How do you deal with all the bickering and backstabbing at work?

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I been a nurse for a year....I never ever seen so much backstabbing at work..I been at other professions and things were quite calm...I was wondering with the experienced nurses, how do you cope? I know that some people who are reading this probably are the people who practice being passive aggressive, lateral violence..

But seriously, I thought home health nursing would be different since I just see like one other nurse but it is all the same everywhere, big or small places..

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i have seen unhealthy work places in different types of work and it usually get down to one or two people that are stirring up discord..when these people leave [willingly or no] it can make a world of difference

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I've seen a lot of that in the 27 years I have been a nurse. I think it exists everywhere, and I think it's even more common in fields that are female-dominated. In general, we women tend to be more emotional, so if there is a lot of strong feelings cramped into a high-stress, minimal-space environment, things can get really tense.

I have worked in home care for 15 years, and I find that this kind of problem is less in this field. My opinion is that it happens less because you don't *have* those large groups of people cramped into a high-stress, minimal-space area. I don't see my co workers often, just at meetings, or passing through the office sometimes, so the tensions don't have a chance to rise with quite the same intensity.

That said, your mileage may vary..... ;)

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Can backstabbers or people who bicker a lot respond??I know you are out there..I just want to know their view..Do you want morale to go down and have people quit or have people fired?

All in all, I think it is pure evil..

I had to go through this at nursing school also..I thought things would pass but it continues...

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Specializes in LTC.

I don't have time to "deal" with it. I am there to do my job which is taking care of my patients. So I try to MMOB and get on with it. Don't let them suck you into their game playing. Just try to ignore if possible. I know, easier said than done, but it comes down to what I just said, I am there to do my job, not to make friends. If I do happen to make a friend that is great, but my patients come first.

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I think it's healthy to have a mix of male and female in any workplace situation. In nursing, though, that healthy mix has not yet been attained, and why some of these behaviors are more common.

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I dont talk about other people.I avoid talking about anything at work except work.I keep to myself as much as possible.I avoid gossip gathering places such as break room etc.

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The person I am dealing with now talked bad about my other co worker and our supervisor..Right now, she is trying to undermine my work performance..

So all in all, it is not my fault..It is her that is stirring trouble..

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Specializes in ER, PACU, Med-Surg, Hospice, LTC.

I never contribute to the gossip. Even at moments of weakness when I would love to say something mean about the Nurse who humiliated me or treated me shabbily. Remember, you'll never be accused of taking sides if you never said anything. People who back-stab just love a peanut gallery. They work better in numbers.

I also act as boring and naive as possible. People quickly learn that I am not going to be a great source to turn to for the latest BS. Sometimes, just being the quiet one means you'll hear the most!;)

I am also very vague with details regarding my personal life. You would not believe the stuff that people will remember 2 years down the road and make it a point to bring it up when you least need to hear about it. Things that even I forgot about! It's truly amazing.

I rarely, if ever, socialize with co-workers outside of the work environment.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
The person I am dealing with now talked bad about my other co worker and our supervisor..Right now, she is trying to undermine my work performance..

So all in all, it is not my fault..It is her that is stirring trouble..

It depends on what she is saying. Is it true?

I've griped about coworkers and charge nurses before, but I wouldn't call it bickering or backstabbing. They are legitimate gripes, in my mind. Like when I discovered that the reason my patient was crying in pain was that the PCA syringe had been broken when it was put in the PCA pump by the previous nurse (the tubing got screwed onto the syringe crooked and the part of the syringe that connects to the tubing was broken off) so the med was going onto the floor instead of into the patient. I think that's gripe worthy. Or when my charge nurse gives me six patients on a floor and a shift where four is the norm, and I am a new LPN. I think that's gripe worthy too.

Do I always go to management with these gripes? No. Sometimes I choose just to share my frustrations with a sympathetic ear. It helps to defuse some of the tension just to be able to talk about it. It's called "venting" and it really is a healthy coping mechanism for some of us.

Could this be what your co-worker is doing?

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Like when I discovered that the reason my patient was crying in pain was that the PCA syringe had been broken when it was put in the PCA pump by the previous nurse (the tubing got screwed onto the syringe crooked and the part of the syringe that connects to the tubing was broken off) so the med was going onto the floor instead of into the patient. I think that's gripe worthy. Or when my charge nurse gives me six patients on a floor and a shift where four is the norm, and I am a new LPN. I think that's gripe worthy too.

Do I always go to management with these gripes? No. Sometimes I choose just to share my frustrations with a sympathetic ear.

Why not go to management?

It's entirely possible that the nurse placing the PCA wasn't aware of the problem. Rather than complain to others who really can't do anything about this, why not the manager; they need to know if there is a potential problem with equipment used on patients. It's a safety issue. We had the same thing occur with our PCAs where they'd break and leak (not always, but on several occasions). Two of them shorted out and caused fires. Your manager needs to know, and I'd mention it to the nurse as well. There could be a flaw in the design of the tubing or machine that caused this to happen. Or it could be just a simple mistake. Either way, if I were the manager OR the nurse who placed the PCA, I'd certainly want to know about it.

As far as you receiving an extra two patients, as an LPN are there things you are not allowed to do that must be done by an RN (or your charge)? Do the RNs have to hang your blood, draw your labs, complete admission assessments, give certain meds for you? Do you know the acuity of all the patients on the floor and what was going on with all of them that particular shift, of any planned admissions or treatments that would have to be assigned to an RN? If you ask your charge why they assigned the way they did, I think you may find out that the assignment was fair, given those considerations. But you'll never know without asking and complaining about it to others simply undermines teamwork and morale.

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

I think it is unhealthy to gripe to your coworkers all the time, if you don't say something directly to the person you have a problem with. How is the person in question supposed to fix the problem if they are the only one not being made aware of it?

I worked on a floor a long time ago with several passive-aggressive people who did this mostly to new nurses. It was not a productive way to improve performance with the newer nurses- most of whom really wanted to learn and do a good job.

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