Lateral Violence in the Workplace

Essentially, the term abuse is an issue facing the nursing profession today. Many unreported cases of encountered verbal and physical abuse have been found to be ample in acute and complex care settings. These cases are amongst professional individuals (nurse-nurse and nurse-physician abuse) and also among the patient abusing the nurses. Effectively, abuse is not only a Canadian issue. It has been reported internationally as well. Thus, many nurses today are lobbying for the decrease of abuse within health care settings in order to ameliorate the working conditions. Nursing abuse may lead to other issues which will be discussed in this study. This paper will address the nurse-nurse, nurse-physician and nurse-patient abuse. In addition,

Safety is an important factor and is a high priority in healthcare. Kelly, Fenwick, Brekke, and Novaco (2015) shared that workplace violence impairs the staff perceptions of safety. However, both patients and staff are affected by workplace violence in many ways, from physical to emotional aspects. There are many reasons why violence occurs, that will be explained later in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to explain the reason and importance of the chosen phenomenon of interest. Moreover, primary and opposing philosophic viewpoints will be discussed, as well as ways of recognizing and utilizing them in nursing. The ways of knowing patterns in nursing and the utilization of these patterns will be explained, pertaining to nursing care.

“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

Nurse bullying is not limited to the new nurses being the victims. Bully behavior is a learned process and a choice. A new nurse might observe and embrace the bully behavior in hopes to fit in a little bit more (Rocker, 2008). Cliques may form on nursing floors which are the vehicles for nurse bullying. Cliques help a bully hide and gain support. It seems easier for people to join the group instead of fighting against it (Rocker, 2008). This is why workplace bullying is a growing statistic.

The purpose of this integration paper is to educate about lateral violence in the professional setting, more specifically within the nursing profession. Lateral violence is defined as “profound and pervasive source of occupational stress with physical and psychological and organizational consequences.” (Cervalolo, D). Types of lateral violence include rude comments, verbal attacks, condescending language, sexual misconduct, lack of collaboration, professionally attacking a person integrity and reputation, blaming others for your own mistakes in front of others and family members of the patient, withholding important information and other non-professional behaviors.

Chris Pontus states that Lateral violence, bullying and workplace harassment often are one and the same. Defining the different aspects of lateral violence Pontus explains that there are three categories which make up lateral violence: harassment, discrimination and bullying. Harassment is a form of unwelcome conduct ranging from unwanted comments to physical violence (Pontus, 2011). Discrimination includes a person being treated inversely and less favorably based on gender, race, sexual orientation or capability. Finally, workplace bullying is categorized as many events of unwarrantable actions of an individual or group geared to a person or group over a long period. To expand, Pontus explains that bullying behaviors are persistent, offensive,

To the public eye, hospitals and nurses are there for them and their work environment seems like one that would promote growth in the work place, but the public doesn’t see what happens behind the curtain at these hospitals. Bullying can be in every company, but the public never really sees it happening just the employees that work there. The definition of bullying according to Terri Townsend, who wrote “Break the bullying cycle”, states that “[b]ullying is defined as repeated, offensive, abusive, intimidating, or insulting behaviors; abuse of power; or unfair sanctions that make recipients feel humiliated, vulnerable, or threatened, thus creating stress and undermining their self-confidence” (Townsend). This bullying greatly affects the employees and makes the work place environment suffer. By using Bruno Bettelheim’s essay “The Ignored Lesson of Anne Frank”, as a reference to compare why these employees put up with what happens to them at work. A very common everyday example where work place bullying/dehumanization happens would be the employees of McDonalds in Barbara Garson’s essay “McDonald’s – We Do It All for You”, which shows what these employees put up with on a daily basis. There is a huge difference in work places from that of a hospital to that of McDonald’s, but the question is why do these employees put up with the abuse? Hospital employees are also scared to stand up to their supervisors, because they don’t want to face the possible consequences that would

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 profession where caring is the epicenter of the job, it is disconcerting to see a high occurrence of bullying in the nursing environment. Lateral bullying and lateral violence are terms used to describe bullying, uncivil behavior, disrespect, social devaluing, peer control and verbal, physical and emotional abuse occurring between nurses and or colleagues (Ceravolo et al., 2012). Abusive behaviors from a superior are considered vertical or hierarchal violence and are commonly seen when the superior attempts to control or bully the nurse using their superiority, often leaving the nurse feeling defenseless due to an imbalance in power and control (Broome & Williams-Evans, 2011). Some examples of bullying include harsh criticism, unfairly blaming others for mistakes, and withholding patient care information (Simons et al., 2011). In a recent study measuring workplace bullying, Simons, Stark and DeMarco (2011) found that the most common behaviors those feeling bullied experienced included being assigned workloads they felt were unmanageable, and being ignored or excluded by their peers.

The lateral violence comes in many forms and in many ways, such as abuse in the workplace that occur between colleagues, it can be verbal or nonverbal aggression, intimidation, bullying, harassment, discrimination, stereotyping, gossiping, criticism, and other related mistreatment behavior at work. Institutional lateral violence also happens between manager and subordinate where they can use their higher position to perpetrate assault to their subordinate such as acts of lasciviousness, shouting, anger outburst, forced overtime request, giving work beyond the job description, work overload, over blaming or insulting a staff and more. All these happen occasionally because of the lack of respect in the workplace and it comes without notice, especially in healthcare practices where the nature of work is tough and decision making must be made immediately.

Nurses are more likely to make errors in caring for their patients when they do not have the appropriate support from their coworkers. The demeaning behavior causes the person being bullied not to ask questions or seek assistance when they are unsure of a task. This leads to making assumptions in the care of the patient and unfortunately

Hatred in the work environment breeds various issues for workers. For example, representatives working in a negative situation will probably discover issues with confidence and low profitability. Also, a negative work environment can prompt high representative turnover rates. To build energy in the work environment, workers must to make a positive workplace and do what it takes to maintain and cultivate this culture. According to Yoder-wise (2011), “the definition of violence includes overt and covert behavior ranging from offensive threatening language to homicide” (Yoder Wise, 2011, p.498). Violence can be noted as the general term that represents lateral aggression,

Bullying is a serious problem in the nursing profession, it decreases nurse productivity, creates adverse patient outcomes, and overall lack of job satisfaction. It can be seen anywhere in the nursing profession. Bullying includes emotional and physical abuse as well as, putting others down, intimidation, spreading rumors, etc. “Research findings suggest that bullying frequently occurs among RNs [6] to the extent that up to 40% of nurses report an intent to leave because of it [7]; this is significant especially for new nurses, in that new RNs reported being bullied at work which resulted in 30% of

Civility in the work place, or the lack thereof, has been identified as a growing problem within many professions in today’s society. Often referred to as lateral violence, this occurrence is no exception in the nursing profession. It is also known as ‘horizontal violence’ or ‘workplace bullying (Coursey, Rodriguez, Dieckmann, & Austin, 2013). In this evidenced-based paper, information will be provided in an effort to identify causes of lateral violence in the workplace and how to encourage civility.

Several models and concepts arose in preventative measures to workplace violence in nursing. One conceptual model, according to Covert Crime at Work, is “a conceptual model derived from 370 surveys show working conditions conducive to bullying, thus helping to identify risks early and to prevent unhealthy environments from developing.” After recognition of these research and studies, organizations such as Occupations Safety and Hazard Association, American Nurses Associations, and etc, have implemented guidelines to prevent workplace violence in nursing.