I’ve been offered a position as a nurse at a GYN ward and I don’t know if I should take it:

New ward, a chance to learn new things.

But also potential for drama way worse than everything I’ve experienced so far.

Last so ‘female’ unit I worked at was obstetrics at another hospital and it was like being on a show about mean girls: territorial, emotional, gossipy, interrupting report to gossip, ignoring report completely, playing favorites, rules for me but not for thee… not worth it.

what should I do?

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    Being honest? It’s more about the people than the branch of nursing.

    But, any office setting, if there’s enough time to chat between patients, and someone is a gossip, it’s going to happen. Whether or not it becomes the norm is reliant on social pressures, and how the team as a whole handles them.

    Which essentially means that most busking nursing units are gossip central.

    And any group that does gossip is very likely to also be prone to shittiness as well because the way of thinking behind both sets of behavior is so similar.

    So it isn’t like it being gynecology is more likely to have it be like that. But it being a typically more stable pace of work might make more likely. Even the shitty people tend to stfu and bust ass when patients are in trouble, but the rest of the time, that pissiness is just too tempting to the average person.

    Now, I ain’t gonna lie. Nursing is a female dominated field, and ob/gyn is almost exclusively going to be staffed by female nurses. It has been my experience that there’s a range of ratios where enough male nurses being present dampens that aspect of it. But, once that shifts to a male dominated unit, it shifts back but with slightly different expressions of it. It is a thing that women in nursing are prone to being gossipy, pissy, territorial assholes. So you may well see more of it in ob/gyn units and offices.

    But it isn’t always like that. A good charge nurse, the right leadership makes the difference.

    Me? I would have loved to do more ob work or even gyn, but men just weren’t allowed back when I was still doing facility work. So, I think you should take the opportunity to expand your skill set. But, if you get a bad vibe check during any onboarding or orientation, have an escape plan ready.

    I always say to err on the side of expanding one’s skill set.