Profanity in the workplace

riverlands · Dec 21, 2018

Depends on the environment! I am in the County Jail. Too much professional language is not always appreciated in the trenches. If you dont joke and you dont swear, you might be a robot or a snitch. We know the patient is being over the top behaviorally challenging when a medical provider starts cursing after rounds...thats like Christmas! Its hilarious! LOL.

Dragonfly949697 · Dec 22, 2018

Floor I'm on is very toxic and negative. Cursing helps cope and let's out stress. Lol. Of course not in front of certain populations.

BookishBelle · Dec 22, 2018

This post made me laugh since we had just been discussing this issue in my clinical. One of the students came back from her ER rotation asking the instructor if ER was known for their potty mouths. Up on the oncology floor we hadn't really encountered that. I didn't notice it on the PCU where I did a rotation either. Our instructor is very strict about it, since she says it doesn't say "professional" to be using curse words. I can see how a fast paced atmosphere may lend itself to expressions of concern though.

cleback · Dec 22, 2018

I tend to see coworkers who swear constantly as those who are loose cannons/don't have good control over their emotions. I dread having to tell them something I know will set them off. That, or I really don't trust their judgment that something is truly urgent... because they swear like everything is the end of the world.

That said, I do appreciate it as a release... I just do it out of earshot.

allnurses Guide · Dec 22, 2018

My wise and wonderful Irish Grandmother would say there's never an excuse for profanity! Because I work with adolescents we enforce a strict no cursing rule which includes staff. Our patients earn points for positive behavior so if they catch us cursing we have to give them points. It keeps all of us on our toes.

I generally don't curse except when I am alone in my car - but the closer I get to needing a vacation the more likely it is that a curse word will slip out.

Hppy

Davey Do · Dec 23, 2018

I admire people who use euphemisms when they could easily resort to the use of profanity:

Daisy4RN said:
it just scares the code brown out of me .

Here's to you, Daisy!