Is the anti-bully trend going to far?

[Emergent]

We have a charge nurse who has gotten in trouble because her clique creates a hostile work environment for others. I've been a nurse a long time, I don't have a thin skin, I'm a seasoned baby boomer, and I felt victimized by the undermining, bullying type behavior toward me when I worked with them, and I was not alone in feeling this way, it was a problem for others. I'm glad my manager and management at work did something to correct this. Fortunately, for me, I'm now on a rotation with some great peeps, so I don't have to work with the mean girl club much anymore.

Yesterday, I heard from a nurse tech (and work ally of mine) that this ER charge nurse got called on the carpet because, she couldn't get in touch with nursing supervisor for 6 hrs in the night, and she was having to call the floor herself to obtain rooms for admits. Finally, the tele floor balked at the whole thing and the ER charge called their manager. Now, this ER charge has a habit of disliking, complaining, belittlng this particular nursing supervisor. And, I have no idea if the nursing supervisor was also called on the carpet. But, WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS SHE FOR 6 HRS? And, bully ER charge nurse is in no way an overt bully, she doesn't yell or anything like that, but is a passive aggressive who uses her clique to do her dirty work. She was called on the carpet for calling the manager of the tele floor to try to get the tele floor to accept pts, after the nursing supervisor was AWOL for 6 hours.

It seems like people are pulling the bully card quickly these days to avert attention from their own shortcomings, fueled by the trend to stamp out bullying mandate by the Joint Commission. Now Joint Commission is even considering some bullying incidents to be sentinel events. Perhaps the pendulum has swung too far?

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

Head down, mouth shut, and staying out of the line of fire is a probably the best way to handle bullying if it's transient.

Sometimes you just have to take your turn at being the post. I shudder when I write that, as I've seen REAL incidents of bullying. I've seen the devastation on the face of a person who just can't seem to stand under the weight of abuse. Those extreme incidents are usually rare.

In the work place if you complain, there's the real chance YOU will be seen as the problem. The one who can't get along. The one who can't adapt.

The one who's always whining and crying about their co-workers. After all, it's easier to eliminate one person, than to address an entrenched problem.

[toomuchbaloney]

In some facilities the bully behavior is intrinsic.

We have tolerated too much bullying as a country so we might be a just a little punch drunk just now. We will get better if we continue to seriously refuse to accept bully tactics in the workplace and schools.