Workplace Bullying In The Workplace

Bullying in the workplace has always been an issue that has not been given much importance. It is indeed a problem that should be addressed by the concerned personnel because it can result in many health and safety issues, especially when nurses are bullied at their workplace. From the beginning of times, people who are deployed at a senior post to tend to look down upon the students or new people who have just started work. Nursing is also one of the professions in which the fresh graduates or students are bullied to the extent that they feel that they would not be able to face their seniors. They start developing inferiority complex and are unable to perform their job well. When they are taunted by their seniors and preceptors about their lack of knowledge and experience, their confidence is shattered. This implies that when they are handling a case, they are not confident if they are doing the right thing or not. In this tussle, they sometimes do not even perform the task they were really good at and put the health and safety of the patient at stake.

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

Workplace bullying is a growing problem in the American workplace and the Nursing Profession no exception. Addressing workplace bullying and its impact on the nursing profession is paramount to upholding patient safety and decreasing nursing attrition rates. Defining the problem is the first step in addressing it. In the past, workplace bullying was referred to as “Nurses eating their young.” There are many names for the various levels of workplace bullying like horizontal and lateral violence, hostility, mobbing, and verbal abuse. Bullying actions can take place overtly or covertly. Nurse-to-Nurse bullying is known to occur during interaction communications and manifests by withholding information, intimidation, threats, verbalizing harsh innuendo and criticism, and undermining personal values and beliefs (Rocker, 2008). Power disparities are also a source of bullying. For example, using charge position for controlling staff assignments, reporting coworkers for perceived lack of productivity, placing others under pressure to achieve impossible deadlines, and withholding knowledge for policies and procedures (Rocker, 2008). Outright actions of yelling at coworkers and refusing to mentor new staff with their practice are also considered bullying behavior.

We have all heard the phrase that nurses eat their young, yet this is a sad but true reality in nursing. Most who have heard this phrase can relate to it because approximately 50% of all nurses have been victims of bullying by other nurse and an additional 27% have been witnesses to the bullying. In an article by Granstra (2015), the author identifies the prevalence of bullying amongst nurses. The term, horizontal or lateral bullying, refers to a nurse being initiated, harassed, or shown hostile/aggressive behavior from a coworker. This is differentiated from bullying from a superior which is not the focus of this paper. Granstra (2015), goes to say that the effects of the bullying have overall consequences not only to the victim but the organization they work likewise. It is noted that bullying decreases performance, therefore, patient safety is at risk and there is a higher rate of absenteeism and turnover which results in a financial impact on the facility.

M., Hogh, A., & Persson, R. (2011). Frequency of bullying at work, physiological response, and mental health. Journal of psychosomatic research, 70(1), 19-27. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.05.010

The prevalence of bullying in the nursing profession is high according to a survey done by The Joint Commission which states more than 50% of nurses have experienced some form of bullying at work while more than 90% have reported witnessing this type of behavior. The survey also found that 75% of the nurses believed it negatively affected patient care (Felblinger, 2008). In another study, it was found that out of 303 nurses, 65% reported being bullied or had witnessed incidents of bullying (Egues &

Addressing workplace bullying is a complex issue. Two recommendations along with their respective strengths and weaknesses are outlined below. First develop a set of no tolerance policies and procedures that strictly enforces the standards and codes of conduct of nurses. The policy should be developed from the bottom up with nurses having input in setting up the processes for reporting, documentation, and punitive actions. Involving the nurses, as key stakeholders will enable the policy to be effective and tailored to their needs. The key strength in this recommendation is the incidence of these types of disruptive behaviors would decrease. Additionally, individuals would have a system set in place where they could anonymously report their grievances. However a weakness would be that unless the organizational culture is present in where victimized nurses feel safe enough to report, there will be a low number of

Bullying and incivility causes an unhealthy work environment, which affects the staff, patients, and the organization. Some of the effects on staff include burnout, anxiety, depression, increased absenteeism, poor communication, decreased moral, decreased job satisfaction,

Bullying in the work place is a never a comfortable thing, especially for the victims. Nurses spend over half of their day at work, which is more than what they spend with their family. Therefore, it is important that the work force is safe from bullying and is accommodating to everyone. Bullying has been a problem in the work place for a number of years and the same goes for the nursing workforce. Bullying is a very disruptive behavior in the workplace and it can lower the morale among staff as a result. This type of disruptive behavior will cause nursing staff to call out on a regular basis, or even quit their jobs. Bullying can also lower the standard of the profession and when patients see such disruptive behavior, it also makes the profession looks bad. Moreover, bullying can be very detrimental to the nurses’ ability to care for their patients. It can have a major psychological effect on nurses, that they can loose

The most pressing issue that results from this patterned behavior is its effect on patient care. Nurses are called to care for their patients in a professional manner with upmost respect and compassion while advocating and keeping them safe from unnecessary harm. However, when they work in an environment that fosters hostility, intimidation and constant criticism, they are set up for failure. The end results of nurse bullying, regardless if a nurse is a victim or not, are unhealthy and unsafe work environments. Consequently, the patients in these work environments are indirectly affected. The nurse’s priority shifts from patient-centered care, to merely keeping his/her head above water from the constant bullying. He/she becomes preoccupied with thoughts of how the situation could have gone better, how he/she could be the one to blame for something, and how everyone around him/her could not see what was happening and if they did why did no one do anything about it? This preoccupation of self is detrimental especially for those people that are under the nurse’s

Workplace bullying is a serious issue in

When a nurse is bullied, she often develops the feeling associated with disappointment in regards to being a nurse and their ability to handle the bully. The feelings of failure manifest into actions. The nurse’s productivity decreases, which leads to actions of incompetency. Workplace bullying causes physical and emotional illnesses in the victim. Workplace bullying is a stressor. A stressor is defined as anything that generates stress. The body responds to stress by either distress or eustress. Distress is harmful to the body and triggers a somatic response to release glucocorticoids, cortisol, into the body. Nurses can experience memory loss, spikes in emotions, and difficulty maintains positive relationships under high levels of stress over an extended period of time. Studies ran by Khoshknab et al showed that “Humiliation, abuse, ridicule, and insults were the most common forms of verbal violence and held a significantly more severe negative effect on the victim’s mental health than other forms of workplace bullying” (Khoshknab, et al., 2015).

Researchers believe that there has been an increase in workplace bullying over the past few years. Is this true? Maybe more acts perceived as bullying. Recently, depression has been becoming more and more common, and " Individuals who are depressed, for example, may perceive situations differently" (Fleming). In other words, depressed individuals could see and report situations they see as bullying that are not actually so. Depression could also cause workplace bullying if the depressed person lashed out. Everyone has lousy days, but depressed individuals may be in such an atrocious state about their self-worth that they "lash out at those they feel are stealing the spotlight" (Neall). Overall, a probable cause of workplace bullying is

I have experienced bullying at the facility I work at also. That’s sad that he did her like that where you worked. He should have been reported. I do not like bullying. I see a lot of it everywhere. People tend to try to take advantage of people that are nice. They view them as being “weak”. According to Thompson 2016, in a study it was found that more than 88% of nursing students reported experiencing bullying behaviors in the clinical environment. I saw this one girl who would pick on skinny females who were new nurses. She would come and start hitting the table where she was sitting and start yelling at skinny females. I would speak up for them because I do not tolerate bullying. They seemed like they were taking up for the bully

In Einarsen Norwegian Experiment article, the results point out the strong negative effects of bullying. As per the case study International Affair, it shows us the direct results of a legal action sexual harassment case experienced by a Russian woman executive. Notable, both case involve two different cultures, wherein the conclusions are very different, while one explorer and learn from the causes and effects of bullying, the other totally ignores sexual harassment as an actual problem. This implies that we are dealing with cultural ethics here.