Nursing

How to keep your cool in difficult situations

Stressed Out Nurses Weekly, November 12, 2007

Stressed Out columnist Heather Grondin, RN, has guided us through some intriguing topics in the past few months. She's taken us into the world of nursing portfolios, given us some guidance about financing college, and provided tips on how to balance a nursing career with a personal life. Now, she brings us into a sticky, difficult situation. Fortunately, she also shows us how to get out of it:

I've had various people from many fields ask me how to handle conflict in the work place. How can you get your point across without engaging in a fight with your peer, boss, or employee? The honest answer is you cannot control another person's behavior, but you can use certain strategies to prevent many explosions-yours included.

Recently, I was involved in a sticky situation with a coworker. A nurse's aide with whom I have previously worked (when I was a nursing aide) felt I would not answer call lights or help the aides in any way now that I was in the nurse residency program. She did not confront me, but talked to my bosses, who then confronted me.

Here are some lessons I learned from this experience:

  1. Do not lose your cool. If you do, excuse yourself and retire to the bathroom until you can gain control over yourself. Also, do not confront the person until you have absolute control over your emotions.
  2. Before you discuss the issues with the other party, use self-talk. Self talk is when you listen to what you want to say and compare it to what you should say. For example: I want to say "I can't believe you would make up such an untrue and malicious lie!" But, I should say "I am not sure why you feel as though I don't want to help you with our patients."

To read the entire story (plus a whole lot more!), please click here.

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