S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 5
4 Tips for Dealing With Chronic Complainers
Don't minimize the potential damage from staff negativity.
W
hile food shopping
the other day, I
overhead one
clerk say to the other, "Stop
being so positive! I'm trying
to be negative!" I had to
smile. As clinical leaders, we
all have roadblocks to posi-
tive change on our staff,
chronic whiners and constant
complainers who find fault
with everything and every-
body. If left unchecked, The
Miserable Ones can poison
your team by spreading nega-
tivity and undermining your authority by creating doubt in the minds
of your staff. Here's how to sidestep negativity on your team.
Find something to agree with them about. Finding common
ground to stand on is the best way to defuse a situation. When I
was the new administrator of a center, a physician complained about
some staff changes I had made. The changes didn't affect his room,
mind you, but he heard it through the grapevine (you know that vine
— where the staff complain to the physicians?). During cases, techs
routinely relieved nurses for breaks and lunches. The techs were
essentially supervising the OR — making assignments and overseeing
the rooms, clearly practicing outside their scope of practice.
Sometimes, techs refused to count with a nurse who had a question
1
Staffing
Kathy Williams Beydler, RN, MBA, CNOR, CASC
• CONSTANT CHATTER Chronic complainers can infect your surgical
team by spreading negativity and creating doubt in the minds of staff.
Amy
Dragoo
