Negativity at Nurse's Station is GETTING ON MY NERVES!

USA987, MSN, RN, NP · May 27, 2005

I'll second that. It does get old doesn't it. Some days it is so hard when I hear it 8 hrs. a day not to get sucked in. I just focus on my patients and do my job. It's unfortunate, but I don't socalize with most of my coworkers because I don't want to hear about it outside work too!

pricklypear · May 27, 2005

Must be very, very common. I must admit, I found myself doing it, too. Not about other people, but about the hospital, administration, my (so called) boss, this is unfair, that isn't right etc...:imbar

I've decided to pick 1 or 2 things that really tic me off and at least try to do something about them. That keeps me focused on more positive things to talk about. But sometimes it is hard to listen to people complain about things that you know are 10 times worse in other hospitals.

Why does it say "warned post" at the top?

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 27, 2005

Other people's negativity doesn't affect me at all. I've learned over time to let them have their stuff and I have mine.

But I hear you, it get's old and hard to work in that kind of environment.

blufoxtrot · May 27, 2005

I could swear that you are talking about my dept. but I guess not since you are in washington. I guess it happens everywhere. It has been so bad where I am we (a few of the nurses) have started a committee to be cheerleaders for the dept and try to help the complainers not to complain so much or to at least guide their complaints in the right direction.

We are starting to see a lot of nurse turnover and I think the complaining doesn't help. Our boss is starting to say at staff meetings that people need to come to work to work and not to gossip and complain about their personal lives or things they can't control.

A nurse I work with came up with a great saying to avoid the gossip,favortism and complaining.

Just fly under the radar.

Mystery5 · May 27, 2005

The other evening a young nurse I was working with was obsessing at the nurse's station over the new schedule. She just got the day shifts that she had applied for, and was furious at how the schedule had panned out. I told her that she needed to go to our manager and TALK TO HER!!! But, no, first she needs to complain to US for the WHOLE SHIFT!!!!!!

It was totally distracting me from my work.

gwenith, BSN, RN · May 27, 2005

This is so, so, so common in nursing - complaining to each other rather than acting on a problem. One way of stopping it is to call them on it. Sit down with pen and paper and say "Okay we have been griping for a while let us do something positive about this situation" Then ask them for specific actionable complaints and write them down. If your list has some real issues then take it up with the manager - if it is only a gripe list (and the way to tell the difference is to ask what THEY would do to resolve the issue) then you treat it as such.

pricklypear · May 28, 2005

I wonder if sometimes people gripe because they feel like this :banghead: at work. I'm thinking about all by gripes (which I am struggling to keep in check!!) and most of them are things that I have gone to management about and heard "well, yes, that sounds like a good idea. I'll bring it to the next (head honcho) meeting." Then I don't hear another word. It's always something that I see as beneficial to the unit, or the way it functions.

Sometimes just some simple feedback such as "That sounds good, but this is why it isn't possible" would take care of the whole thing. We even have commities to pool ideas for improvement...nothing really useful has come out of them.

It just seems like the nurses at my hospital have absolutely no say in anything! We come up with ideas, they get shot down. That's frustrating!!!

I think my latest cunning plan will pan out though... it's all a matter of getting administration to think it was all their idea....

fergus51 · May 28, 2005

If you don't like it ignore it. Go walk around the unit. Engross yourself in your chart. Do anything but stay there and listen. Those nurses may just need to vent, but if it really bothers you, then stay away from it. It really isn't that hard to do. I don't hang at our nursing station and for breaks usually go to the cafeteria with coworkers I like to be with.

k_cole21 · May 28, 2005

Oh My! It's pretty bad when it's just 1 negative person that brings everyone down. It's amazing how wonderful the unit is when that person has the day off. Nag, nag, nag, gripe, gripe, gripe! She makes everyone else turn negative.

Mystery5 · May 28, 2005

One of the latest uproars where I work is some nebullous 'Charge Nurse' plan that is being foisted on us. We are a small rural hospital, and don't have charge nurses. It used to be that Med-Surg had it's own manager, but now the manager of OB is our manager, and there is practically no leadership. Things on days are rather out of control and terribly inefficient. So, they plan on making one nurse in charge per shift.

It won't be charge nurses like where I used to work, taking off orders and what not, but someone to take charge of what's not getting done by our manager. There's a ton of paranoia about our manager, and resentment towards her which I can't quite figure out. Anyways, she's overwhelmed and I'm sick of hearing about everyone's grips...

Mystery5 · May 28, 2005

If you don't like it ignore it. Go walk around the unit. Engross yourself in your chart. Do anything but stay there and listen. Those nurses may just need to vent, but if it really bothers you, then stay away from it. It really isn't that hard to do. I don't hang at our nursing station and for breaks usually go to the cafeteria with coworkers I like to be with.

Yes, this is good advise, I've been really trying to do just what you describe. It does help!