We’ve all heard the phrase that “nurses eat their young” and unfortunately many of us have experienced it as well. I remember as a new nurse, I was so excited to try out my new skills on my very first assignment of patients, making sure that they all received their personal care and my undivided attention.
This effort was met by a very loud (and public) “Would you quit coddling them!!” by my RN preceptor. Such was my introduction into the sometimes ravenous world of nursing.
However, there is a new area of bullying on the horizon that was virtually nonexistent a generation ago. As technological advances multiply exponentially, and new computers, gadgets, and gizmos appear on our nursing units on a daily basis, there is a new segment of the nursing population that is experiencing the berating and belittling that used to be reserved for the brand new nurses… and that is bullying directed toward our seasoned, technology-challenged, veteran nurses.