Gossip Folks

[narcissistic]

How prevalent is gossip around/among the nursing peers? Are male nurses as much participating as their female counterparts 'cause I really hate gossip. If so, what advice would you give on how to deal with these nuisance?

[karenG]

Define gossip............

I sure as heck dont want to spend all my life talking about work related issues to the people I work with......... there is more to my life than work.

I talk about everything and anything.. I sail/fence/ knit... learning to play the fiddle.. we talk about that and much more.. the state of the NHS.. pay or lack of........

if thats gossip then you are going to have a very quiet life!!!

Karen

[llg, PhD, RN]

You'll have to learn to separate the positive gossip from the negative gossip in order to be successful in almost any type of career. It's important to establish positive, supportive relationships with your work colleagues and that usually requires some time spent in social conversation. If you have a weakness in the "interpersonal skills" and "social conversation" departments, I suggest you work on that while you are in school.

On the other hand, hurtful malicious gossip should be avoided -- and it usually can be with a little practice. Learn to remove yourself gracefully from those awkward situations in which the conversation turns ugly.

llg

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

As always, llg makes excellent points.

Some people want to go to work and leave personal stuff at home and only talk about business and keep to themselves. I can't work like that personally. I want to work in an environment where I can say to a co-worker "Have you seen Pirates of the Carribean ?" or "How about that game last night?" "Who is going to get booted of American Idol tonight?". I can't work beside people day after day, year after year and not be social.

Nursing has more women so it's not fair to say that the women gossip more than the men because the men are outnumbered 95 to 5. I have seen male nurses gossip and I've seen females gossip.

I am fortunate to work in a place where there is a lot of friendly talk and banter going on back and forth, but not a lot of gossip.

I malicious personal gossip behind someone's back is wrong in any setting.

[Logan]

Hi,

I agree with karenG - define "gossip". To me "gossip" is the unethical sharing of private, priviledged or otherwise confidential/discreet information with intent to harm.

That a rough definition anyways

One can build healthy relationships without needing to resort to trading 'private' or personal information.

Thanks,

Matthew

[Corvette Guy]

How prevalent is gossip around/among the nursing peers? Are male nurses as much participating as their female counterparts 'cause I really hate gossip. If so, what advice would you give on how to deal with these nuisance?

Regards to gossip, no matter the environment, never say anything to someone that you would not want repeated to someone else. Unless, you share something [possibly considered gossip] with a close friend that you can trust not to be repeated.

[psalm_55]

Gossip. agree with logan. it has a negative connotation. i avoid, ignore, and remove myself from negative talk about others. and like corvette says, never repeat it.