Nurses Heal Thyself: A Culture of Silence

Reprinted with permission. © 2008-2011 Copyright NurseTogether LLC http://www.nursetogether.com/

When Shelli was a new scrub nurse with only six months experience, she failed to anticipate that the surgeon would need a particular scalpel.Immediately, her preceptor deftly slapped the correct blade into the impatient surgeon’s outstretched hand with a glare in Shelli’s direction.The surgeon said nothing, but a look of disappointment briefly flashed across his face.At that moment, Shelli learned that if she was not on top of the surgeon’s needs, she would end up feeling embarrassed and looking incompetent.Shelli did not find this information in her orientation manual.

We learn these unspoken rules very quickly in order to survive.We know which physician not to ever call in the middle of the night, which nurse talks about us behind our back when we ask a question, and whether we should even bother to write up an incident report or approach a coworker with a concern we have about ‘their’ patient.This knowledge is vital to our survival because it determines whether or not we will be accepted by the group.

To read the full article, click here Nurses Heal Thyself: A Culture of Silence or view the PDF file attached above.

Juice has partnered with Kathleen Bartholomew to create a two-part CD/DVD series that addresses the problem of nurse-to-nurse hostility and aims to provide the tools to end it. www.juicehealthcare.com.

About the Author

Kathleen Bartholomew

Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, has been called the most important new voice in American Nursing. With breakthrough professional books such as SPEAK YOUR TRUTH and ENDING NURSE-TO-NURSE HOSTILITY. We are proud to partner with Kathleen and represent her keynote presentations in Canada.