Lateral Violence In Nursing

Excellent discussion on workplace violence in the health care setting. When this writer finished nursing school approximately nine years ago, the thought of being assaulted or abused by the patient or family member did not cross this writer mind. Most people think of nurses as being the most nurturing, caring indivdiual, whom assist the patient with restoring their health. Society has shifted in a direction within the current health care industry and there is not a level of respect being demonstrated towards the health care professional. This can create a barrier with building a therapeutic and effective nurse to patient relationship. When this wall has been established due to workplace violence resulting from the patient and family,

“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

In today’s world violence can be expected anywhere at any time. This includes what was considered at one time a low risk area, the medical facility. Today the incidence of violence is increasing. There are two types of violence the first is lateral violence or aggression which is amongst hospital or medical personal. The other is external factors consisting of patients or visitors instituting violence or aggression among themselves or against healthcare workers. This is known as a code grey in my facility and all male staff not currently engaged in patient care are supposed to respond.

Nursing working in these environments on a daily basis “may avoid asking questions or speaking up about unsafe behaviour for fear of being ridiculed” (IN TEXT CITATION, pg.) resulting in the cycle of increasing workplace violence. Nurses frequently report breakdowns in communication when they experience forms of horizontal violence. This may lead to medical errors; hospital-acquired infection and ineffective patient care causing decreased patient and staff satisfaction (IN TEXT CITATION). Nurses may experience bullying, lateral

Youn Ju, L., Bernstein, K., Mihyoung, L., & Nokes, K. M. (2014). Bullying in the Nursing Workplace: Applying Evidence Using A Conceptual Framework. Nursing Economic$, 32(5), 255-267.

Nurse-to-nurse lateral violence or incivility profoundly raises occupational stress with physical, psychological, and organizational consequence(Embree, White, & Bruner, 2013). I will discuss issues of incivility, importance to nursing, a scenario, creating a healthful environment, my specialty track, and my conclusion.

Bullying is the use of force, superior strength, threats, abusive language, or intimidation by a person in a higher level of authority on another in a lower position, while lateral violence refers to acts that occur between colleagues. Lateral violence in nursing involves nurses overtly or covertly directing their inward dissatisfaction toward each other, towards themselves, and towards less powerful colleagues. M Griffin - Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 2004

Despite the rapidly expanding volume of literature on lateral violence in the nursing profession, it is apparent that those behaviours still occur (Croft & Cash, 2012; Roberts, 2015). Lateral violence is a systemic problem that still persists among our nursing professionals despite previous attempts to address it. Lateral violence causes serious negative outcomes for nurses, their patients, and health care organizations (Brunt, 2011; Johnson & Rea, 2009) and needs to be efficiently addressed. The purpose of this article is to generate an understanding of horizontal violence in nursing and explore the negative outcomes so that effective strategies can be found to finally address this problem. This literature review will be of interest to leaders,

Lateral violence is described as a non-physical act occurring between individuals and is intended to hurt another person emotionally. It may be a secretive or noticeable act of verbal or non-verbal hostility. The actions can extend exterior to the place of work and can be perpetrated individually or in cyberspace. Within the nursing community, lateral violence is described as aggression behaviors amongst nurses. The most common forms of lateral violence in the nursing practice include: undermining actions, withholding information, interference, backbiting, incrimination, backstabbing, broken confidences, and failure to respect the privacy of another person. Workplace conflict leads to adverse impacts on registered nurses, patients, other

I experienced lateral violence as a new nurse about twenty years ago. This happened when I joined for the specialization in ICU training in a hospital, out of my state in my country. The nurses who were working in the ICU at that time used to show hostility in the form of non-cooperation and teasing. Many times, they had refused to help by giving information or supporting in the clinical area. I had been supportive and cooperative the whole time. It was hard to function in such an environment. I was new to the institution and even to the nursing field itself, at that time. I was ignorant about the availability of any

The acts violence can be overt or covert verbal and or non-verbal aggression. Such act includes behaviors like gossiping, withholding information and ostracism, which are referred to relational aggression or psychological abuse. These behaviors can also extend outside the workplace and can occur in person or in cyberspace (Walrafen, Brewer, & Mulvenon, 2012). According to King-Jones (2011), the origin of lateral violence is related to the oppressed group model that supported that nurses are powerless and oppressed group. Hence, they react by over-powering other Violence in the workplace is a national concern that affects all profession, especially the nursing profession. It is a known fact that violence brings unsafe environment that has detrimental effects to the individual nurses as well and their patients (Chipps, stelmaschuk, Albert, Bernhard, & Holloman,

During one’s nursing career, one will experience some form of violence. Depending on what department/unit one works the chances are greatly increased. The form of violence may be nonphysical or physical, a form of intimidation or sexual harassment. Nevertheless, one may experience all of them during one shift or all over a period of time. Being exposed to this type of behavior on a regular basis has shown that nurses have increased job dissatisfaction, high turnover, or are leaving the nursing profession all together. “Exposure to violence can also generate burnout, reactive psychological syndromes, substance abuse or abuse of pys-chotropic medication” (Esteban, Mun-oz, Hernadez, & Barbero, 2017 page 34). Many institutes face high absences,

Workplace violence, is an issue often encountered but rarely discussed or focused on. Workplace violence includes physical assault, verbal or written threats, harassment and homicide (“Workplace Violence, “2017). Per ANA website, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) does not require organizations to have prevention programs in regards to workplace violence. From experience, we know how fast situations can escalate and it is important that we have a governing body that protects us. Nurses are more likely not to report due to fear of unemployment or that nothing will happen after reporting (Kvas & Seljak, 2014). A bill passed in December 2015, gave protection for healthcare personnel injured while providing care and their assailants could be charged with a felony offense. (“Association of perioperative…,” 2015). Federally, there is not much direction or leadership in regards to workplace violence outside of hospitals. There are several organizations involving nurses in leadership, emergency medicine and perioperative nursing but not many organizations associated with community health nursing. It is important to look on state and local levels to see where we can assist in ensuring nurses in organizations other than hospitals feel safe while working. I believe it is important to work together to achieve a common goal geared towards the improvement of the nursing profession.

Violence towards nurses can often be done by aggression or physical assault, threatening behaviors and behavior that causes emotional or physical harm. The violence will not stop, but it could be reduced by passing laws and more security programs towards the nurses. Reglaments in hospitals are now used to protect the life of nurses that are affected by patients and their families during the workplace. In the nursing field there is no perfect way to handle violence because there will always be one angry patient. Nursing is possibly the hardest workplace to handle violence. Patients will always refuse to get

It is essential for nurses to be conscious of the stressors they are dealing with and how they are impacting the delivery of patient care. When dealing with high levels of stress, nurses have the tendency to let their emotions get too far. Verbal and lateral violence is common among nurses who are overly stressed. Workplace violence is a real but serious issue that all nurses need to be aware of. Reporting workplace violence to the proper