How do you stay out of all the drama?

Nurses General Nursing

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At work, I'm trying so hard to stay out of all the drama and pettiness. It's not easy though. How do you do it? I get so tired of hearing everyone whine about everything, management treating some nurses like royalty and ignoring others, those in charge spreading around confidential employee information, and nurses complaining about each other all the time. Things aren't always bad at work, but lately it seems that everyone's kind of been in nasty moods. I don't want to be a part of all that craziness. :uhoh3:

At my last job (in the NICU) I worked with a bunch of people who loved to gossip. I know the tendency is natural and happens everywhere, but it seemed to be particularly vicious in this NICU. People spread rumors about nurses breaking up other people's marriages (people we worked with) and about nurses being schizophrenic. Not at all what I'd consider benign gossip ... those kinds of things, if overheard by a patient's family (particularly the schizophrenic remark) could cause a nurse major problems.

When people tried to involve me by telling me these stories, I'd always tell them, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to tell [insert name here] what's being said about her." Everyone generally left me out of the gossip after that.

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Susan 9608, good idea.

Another way I discouraged gossip was to say something edifying about the person. Counteract the gossip with a complement. Most of the time, it changed the entire atmosphere totally.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

If i can, i walk away from it.

If not, and one of our drama queens is going on and on about some story, then says "Right, Marie?" or something like that, i just reply "Hmm? Sorry i wasn't paying attention." That usually gets a reply of silence, and also provides a clue that, hey, i really didn't care that she and her 'man' consummated their relationship after 2 days of dating. I'm here for the pt., not the stupid crap.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

Our drama is about nurses talking about what each other hasn't done.. more day shift vrs. night shift. They've tried to get me in this gripe session many times. I reply over and over.

"If I've noticed things like that, I usually just talk to the nurse in private if I see a trend".

speaks volumes.;)

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Specializes in ER.
1. I keep my mouth shut unless I'm discussing something related to patient care.

2. I avoid talking crap about my coworkers while at work.

3. If coworkers talk badly about me, I let it roll off my back like a duck.

4. I carefully pick and choose my associates at work (I can trust 2 of my coworkers).

5. If someone's in a pissy mood, I refuse to allow that person to drag my mood down.

6. Cardiovascular exercise helps me deal with workplace stressors.

7. I always attempt to tell myself that "Today will be a good day." It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

CANNOT STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF # 1. 2, VERY WELL SAID!! :yelclap:

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