Definition of “workplace bullying” and examples for newly graduated nurse
According to the “Washington State Department of Labor & Industries” (2008), workplace bullying refers to “the repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or groups) directed towards employee or employees, intended to intimidate, and by so doing, create a risk to the health and safety of the employee (s)” (Page 1). This act, in most cases, involves a “power gradient” with the one bullying being in a position of higher authority as compared with the one who is bullied. This implies that workplace bullying is an act which involves “abuse of power”. Bullying encompasses “behaviors that intimidate, degrades, offends or humiliates – often in front of others” (Quine, 2001 Pg 73). Bullying in the nursing workplace, in this case, causes the one bullied to have a feeling of defenselessness and takes away the nurses’ right to dignity at his or her workplace. There are several examples of bullying at the nursing workplace. New graduate nurses are common victims of bullying. The examples of bullying they may encounter at their place of work may include being shouted at or yelled at by other nurses who have been at the workplace for a longer time. Another example is being undermined by other staff members because of their being new in the profession and the place and this can be through having their questions ignored or their comments devalued. More so, following their being new in the workplace and the profession, the new graduate nurses may be severely criticized and excluded from discussions instead of being guided.
“Differentiating between horizontal and vertical workplace violence”
Vertical workplace violence refers to the violence that is exercised on people based on hierarchical relationships while horizontal violence refers to interpersonal conflicts. In nursing, this sector has done somehow well regarding dealing with vertical violence. But on the other hand, it has not done very well concerning handling horizontal violence. In some instances, “the lines between horizontal and vertical violence get blurred and issues may seem to be vertical violence that occurs between male and female, generations, job titles, etc” (“Hawaii Nurses Association”, 2008 Par. 1).
Horizontal violence is common in the nursing workplace. According to Duffy (1995), “horizontal violence is a hostile and aggressive behavior by an individual or group members toward another member or group of members of the larger group” (Page 10). This kind of violence is, in most cases, not physical but involves inflicting to another person or people “psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually damaging behaviors, which can have devastating long-term effects on the recipient” (Freire, 1972 Pg 5).
“How the joint commission has addressed workplace intimidation”
The Joint Commission is “an independent, non-profit organization that accredits health care organizations and programs” (Yamada, 2010, Par. 2). In the year 2008, this commission gave out a “standard on intimidating and disruptive behaviors at work” (Yamada, 2010, Par. 2). While issuing this standard, the commission cited its concerns about patients in which it indicated that bullying practices at the workplace have an adverse effect on the safety of the patients.
Currently, two leadership standards are “part of the Joint Commission’s accreditation provisions” (Yamada, 2010, Par. 3). The first standard requires an organization to have “a code of conduct that defines acceptable and disruptive and inappropriate behaviors” ((Yamada, 2010, Par. 3). The other standard requires an organization or institution to “create and implement a process for managing disruptive and inappropriate behaviors…. healthcare stakeholders are including workplace bullying among initiatives designed in part to meet the Joint Commission standards” (Yamada, 2010, Par. 4).
Impact of Bullying on Patient Safety and the negative consequences on the new graduate nurse
Bullying at the nursing workplace can bring about and sustain a very unfavorable environment. According to Felblinger (2009), “the organizational ramifications of workplace bullying are dangerous and costly…can erode morale and job satisfaction, leading to loss of productivity, work absence, and nurse attrition” (Page 24). More so Murray (2009) emphasizes this point by putting it that, “termination and turnover are expensive sequelae of bullying because most hospitals can ill afford to lose nurses” (Page 274).
Moreover, bullying at the workplace is also seen as a great danger to the safety of the patients in the hospitals. This act interferes with “teamwork, collaboration, and communication, the underpinning of the patient safety” (Dellasega, 2009 Pg 53.). Even if to this day, the researches that have been carried out, which connects bullying at the workplace to the safety of patients, are in most cases focused on “disruptive physician behavior, the principles are clearly and immediately applicable to other healthcare professionals, including nurses” (Porto and Lauve, 2006 Par. 14). Intimidation, which comes with bullying, can have a great influence on the kind of communication that can be in the nursing workplace. And where we have no proper communication, this may result in putting the safety of the patient in great danger.
Personal Plan to counteract bullying
It is quite sad to realize that, for a long time, bullying has been tolerated at the nursing workplace. Sometimes this act is referred to as “nursing’s silent epidemic”. Dellasega (2009) points out that “bullying might even be tacitly accepted with a ‘wink or nod’ or subtly encouraged by a failure to acknowledge or take steps to end it” (Page 54). This can result in the development of an “indifference attitude” toward bullying at the nursing workplace or any other workplace and also, there may come up the unwillingness to deal with this problem, on the side of those who are bullied. This is among the reasons why, “a ‘zero-tolerance’ organizational policy about workplace bullying is now a bedrock of bullying prevention recommendations” (Dellasega, 2009 Pg 55).
As a new nurse in the nursing work in the first year, one should take necessary actions to avoid being a victim of bullying at his or her workplace. One way, as a plan to counteract bullying, is to take Murray’s advice in which he says that “nurses should take a collaborative approach to bully; nurses should reach out for each other and support victims of bullying during and following an episode, including reporting the incident” (Murray, 2009 Pg 275). This will serve to prevent the new nurse from being the next victim. In case the new nurse is, him or herself, a victim him, the nurse is supposed to document the bullying actions inflicted on him or her. The documentation should include the site on which the incident occurred, the date and time this occurred, and the witnesses who were around while the action took place. This will make the work of those authorities responsible for taking action against workplace bullying much easier to take corrective measures. The new nurse should also speak to the supervisor regarding the incident. The person should also seek “counseling support”. If the bullying has resulted in serious health problems, the nurse may claim “workmen’s compensation”.
In general, terms, when the new graduate nurse is exposed to an environment where there is bullying, he or she should take the following steps;
- The person should name the problem (especially “horizontal violence”).
- During the staff meetings, the new nurse should raise the issue to “break the silence” concerning the issue
- Another important step is to make inquires about the procedure of going about it in dealing with bullying at the workplace.
- The person should also ensure “self-caring behaviors” such as seeking counseling, having good nutrition, enough sleep, massage, enough body exercise among other practices that enable a person to live happily at all times.
- The person should also have a willingness to speak out whenever he or she witnesses bullying at the workplace
- More so, the person should keep in touch with the union members to set up strategic plans to deal with the issue.
- Also, the person should get involved in “reflective practice” and this can be done by what is suggested by the “Hawaii Nurses Association” (2008) as to, “keep a journal, raise your self-awareness and about your values, beliefs and attitudes and behavior or continue a path of personal growth….ensure you are a part of the solution and not part of the problem” (Par. 15).
References
Dellasega, C.A. (2009). Bullying among nurses. Ann J Nurs. 109, 52 – 58.
Duffy, E. (1995). Horizontal violence: A conundrum from nursing. Collegian Journal of the Royal College of Nursing Australia, 2 (2), 5 – 17.
Felblinger, D.M. (2009). Bullying incivility, and disruptive behavior in the healthcare setting: Identification, impact, and intervention. Front Health Serv Manage, 25, 13 – 23.
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Penguin Education.
Hawaii Nurses Association,(2008). Horizontal violence or beyond the bully. Web.
Murray, J.S (2009). Workplace bullying in nursing: a problem that can’t be ignored. Medsurg Nurs, 18, 273 – 276.
Porto, G. and Lauve, R. (2006). Disruptive clinical behavior: a persistent threat to patient safety. Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare, Web.
Quine, L. Workplace bullying in nurses. Journal of Health Psychology, 6: 73 – 84.
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. (2008). Workplace bullying: What everyone needs to know. Washington D.C: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries Report, 87 – 2. Web.
Yamada, D. (2010), Workplace bullying in healthcare: The joint commission standards. Web.