This Is a Drama-Free Zone
I remember hanging out with my mom when I was growing up as she watched her soaps. There was an endless amount of intrigue and drama as every character dated everyone else and got amnesia and then drove off a steep embankment only to be resurrected again in a year or so. I never did figure out how those same plotlines would work on every show across the board. The one that fascinated me the most was "General Hospital." Didn't those people have better things to do than create drama in their place of work? Like maybe take care of the patients?
Fast forward several years. I now work in one of those settings. I put on my scrubs three days a week and go to the hospital. I always thought that a hospital in real life would be so different than what these soaps showed. There would be a drama-free zone, one in which people did their jobs with a minimum of the histrionics. From what I've seen and what I've heard from other hospitals, that's not the case.
The setting itself can do a lot to up the drama potential. Close quarters, long shifts, and mostly females gathered together every day. Add in the stress of what we do for a living and the cast of characters (nurses, docs, X-ray, etc.) and you have the perfect setting for there to be strife.
How do we declare our hospitals drama-free zones? With every factor that works against us, how do we manage to make it a calm working environment?
We need to realize that we're there to do a job. There's a beautiful thing when co-workers can enjoy each other and have fun at work, but we need to be careful to not let out the dark side in co-worker relations. That's the gossip, the snippy responses, the catty behaviors that only put a wedge in relating with our co-workers. We're not required to like everyone, but professionalism dictates that we're required to treat everyone with respect. You may not want to hang out with that person on days off, but you should at least be courteous and kind.
Being sympathetic also should be a cornerstone of our work behavior. We all have rough patches in our lives or times of complete turmoil. I would want my co-workers to support me in my tough times, so I try to apply the Golden Rule. When they have their bad days, I do my best to just make the night a little easier. We may not be best friends, but I know that sometimes everybody needs a break.
Gossip is likely the worst and most destructive workplace behavior. It's an easy pattern to slip into, but it's hurtful and counterproductive. Nothing reminds me more of my high school days than gossip. The Golden Rule applies here too. If you don't want people talking smack about you, the best way is to not talk about others. No one likes to hear that people are whispering about them. I'm pretty sure that professionals should try their best to not fall into a behavior like gossip.
Last of all, just do your best. Try to remember that you're there for your patients. They need you and only you can take care of them in the way you do. We all have unique and wonderful contributions to make to our workplace; just because someone else has a different contribution doesn't make it lesser or greater. We're all needed. So let's try our best to elevate working relations out of the soap opera level. Trust me, everyone benefits.
--Stephanie