Essays --

â€Å"Nurses eat their young.† It is an aged saying in nursing which describes the hazing and lateral violence which frequently occurs in the workplace. The victims of this bullying are usually new graduate nurses or nursing students. New graduates start their careers at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole; spending much of their time trying to learn the ropes and gaining experience as nurses. To the more experienced nurses they may appear to be easy targets with their â€Å"deer in the headlights† faces; believing the newbies are too frightened to fight back. Certain nursing schools, which will remain anonymous, use similar boot camp- like mentality while training their student nurses. The students at these schools remain fearful of their nursing instructors at all times. This instinct is required to survive their harsh reality of nursing boot camp. These students remain fidgety throughout their time in nursing school and this same shell-shocked behavior carries ov er to the early months or even years of their nursing careers. Nursing is supposed to be a field of compassion, the general belief being that most nurses are compassionate, caring human beings. So why are new nurses being hazed instead of nurtured by more experienced nurses and nursing instructors? Does this hazing really exist? If so, why? Is there anything being done to stop this lateral violence subjected upon new graduates? Is there more that can be done to prevent future victimization of new graduate nurses? To investigate these questions a preliminary interview and survey of several new graduate nurses, younger nurses with 2-8 years of experience, highly experienced nurses with 15 or more years of nursing experience, as well as nursing instructors and nursing precept... ...Most nurses chose the field because they are compassionate people and may need to remind themselves they were once new graduate nurses. Another remedy may call for older, savvier nurses, to stick up and defend the new nurses who are being picked on. Even with all the efforts suggested, â€Å"Nurses eating their young† will take time to cure and future study of other possible remedies towards lateral violence will be required. Whether if it is due to stress, burnout, attempt to educate newer nurses, or someone just trying to build their own confidence; these behaviors have existed for many years. It is an obvious problem with documented detrimental effects on young nurses. A true solution will only arise through continued education on the subject, greater enforcements, a little bit of self-reflection, and combined efforts from ALL medical staff members and school staff.