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The following day Elizabeth whinged to Pauline, a health care assistant
saying how unreasonable Sheila had been and how unfair it was that she
could never leave the ward on time. Pauline was agreeing with her how
difficult Sheila could be. I said to Elizabeth, ―have you tried talking to
Sheila about how you feel, why don‟t you name the issue of feeling taken
for granted as you have just talked about it now‖. Elizabeth looked at me
horrified and said she couldn‘t possible do that as she didn‘t want to upset
Sheila. I suggested it would upset Sheila more to know that Elizabeth was
moaning about her lack of responsiveness behind her back rather than
name the problem straight to her face. Elizabeth then said she ―didn‟t want
to put her head above the parapet to have it shot down”. This was a
phrase that later was to emerge in our co-inquiry to be captured on the
storyboard. I felt at the time that Elizabeth needed the approval from
Sheila and of course as a ward manager responsible for Elizabeth‘s
appraisals she had more power. I had a sense that if Elizabeth asked for
her needs to be met, that somehow this could be seen as a personal
attack on Sheila. Perhaps she felt there would be a backlash later for
asking for what she wanted? I asked Elizabeth what it would have been
like for her to be assertive suggesting when the shift was due to finish she
could have got up, apologised and left the meeting. I had no sense that
she felt confident to do that because she felt obliged to stay and contribute
to the meeting. I had a sense of a culture of martyrdom, of Elizabeth
feeling victimised and powerless; but that this was expected of her.
Whinging seemed linked to a field of martyrdom and the aspect of the
habitus was to feel victimised, resentful and unsupported by managers.
I do not believe this is a conscious process to deliberately hurt fellow staff
members through this aspect of the field and habitus although it is possible
this is the case. Instead I think it is symptomatic of the blame culture
prevalent, a wider field of practice that plays out the drama triangle of
miscommunication and is absorbed by those working in the NHS so that it
becomes part of the habitus and field of nursing in some wards.
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