moment. The new nurse will learn something and think more highly of you as a person and as a fellow nurse. By ensuring the conversation is outside the room and away from the patient this allows no humiliation, a united front of team players, and addresses the respect and confidence the patient has in the staff as a whole.
#2 It’s a poor practice to pass in our Nursing culture
I have to admit that after I started picking up on other nurse’s mistakes, I too had thoughts of “what were they thinking” or “oh, great I have to pick up after someone.” Nothing was ever said out loud, but my inner monolog began to sound like the nurses who spoke poorly of others. I thought about the times I went home feeling like the worst nurse ever. Once my revelation was made I vowed to change the way I thought and taking the step to pass it forward by not being a negative-nurse towards my co-workers.
#3 We are a team
We are a team, whether you are looking at it from a healthcare approach or co-workers, a culture of a team needs to be passed on. No one is standing by themselves, and no one should feel this way either. Healthcare can be physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. Approaching this as a team will ease the daily shift. When day to day a new nurse feels alone and isolated they will burn out quickly.
#4 Self-esteem
The new nurse fresh out of nursing school already has doubt on their abilities. A nursing program as hard, challenging, and the amount of information provided is only in retrospect, a crash course in nursing. There is so much that is untouched. Bad mouthing or talking ill about someone in earshot, and other jabs will not increase their knowledge only their self-doubt and anxiety.
Any interaction that is a teaching moment should be treated and responded as just that, a teaching moment. Inspiring a new generation of nurse will prompt that nurse to manage another new nurse with the same professional courtesy. This is the way to slowly remove negative thoughts and improve patient care by adding self-confidence to new nurses.