Bullying within the field of nursing has become a widespread concern and unfortunately evidence has shown that it continues to escalate. Workplace bullying appears to be an epidemic within the nursing profession. It is identified as one of the most concerning forms of aggression that nurses experience (Hutchinson, 2009).
Bullying in Healthcare
Bullying within the field of nursing has become a widespread concern and unfortunately evidence has shown that it continues to escalate. Workplace bullying appears to be an epidemic within the nursing profession. It is identified as one of the most concerning forms of aggression that nurses experience (Hutchinson, 2009).
Health care is a stressful environment and without a culture of non-acceptance of bullying behaviors, it can be a problem for many in the health care field. In the nursing workplace bullying can take the form of personal attack, erosion of professional competence and attack through roles and tasks. A working environment that has lack of autonomy, poor communication or an unfair workload can create frustration and lead to bullying behaviors (Keashly, 2010). This can be descriptive of many nursing units in hospitals today. Bullying behavior can be subtle, hard to distinguish and without aggression causing severe emotional distress to the victim (Hutchinson, Vickers, Wilkes, & Jackson, 2010). It has been found that when workplace violence is role modeled by senior nurses to new nurses, bullying is then continued and becomes the social norm. The cycle is continued as the new nurses become experienced nurses who carry on this practice (Berry, Cohn, Gillespie, Gates, & Schafer 2012).
An organization can be enabling to bullying if it does not have clear policies and penalties that prevent bullying behavior (Keashly, 2010). Health care leaders can address workplace bullying by following the Forces of Magnetism developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Magnet Hospitals encourage a participatory management style that promotes feedback from all levels of the organization. Nurses need to feel comfortable in not only reporting workplace bullying, but also that management will address the issue. Magnet hospitals have resources available for nurses to use in order to address concerns of workplace abuse (Murray, 2009). Nurses play a role in the improvement of the problem of workplace bullying. It needs to be recognized and stopped when it starts. There needs to be not only an organizational policy against it, but nurses as a group need to not allow bullying in the workplace. Ways that nurses can make a difference is to offer support to the person being bullied. One way is to call a code that gets as many people as possible surrounding the person being bullied. This notifies the bully that the behavior will not be tolerated. Any observation of bullying should be reported to the manager. Staff should be willing to serve as witnesses to the bullying and support the person being bullied with documentation (Murray, 2009). Nurses need to recognize bullying behaviors and be willing to take action to stop it before it is allowed to part of the culture of the individual unit or organization.
Berry, P. A., Gillespie, G. L., Gates, D., Schafer, J. (2012). Novice nurse productivity following workplace bullying. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 44, 80-83. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=4&
Hutchinson, M., Vickers, M., H. Wilkes, L., Jackson, D. (2010). A typology of bullying behaviors: The experiences of Australian nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 19, 2319-2327. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=78&hid=125&sid
Keashly, L. (2010). Some things you need to know but may have been afraid to ask: A researcher speaks to Ombudsman about workplace bullying. Journal of the International Ombudsman Association. 3(1). 10-23. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenlibrary.org/host/detail?vid=5&hid=110&sid=
Murray, J. (2009). Workplace bullying in nursing: A Problem that can’t be ignored. Medsurg Nursing. 18(5). 273-276. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=125&sid
Hutchinson, M. (2009). Restorative Approaches to Workplace Bullying: Educating Nurses Towards Shared Responsibility. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, Vol. 32, Issue 1/2, 147-155, 9p. 2 charts.
Health care is a stressful environment and without a culture of non-acceptance of bullying behaviors, it can be a problem for many in the health care field. In the nursing workplace bullying can take the form of personal attack, erosion of professional competence and attack through roles and tasks. A working environment that has lack of autonomy, poor communication or an unfair workload can create frustration and lead to bullying behaviors (Keashly, 2010). This can be descriptive of many nursing units in hospitals today. Bullying behavior can be subtle, hard to distinguish and without aggression causing severe emotional distress to the victim (Hutchinson, Vickers, Wilkes, & Jackson, 2010). It has been found that when workplace violence is role modeled by senior nurses to new nurses, bullying is then continued and becomes the social norm. The cycle is continued as the new nurses become experienced nurses who carry on this practice (Berry, Cohn, Gillespie, Gates, & Schafer 2012).
An organization can be enabling to bullying if it does not have clear policies and penalties that prevent bullying behavior (Keashly, 2010). Health care leaders can address workplace bullying by following the Forces of Magnetism developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Magnet Hospitals encourage a participatory management style that promotes feedback from all levels of the organization. Nurses need to feel comfortable in not only reporting workplace bullying, but also that management will address the issue. Magnet hospitals have resources available for nurses to use in order to address concerns of workplace abuse (Murray, 2009). Nurses play a role in the improvement of the problem of workplace bullying. It needs to be recognized and stopped when it starts. There needs to be not only an organizational policy against it, but nurses as a group need to not allow bullying in the workplace. Ways that nurses can make a difference is to offer support to the person being bullied. One way is to call a code that gets as many people as possible surrounding the person being bullied. This notifies the bully that the behavior will not be tolerated. Any observation of bullying should be reported to the manager. Staff should be willing to serve as witnesses to the bullying and support the person being bullied with documentation (Murray, 2009). Nurses need to recognize bullying behaviors and be willing to take action to stop it before it is allowed to part of the culture of the individual unit or organization.
Berry, P. A., Gillespie, G. L., Gates, D., Schafer, J. (2012). Novice nurse productivity following workplace bullying. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 44, 80-83. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=4&
Hutchinson, M., Vickers, M., H. Wilkes, L., Jackson, D. (2010). A typology of bullying behaviors: The experiences of Australian nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 19, 2319-2327. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=78&hid=125&sid
Keashly, L. (2010). Some things you need to know but may have been afraid to ask: A researcher speaks to Ombudsman about workplace bullying. Journal of the International Ombudsman Association. 3(1). 10-23. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenlibrary.org/host/detail?vid=5&hid=110&sid=
Murray, J. (2009). Workplace bullying in nursing: A Problem that can’t be ignored. Medsurg Nursing. 18(5). 273-276. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=125&sid
Hutchinson, M. (2009). Restorative Approaches to Workplace Bullying: Educating Nurses Towards Shared Responsibility. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, Vol. 32, Issue 1/2, 147-155, 9p. 2 charts.
The Bleeding Edge of Health Care News and Informationmedtopicwriter « — Balanced Living Mag » How to Stop Nurse Bullies in Their Tracks by Sam Omulligan Take a stand against nurse bullies.
What Is Workplace Bullying?
Any type of repetitive abuse in which an individual suffers threats, humiliating or intimidating behaviors, verbal abuse or other actions that interfere with job performance is considered workplace bullying. A serious issue within the nursing profession, bullying behavior can put both nurses and patients at a significant health and safety risk. It usually involves the misuse or abuse of authority and power by the bully, with the intent to create a feeling of defenselessness in the victim. Ultimately, this inappropriate use of authority compromises the nurse victim’s sense of workplace dignity, leading to a considerable loss of morale that may cause him or her to seek employment elsewhere.
Why Does Bullying Occur? Nurses bully others for a number of reasons. Frequently, nurse bullies, as with bullies in other professions, feel the need to control the entire work environment. The bully may have an exaggerated sense of self, or have a stubborn, shortsighted mindset. Bullies often have low self-esteem and controlling those around them with less power and authority gives them a false boost in self-worth. Typically, Bullies do not feel any remorse or guilt over the harm they inflict, justifying their actions in a variety of ways. Most workplace bullies lack the capacity for empathy and compassion toward others.
What are the Signs of Bullying?
- Undermining the professionalism and tormenting a fellow nurse, while he goes about trying to perform job duties.
- Bullying supervisors never offer well-earned praise or express satisfaction with a staff nurse’s best efforts to complete a task or learn a new procedure.
- A nurse with an excellent work history and positive performance reviews may find a fellow nurse has accused her of incompetence or unprofessionalism.
- Bullied nurses may find that no one takes action to stop the bullying, even after asking for help numerous times, further hindering the victim’s job performance and degrading job satisfaction. The victim constantly feels stress and anxiety during work shifts in anticipation of the bullying.
- The perpetrator yells at, or demeans, the nurse in front of others, and may demand that colleagues stop interacting with the victimized nurse.
- Workplace bullying involving multiple nursing staff members has the potential to dramatically decrease the quality level of patient care and satisfaction.
- First, nurses must recognize that the bullying exists regardless of what others think or say. Nurses must not allow others to make the determination for them.
- A bullied nurse must understand the damaging effects of this abusive behavior on her personal health and ability to effectively provide quality patient care. Ongoing bullying can result in one or more physical and mental symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and eating disorders. Health care facilities should educate their nursing staff that bullying can affect their health in this way. Nurse victims should seek counseling or other supportive mental health services to help alleviate these symptoms and other overwhelming feelings.
- The health care facility should have a bullying and harassment policy in place and ensure that all nursing staff members know their rights. Professional organizations, such as the American Nurses Associationor the Department of Justice, can provide additional assistance to the victim. If all other attempts to stop the bullying fail, the nurse should prepare to seek legal assistance.
- Victims of should document all incidents of bullying in writing, including the date, time, site where the abuse occurred and the names of all witnesses. Nurses who experience frequent victimization by a workplace bully should keep a small notebook with them to log details of each individual incident.
After an incident, co-workers should provide support to the victim and help determine the proper follow-up procedure to take. Co-worker witnesses should never side with the bully; ideally offering to serve as witnesses to any meetings between their co-worker and the bully. Co-workers can also help by supplying documentation, written statements and/or testimony during any legal proceedings.
Everyone has the right to work in bully- and abuse-free environment. By increasing awareness to this growing problem, nurses can take action to stop bullying from gaining a foothold in their workplace.