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Still Eating Our Youngkc said Oct 25, 2006, 6:41 PM: |
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Here is link to something I posted on my blog recently, as well as the text of the post for those of you who would rather not surf over to my site. Friday, October 13, 2006Still Eating our Young?The recent experiences of two friends who are newly-minted nursing school graduates underscores the notion that the needs of new nurses are not being met when they hit the ground running. In the hospital setting, especially, new nurses need gentle and constant nurturing and preceptorship in the first stages of their career. Taking into consideration that nurses in the hospital are dealing with acutely ill patients, often pre- or post-op, with a plethora of comorbidities and high risk of complications, new nurses cannot be expected to jump on that wagon alone for some time. It is disconcerting that some new grads seem to be getting the short end of the preceptor stick, as it were.Having completely eschewed the whole hospital experience post-graduation (something I was told was professional suicide), I have not personally been responsible for six or more patients at a time on a Med-Surg floor, but in my current capacity as a Nurse Care Manager, caring for more than 80 chronically ill patients on an out-patient basis does give me some traction vis-a-vis the vicissitudes of detail management and multitasking. I'm saddened that new nurses are invited into the intense environment of the hospital, given cursory orientations, left in the charge of preceptors who are themselves too stressed and overworked to do their junior colleagues justice, and then thrown to the wolves, often drowning amidst the acuity of their multiple patients and the resultingly overwhelming paperwork. How many new nurses have been frightened away from their newly chosen career based on a devastating first work experience? How many new nurses have been proferred less-than-adequate guidance as they entered the fray? Taking into consideration the overall nursing shortage, the simultaneous nursing faculty shortage, and the fact that nursing schools are turning away record numbers of qualified applicants due to that lack of faculty, it is even more imperative that new nurses be given the highest quality introduction to their new career as possible. If we lose them to other industries due to our lack of leadership and empowering mentorship, then it is not only us, but also the hospitalized and ill public, who will suffer in the end. Nursing shortages can translate into overworked staff, increased errors, increased nosocomial (hospital-born) infections, decreased satisfaction for both staff and patients, and overall poorer outcomes in both surgical and non-surgical patients. It has been said for decades that nurses eat their young. You would think that after so much time, after so much experience garnered by so many, that this industry-wide practice by jaded and overworked nurses would come to an end. Apparently, it is still a nurse-eat-nurse world out there, and many a new grad is suffering because of such a widely tolerated atmosphere of poor management and lack of empathy for the new nurses in our midst. If nurses wish to truly be the purveyors of health that they claim to be, then the nurturing must start with the self, extend to coworkers (and neophytes especially), colleagues, and then to the public at large in the form of our patients. If we do not care for ourselves and each other, we are truly only continuing outmoded practices propagated by the patriarchal paradigm. (Alliteration unintended but nonetheless entertaining.) In a female-dominated industry, traditionally male managerial models of subjugation, humiliation, and trial by fire must be altered, or the unhealthy and overwhelming hell of being a new nurse may only be prolonged for decades to come. For all those who do indeed nurture the neophytes, thank you—your service will benefit more than you may ever know or experience. For those of you who are guilty of letting the struggling swimmers drown, it's time to embrace a new way of being and welcome those who join our ranks with open arms and willing hearts. |
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Re: Still Eating Our YoungMonica said Nov 3, 2006, 8:37 AM: |
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Thanks for posting this Keith. |
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Re: Still Eating Our Youngshayna said Nov 16, 2006, 1:49 PM: |
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thank you so much, nursekeith, for your thoughtful post! i left the business world 3 years ago to become a nurse, and haven’t looked back since. but i must say, in LVN school, i was truly saddened by the treatment of the students by some of the nursing instructors. the school administration allowed, probably even fostered, this behavior. in clinicals, many of the floor nurses that the students worked with were just as nasty. before i started my nursing journey, i envisioned nurses being a group of warm-hearted, eager-to-help people. i was surprised and disturbed when i found that this just wasn’t generally the case. when i asked my kinder teachers about this disrespectful and condescending treatment, i was told that “nurses eat their young,” and advised to just do my thing and not let it bother me. i did my thing, but it’s never stopped bothering me. now i am in RN school, completing my pre-requisites. nursing classes and clinicals start next term. it will be interesting to see how the nurse faculty will treat the students in this program; i’ll keep you posted. in my case, i feel that the poor reception my classmates and i received into the nursing community will only serve to make me more aware, compassionate, and nurturing when it comes to opening my arms to new nurses in the future. yet i’m sure that it has turned many potentially wonderful nurses away from the profession because they just didn’t want to (or couldn’t) deal with the crap. questions i have ~ i would appreciate any feedback:
i love the way nursekeith puts it:
with love & light,
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Re: Still Eating Our YoungAnne said Dec 15, 2007, 7:55 AM: |
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Beautifully written. I am also a nurse who committed proffessional suicide by failing to work in a hospital setting. |
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