Crucial conversations: Gossip Amongst Nurses

Crucial Conversations: Gossip amongst nurses

Crucial conversations are often conversations that need to take place when the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong (Ulrich, 2009).  In a research study conducted by VitalSmarts (2005), seven crucial conversations were identified that health care workers continue to fail to have, which include: broken rules, mistakes, lack of support, incompetence, poor teamwork, disrespect, and micromanagement.  Gossip amongst nurses can have devastating affects on the staff by creating a negative environment contributing to poor teamwork, disrespect and formulating a sense of lack of support.  Gossip is commonly overlooked or ignored when the comment is about someone else, but what if the gossip was about you? What is your role inside of gossip? Do you stand up and be apart of the solution or do you stay silent and be part of the problem?

Below are tools to utilize in creating crucial conversations:

Stand Up, Take Action

• Redirecting the conversation: As easily as gossip can be started, gossip can be squashed.  By redirecting or stating that you are not comfortable contributing to the conversation can demonstrate leadership and helps to create a positive healthy work environment.
• Speak up: Speak up, but speak the truth to anyone that will listen, charge nurse, nurse leader, CNS, or nurse manager.  We are all here to support a positive culture and gossip only brings negativity.
• Confront the offender: Politely ask the specific peer to step away from patients and other co-workers so you can talk about what is going on.  It is important that you do not add to the problem by engaging in passive-aggressive behavior of complaining or include a third part that cannot help to resolve the issue.
• Make sure it’s not you: You do not want to stoop to their level so ensure that your behavior does not bring hostility, instead remains professional. 
• Arm yourself:  Education is never a bad thing.  Educate yourself by reading books like Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and others suggested by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ (AACN) Healthy Work Environment Initiative.
• Create shared values: Help build a unit philosophy with colleagues and leadership that clearly states acceptable and unacceptable behavior and the unit’s values, where people can be held accountable for their actions.
• Enlist management’s support:  Establishing a health work environment starts with the vision of our leadership team.  We need to know when negative behavior like gossiping is happening so that we can be part of the solution.
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**It is important to us as leadership that every employee is held accountable for his or her behavior.  We want our unit to be a positive healthy environment where our nurses feel safe and respected.  We need all employees to stand up and engage in the crucial conversations to sustain positive healthy environment.  Our leadership tam has an open door policy and we are always here to support you.**

References:

Lampert, L. (2012). Gossip on the nursing floor: Solutions for coping. Ausmed Education, retrieved from http://www.ausmed.com.au/blog/entry/gossip-on-the-nursing-floor-solutions-for-coping

Maxfield, D., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., Patternson, K., & Switzler, A.  (2005). Silence kills.  VitalSmarts L.C., Retrieved from http://www.aacn.org/WD/practice/docs/publicpolicy/silencekills.pdf.

Nursing Link. (2014). How nurses can help end horizontal hostility in three easy steps.  Retrieved from http://nursinglink.monster.com/benefits/articles/5836-how-nurses-can-help-end-horizontal-hostility-in-three-easy-steps?page=3.

Ulrich, B. (2009).  Engaging in crucial conversations.  Nephrology Nursing Journal, 36(6), 583.