Personally, I have not experienced episodes of incivility or bullying in my workplace. However, I have witnessed recurring situations where more experienced healthcare professionals dealt in a rather humiliating manner with less experienced nurses. I often had to talk to the nurses after such events, and it was noticeable how emotionally stressful it was for them. Such events led to disruption of communication in the team and a tense atmosphere, which reduced the level of comfort significantly. It is also noteworthy that on the part of the leadership, these episodes sometimes went unnoticed or remained unaddressed.
The problem of bullying and incivility in a clinical setting can negatively affect the quality of care provided, so it needs to be managed. One of the approaches is personnel training, including education, communication in conflicts, the practice of active response to incivility (Armstrong, 2018). Cognitive rehearsals and role-play activities, which allow nurses to model and rehearse responses in episodes of incivility, are also effective strategies (Armstrong, 2018). Additionally, team-building programs can be used, but they are not essential to the success of the approach (Armstrong, 2018). Thus, the emphasis when addressing the problem should be placed on improving interpersonal relationships within the team, as well as on the training of behavioral defense skills.
Incivility or bullying can have a negative impact on patient safety as it puts stress on nurses. Medical professionals may experience emotional aversion due to these episodes, which reduces their performance in the clinical setting. Additionally, Alquwez (2020) notes that “problematic communication among healthcare team members could lead to adverse events and medical errors, which could harm patients” (p. 297). This factor is the most significant, as it leads to a systematic decrease in the quality of care and patient safety.
References
Alquwez, N. (2020). Examining the influence of workplace incivility on nurses’ patient safety competence.Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(3), 292-300.
Armstrong, N. (2018). Management of nursing workplace incivility in the health care settings.Workplace Health & Safety, 66(8), 403-410.