From Hell...

So, the stars finally aligned and I have come across the legendary "clinical instructor from hell".  The one that doesn't listen, is always right, thinks positivity is simply an electrical charge, threatens you with learning contracts and failure on a daily basis but only when he/she isn't berating you in front of your patients, their family, or other nurses.

We've all had one, right?  You've at least had a friend who had one, surely.  No?  Maybe it's you!

I can't say I know exactly what causes these nurses to not only sign up to take lower pay and longer hours just so they can emotionally and verbally abuse nursing students but I will say that I have found one common denominator in each of these malcontents' story lines:  it happened to them first.

At some point during their fragile beginnings as a student or grad nurse, some other bigoted meathead decided it was their personal responsibility to break down every shred of confidence that this impressionable rookie had and pounded the remains into an effigy to the power of unhealthy fear.

So now it's their turn.

They've decided that the pain and anger has simmered long enough and it's time it manifested itself in the continuation of a cycle as old as humanity itself.

Why?

I have a theory:  Fear.

If someone is a one-way street  and their M.O. in every situation (good or bad) is to assign blame responsibility for the negative consequences that occurred or could have occurred (these people have no concept of positive outcomes) then you are witnessing a truly pitiful human being.  I mean this in the truest sense of the root word pity.  This person is living in their own hell brought on by who knows what events have befallen them.  The fact that they are perpetuating the cycle is simply them taking the easy road of dealing with their inner angst. The opposite of this is, in my opinion, is love.

I posted this video a while back to my twitter feed (@nurseofdoom) because I believe it touches on a couple fundamental points that I truly agree with; the most eye-opening one for me being that she defines blame as "a way to discharge pain and discomfort".  As I mentioned before, this is simply one of the manifestations of the fear this person is living in.  The video has a lot of other great points regarding how we all live our lives and how we make choices but I'll leave that to you.

So, you've heard this before?

Good.

But please don't just listen.

Change it.

Stop it when you see it because this cycle ends in only two ways: when people start acting out of love and the other way.

I know that my current situation is not dire and I am lucky to be well-equipped enough to deal with these individuals but the actions of bullying are a common enemy we must all share and work to end.

That, and a "used" VRE test may just find it's way into the instructor's lunch bag...