Workplace Bullying In The Workplace

Conflict is an unfortunate part of life and it is truly inevitable, however in the field of nursing it can be detrimental. “Conflict is defined as the discord that results when two or more parties have opposing or incompatible ideas, beliefs, or goals.” (Schub & Schub, 2015). Within healthcare settings there are an outstanding number of differences in opinions that could potentially lead to conflict throughout a number of different levels of the employees. Focusing in on one of those areas would be the nurse to nurse, or horizontal/lateral violence.

Obvious communication, listening, and understanding the focus of the dispute are the factors for being effective. Nursing managers may often be involved in a conflict as an individual, an administrator, or a unit representative. A manager is expected to confront staff when a discord develops (Sullivan, 2018). It is also imperative a nurse manager abides by her professional responsibilities and executes practical conflict resolution techniques to diminish low morale and stress among her staff (McKibben, 2017). She must modify her conflict management skills to a likely situation (Saeed et al., 2014). In order for the nurse manager to handle the conflict, it is helpful to understand the people involved. Positive management promotes mutual respect, refines working relationship, and restores staff retention (McKibben,

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.

Conflict has been an issue for man since the dawn of civilization. In today’s fast paced world conflict, especially in the workplace, is a frequent occurrence. When that workplace is a health care environment where lives are at stake, emotions run high and collaboration with many different disciplines is required conflict often becomes a prevalent part of everyday life. Conflicts in the workplace can lead to reduced morale, lowered productivity resulting in decreased patient care and can cause large scale confrontations (Whitworth 2008). In the field of nursing whether a conflict is with a peer, supervisor, physician, or a patient and their family, conflict management is a necessary skill.

Key words and terminology in the article search included hostility, nursing turnover, nursing attrition, nurse aggression, bullying, and nurse hostility. Specific key words that were used to narrow down the search included incivility, nurse turnover, lateral violence (LV), horizontal violence (HV), disruptive behavior (DB), and horizontal hostility (HH). The publication date range was adjusted to 2012 through 2017. The following literature review probes into the research of incivility to explore the connection with nursing turnover and patient care.

Lateral workplace violence is described as aggressive, destructive, or harassment behavior in the workplace between nurses or other members of the interprofessional team (Yoder-Wise, 2015). This type of behavior can occur within every aspect of life including professional, social, and personal life. The behavior can include gossiping, withholding information, or ostracism extending outside of the workplace and can occur in person or in cyberspace (American Nursing Association, 2011). Lateral workplace violence is very common among nursing students and new graduates due to the lack of confidence and skill set these individuals possess during the learning process. These new nurses are forced to rely on nurse managers and leaders to prevent interprofessional conflict from peers with equal power (Yoder-Wise, 2015).

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.

Armstrong (2018), in the article “Management of Nursing Workplace Incivility in the Health Care Setting: A Systematic Review”, asserts that the use of a combination of educational training using education about incivility, communication training, and active learning strategies resulted in improvements in the nurses’ ability to manage workplace incivility. Supportive nurse managers seek to reduce coworker incivility. Armstrong supports her assertion by conducting a systematic literature review of the latest interventions being used in assisting nursing staff in the health care setting cope with workplace incivility. She includes search strategies, a literature review matrix, and results. The author’s purpose is to demonstrate

The complex and advanced healthcare system further creates stressful environments for healthcare staffs, especially nurses. What is the definition of workplace violence? Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (2002, para. 1) defined workplace violence as “violence or the threat of violence against workers”. Waschgler, Ruiz-Hernàndez, Llor-Esteben, & Jiménez-Barberoo (2013) proved the existence of nursing workplace violence in the findings of the development of the hospital Aggressive Behavior Scale. Workplace violence was divided into vertical violence and horizontal/lateral violence (Waschgler et al., 2013). Each category of violence was also divided into physical violence and nonphysical violence.

Nurses have many roles that have allowed them to provide safe healthcare for patients every day. The nurse is responsible for treating patients with all types of problems, including abuse. In addition to treating victims and their families who experience violent situations, nurses have also become victims themselves in the workplace. “Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site” (United States Department of Labor). Workplace violence against nurses has become an epidemic in today's society because nurses are failing to report violent attacks due to reprimandation from superiors, there is a false idea that violence is “just part

In the workplace, bullying usually takes one of three forms: supervisors abusing subordinates (most common), coworkers abusing other coworkers, or subordinates abusing their bosses or higher-ups (least common) (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2003). Bullying can take place in any workplace environment, but since my interest lies in working as a pharmacist in a hospital setting, I am going to examine the nature of bullying in hospitals and other healthcare organizations. Bullying in hospitals and other healthcare organizations has been associated with self-reported burn out, psychological and somatic complaints, dissatisfaction,

The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of the current research and gaps in research related to interventions being used to impact the problem of incivility in Nursing. In doing so, I will identify: (1) the search strategy used; (2) the database used; (3) the keywords that were used; (4) the literature that was excluded; (5) the current literature will be compiled using a literature review methodological matrix (Polit & Beck, 2012); Lastly, (5) the literature results will be compiled using a results matrix (Polit & Beck, 2012).

Regardless of how Americans feel about bullying, it is still a major problem today. It is very evident in the American workplace. According to an article by Cynthia Plonien, she explains that, “In a recent survey conducted by the American Nurses Association involving 3,765 RNs, 50% of the respondents reported that they have been bullied in some way by a peer…”. This means that in the nursing field alone, a large percentage have been bullied by fellow workers. Everyone is affected by this problem, and there must be a focus on reducing it.

This essay will use Paul & Elder (2008) as a guide to give Joseph Jerdee feedback on his research plan. It will review clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance and the fairness of the research plan.

Heeman, V. (2007). Workplace Bullying: A Distinct, Interpersonal, and Communicative Phenomenon. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Communication Association.