Bullying In The Nursing Field

Lateral violence also known as horizontal violence, incivility, or bullying has been a phenomenon researched for over three decades according to nursing researchers. This paper aims to discuss the impact that lateral violence has on the work environment, teamwork, self esteem, and patient care. Lateral violence is a phenomenon that has negative implications on the nursing profession due to the fact it can be avoided but still occurs. Lateral violence has been defined as any unwanted abuse or hostility within the workplace and “nurses covertly or overtly directing their dissatisfaction inward towards each other, towards themselves, and toward those less powerful than themselves (Griffin, 2004, p. 257), as quoted by (Roberts, 2014, p.36). According to Sanner-Steieh and Ward-Smith (2014) “lateral violence may be verbal consisting of persistent criticism, gossiping, yelling or berating; or nonverbal consisting of behaviors of undermining, sabotaging, clique formation, failure to respect privacy or confidences, and assigning unmanageable workloads”. Lateral violence has negative implications that directly affect patient care because it creates high incidents of nurse turn-over which results in hospitals often being short staffed, the nurses on shift work longer hours with bigger caseloads, and the patient’s are the ones who experience an unsatisfactory quality of care. Studies estimate that 44% to 85% of nurses are victims of lateral violence and up to 93% of nurses report

Bullying can produce and maintain a poisonous work environment. Nurses who bully can wear down the job satisfaction of their co workers which can result in a loss of productivity and increased absences in the workplace (Stokowski, 2010). Victims of bullying often have a feeling of impending doom and dread when they think about their upcoming work days. Each time the bullying reoccurs, the victims usually

In 2009 unspecified electronic survey was conducted with factors such as type, frequency, perpetrators, and professional/personal concerns on bullying identified (Quine, 2001). The results revealed that out of 330 RN respondents, 72% reported positive to bullying at various occasions in line of their career. Of this segment, clear hostility seemed most frequent in surgical/medical, operational rooms, emergency, obstetrical areas of care and adolescent residential behavioral/ mental health units. The main culprits to these act are non-other than; charge nurses, senior nurses, physicians and nurse managers. This is impartial research among others that have been

In a health and social care setting bullying can be lead to a nurse or socialwoker e.g. who is verbal bullying an elderly patient with sexual orientation. calling them names because of their orientation sex such as stupid, smelly, you look like a girl . Or boy. This will effect the patient physical, emotionally and

A recent study found that new graduate nurses experience bullying only every now and then. However, a study on workplace incivility found that nurses reported very little workplace incivility from their supervisors or their colleagues. Which can mean it is possible that most nurses do not experience workplace mistreatment, but that it is a frequent experience for a small minority. Another possibility is that most nurses do experience workplace mistreatment, but only infrequently. Findings from Lewis and Malecha (2011) support this second perspective: their study showed that 85% of nurses reported experiencing workplace incivility in the last 12

Long-term exposure to bullying affects the performance of nurses which ultimately puts the patients at risk (Granstra, 2015). Without civility in the workplace, the quality and quantity of hard work will diminish (Granstra, 2015). Civility is important in the nursing practice because it enables teamwork, communication, and respect. Without teamwork, communication, and respect, employees work in an environment hampered by ineffective coordination of care (Granstra, 2015). For example, nurses should be communicating about changes in the patient’s condition.

(Burkhardt, Nathaniel, & Walton, 2013) Documenting all episodes of harassment and bullying is critical to follow-up procedures to order to support nurses who are victims of bullies. (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2016) Outcomes of occurrences of horizontal violence causes emotional and bodily repercussions for nurses. These include hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, weight gain or loss, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and may even result in death by suicide. (Burkhardt, Nathaniel, & Walton, 2013) Seven years has passed since new legislature on bullying and still many would say a nurse to nurse conflict continues.

Unfortunately, bullying amongst nurses has been a dark undertone in the profession throughout it’s history. An all to common phrase of “nurses eat their young” is often expressed in current and past nursing environments. Nurses care tirelessly for their patients with compassion and grace yet don’t seem to want to take care of their own. Many have come to believe this is simply the way it is, similar to an initiation or right of passage. Bullying, incivility and horizontal violence have no place in the nursing profession. Bullying can be defined as “situations where an employee is persistently picked on or humiliated by leaders or fellow co-workers” (Longo and Hain, 2014). Horizontal or lateral violence occurs when the behavior is between colleagues, or between two nurses with the same power. Bullying can show its ugly

The nursing profession is not suited for everyone as nurses work within a multidimensional profession reliant on the skills of critical thinking, clinical skills, effective communication, and collaboration with others (Sullivan, 2013). A common occurrence in nursing is workplace bullying (WPB) which effects the targeted person, but can also have adverse effects on patients, bystanders and other staff members. According to Blackstock, Harlos, and Hardy (2015) “Workplace bullying refers to repeated behaviors by organizational members that are offensive, often escalating in intensity with a perceived intent to harm” (p.1107). The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues behind WPB in the nursing profession. I will explain how I decided on my attended message of WPB, who and how I will convey my message, and a detailed summary of my personal learning about how I can become more influential in the nursing profession.

Bullying in the Nursing World: What is It? Who is Affected? How Do We Fix It?

A major issue in nursing among employees is lateral violence and bullying in the workplace. Lateral violence, also known as horizontal violence, is a deliberate act to an individual from one employee to another in which gossip, bullying, and spiteful talk is occurring. The act of lateral violence can come from another employee who may or may not be at the same level as the other. Studies have shown that there is a 44% to 85% rise in nurses that fall into being a victim of lateral violence (Jacobs & Kyzer, 2010; Quine, 2001). Lateral violence is a problem in nursing especially since people have to cope with the slander against them. As long as nurses, or other health care workers, are constantly being tormented by other workers then this can take away from a nurses ability to care for a patient and even cause the nurse to compromise the patients safety (Christie & Jones, 2014). This slander causes people to have a negative view on of themselves and makes it hard for their confidence to be boosted when others are constantly tearing them down. Not only could the individual have a negative view about themselves, but it can also cause them to have other psychological effects too, some include: anxiety, sleep distress, and depending on how severe the violence is, suicidal thoughts and depression.

The mention of the subject of bullying arouses various scenarios of young middle school or high school children hitting and taking advantage of one another. Due to this mentality, we have believed that the act of bullying is one the ends in childhood. However, it is sad that this act has progressed into adulthood and penetrated into the nursing profession. I am in the Blue team, thus the problem this paper is going to address is,“Horizontal Violence among new graduate nurses.” Horizontal violence is simply the act of bullying and abuse among nurses that occurs in every level of clinical practice, research and education (Egues & Leaning, 2013).

“The first step in teaching nurses how to decrease bullying by others is to help them understand what to do and what not to do when confronted by a bully” (Rocker, 2008, Education, para. 13). Nurses need to be aware of how to recognize horizontal violence, and how to be able to stop it. Furthermore, Baltimore (2006) explained that nurses need to try and resist the temptation of participating in gossip which could ultimately result in people losing respect for nurses (p. 35). Nurses also need to be respectful and value differences among other nurses. Each nurse is unique and may have different ways of implementing his/her type of care. Therefore, it is crucial that nurses respect these differences (Rocker, 2008, Policy, para. 14). If nurses are able to be consciously aware of these small things, it can make a huge difference on how they treat other coworkers, and how others view them. Not only is it important for nurses to understand what horizontal violence is, but managers of hospitals need to be well educated of this as well. Brunt (2011) stated that managers have a key role in preventing and altering horizontal violence in the workforce. It is important that managers create an environment where staff members feel comfortable coming to the managers with concerns. Managers need to be educated about how to deal with the negativity of horizontal violence (p. 7). Managers can improve relationships, trust, and productivity and reduce tension by

The hostility that stems from workplace bullying among nurses can contribute to medical errors, poor patient satisfaction, and increased healthcare costs. Studies have shown that there is also a correlation between nursing retention rates and workplace bullying on a hospital unit. There are many negative actions that are considered to be bullying behavior. Verbal abuse, threats, humiliation, intimidation, and behaviors that interfere with job performance are all considered workplace bullying. Bullying includes accusations of incompetence despite a history of excellence in the area of practice, gossiping about co-workers, withholding information

Bullying is a serious issue that frequently happens during a nursing shortage. Since hospitals need to recruit new nurses when their nurses left. Therefore, new nurses are usually the target of bullying by the old nurses. Accordingly, bullying can cause even more burdens to the challenges that the novice nurses or new nurses have to face on the daily basis. As the findings in this research, the bullying acts may be on personal attack, competence or work tasks. And the consequences of this issue can cause diminished self-esteem, distress that lead to physical and emotional damages for these nurses; that is why more nurses want to leave their job because of job dissatisfaction, or else, they will put their patients' safety in danger (Olender,