Is the anti-bully trend going to far?

gcupid · May 10, 2014

I think that the profession has a ton of bully-like behavior that is seen as the norm and is acceptable. If it's not the profession, it is the allied healthcare professionals or doctors and/or patients that verbally/physically abuse nurses. It is not acceptable behavior. Why is it okay to blame the victim?

Why is it your concern that the nursing supervisor was missing for 6 hours. Did you need her? Stay in your lane. The situation has nothing to do with you, if I'm not mistaken.

jayebug · May 10, 2014

Yeah, ok, making bullying a sentinel event could be viewed as going a bit overboard, but honestly, I haven't seen much of an improvement lately. So, maybe they need to be ridiculous to get their point across. I'm a traveler, so I'm like a bully magnet. Especially considering that most of the places I've been sent to need to sub contract staff because of some sort of dysfunction going on somewhere, which usually results in this kind of "pack" mentality among the nurses. I haven't been a regular staff member for a while, but I have seen it when I was, and regardless of whether the target is the convenient outsider or a regular who's just a bit different, it's still ugly none the less. I think a lot of times this behavior comes about for several reasons, but I think the most apparent is that we are innately trained to look for any possible problems that exist in a multitude of different delivery systems, so, some eventually turn this form of auto examination on their colleagues. The benefit to this type of thinking is that many will find some way to rationalize the exclusion of themselves in the process.There always seem to be those amongst our peers who are looking for "the weakest link" because they think it benefits patient care. Unfortunately, when too much time is spent searching for the flaws of one's colleauges and reporting those findings to management, the ability to be there for the patient is removed. Honestly, when I'm at work, I feel like I'm too busy to be paying attention to what everyone else is doing, so unless they're stumbling drunk down the hallway, I've been answering their call lights all night, or their patients seem to end up coding a lot, I just keep to my business. Maybe that's why this charge nurse has been placed under the microscope as well as the MIA supervisor. The charge nurse has just made it a point to soil the reputation of her co workers too may times, to the extent that management is just sick of hearing it. In that case, I say good for them.

Emergent, RN · May 11, 2014

Yeah, ok, making bullying a sentinel event could be viewed as going a bit overboard, but honestly, I haven't seen much of an improvement lately. So, maybe they need to be ridiculous to get their point across. I'm a traveler, so I'm like a bully magnet. Especially considering that most of the places I've been sent to need to sub contract staff because of some sort of dysfunction going on somewhere, which usually results in this kind of "pack" mentality among the nurses. I haven't been a regular staff member for a while, but I have seen it when I was, and regardless of whether the target is the convenient outsider or a regular who's just a bit different, it's still ugly none the less. I think a lot of times this behavior comes about for several reasons, but I think the most apparent is that we are innately trained to look for any possible problems that exist in a multitude of different delivery systems, so, some eventually turn this form of auto examination on their colleagues. The benefit to this type of thinking is that many will find some way to rationalize the exclusion of themselves in the process.There always seem to be those amongst our peers who are looking for "the weakest link" because they think it benefits patient care. Unfortunately, when too much time is spent searching for the flaws of one's colleauges and reporting those findings to management, the ability to be there for the patient is removed. Honestly, when I'm at work, I feel like I'm too busy to be paying attention to what everyone else is doing, so unless they're stumbling drunk down the hallway, I've been answering their call lights all night, or their patients seem to end up coding a lot, I just keep to my business. Maybe that's why this charge nurse has been placed under the microscope as well as the MIA supervisor. The charge nurse has just made it a point to soil the reputation of her co workers too may times, to the extent that management is just sick of hearing it. In that case, I say good for them.

You make some great points. This charge is self righteous and loves to write others up. She feels emboldened, I believe, because she is mostly surrounded by her little clique of cohorts who continuously validate her. I think that she ended up undermining herself, now she is viewed as a condescending bully by our manager and others. Therefore, when a perfectly valid problem came up, and she complained, management turned on her. Now she feels like a victim, but most likely doesn't see that her own negative pattern of behavior in the long run sabotaged her ability to advocate when she was actually in the right.

Ruby Vee, BSN · May 11, 2014

Yes, the "anti-bully" trend is going too far. People are complaining of bullying whether it's blatent bullying or just an uncomfortable interaction or they got some negative feedback. Some people see bullies everywhere.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · May 11, 2014

Sentinel events are serious business to say the least. However, this is a real possibility when you have nurses who are more interested in playing the bully card than the patients, and it causes patient harm.

Tele patients need monitoring. When they sit in the ER for hours due to the disappearing act of the supervisor on call who is to assign beds (which BTW how dumb is that--let the ON CALL person assign beds?!) In any event, they are taking a monitored bed that could cause harm to a patient who needs a monitored bed. Delays cause harm in some cases.

Or the bullying and passive/aggressive, childish behaviors of nurses (Oh, lets not tell Nurse xyz about that--Miss "know it all" can figure it out for herself giggle, giggle, snort, snort) then causes harm to a patient as a direct result of someone's behavior. And it happens. More than one knows.

If you are gonna throw someone under the bus, it can and will get back to the patient in way of care. So yes, I do think the Joint Commission is onto something.

As far OP as your situation. Let them sort it out. It was not your patient, not your call. IF and only IF you are ever in a charge positon that this could affect you in the future, then this is something that you could talk to your own manager about--what is "plan B" if "plan A" is not working. And an ED staff meeting topic--if you are not getting your patients in due to a muck in the works, then what? Otherwise, I would NOT under any circumstances start a "WELLLLLL the SUPERVISOR could not be REACHED for 6.2 hours...." you know nothing. You do not share details. You just know there was "some sort" of time constraint, and it affected your patient care. Period. You do NOT want to get the rep for being gossipy. What the nurse supervisor was or was not doing is no one's business nor no one's issue but their own. How it affects the facility is another story, but one thankfully you do not have to answer to.

kakamegamama · May 11, 2014

Jadelpn---well said. I've been on the receiving end of "let her figure it out for herself", and it was not pretty. Thankfully, the patients were safe. I, on the other hand, felt stupid, and hung out to dry. Bullying? No, I don't think so, just rude and immature behavior by a few of those I worked with, one in particular.

HeartRN13 · May 11, 2014

Jadelpn---well said. I've been on the receiving end of "let her figure it out for herself", and it was not pretty. Thankfully, the patients were safe. I, on the other hand, felt stupid, and hung out to dry. Bullying? No, I don't think so, just rude and immature behavior by a few of those I worked with, one in particular.

Same here. I'm going through it now. I'm learning the dynamics of the new hospital I'm at 2 months in. There are so many issues with patient safety that have left me cleaning up the mess of other people. Critical situations wjth patients. I have stood up for myself and my patients on a few occasions and it has not been received well. My manager said I did the right thing and she hopes that I will continue to do so, in hopes that others will follow by example. As you can probably imagine, my coworkers probably don't like that either. I'm definitely treated as an outsider, and not welcomed into their group, but it's not bullying. As you said, it's immaturity, and poor morale.

Nola009 · May 11, 2014

Maybe she was pulling an all-nighter :greyalien: :saint:

If she was MIA, then she should get into trouble via her boss mgr, not suffer passive aggressive attacks by her own peers. I think your place understands that no good can come from it.

iluvgusgus · May 11, 2014

Well, she could say they bullied her, but usually bullying is a pattern, in which the victim should document each instance, and it has to be a form of singling out. Its hard to prove someone is being singled out if it was a on time event.

suanna · May 13, 2014

I'm pretty sure the "Zero Tolerance" policy for Bullying is just a way to get rid of nurses without having to go to the BON or prove negligence. Absenteeism is a non-issue. People just get a FMLA. So, if you want to get rid of a nurse- ask them to encourage the CNA to be more involved in the units needs, them write them up for browbeating that poor CNA when they were only 30min late from thier 15min break. They work hard you know. I've yet to see a physician dismissed for bullying. Almost every other department has to interact with nursing directing and coordinating care, so we are the target for 'Bullying" complaints. The day I see our CNO or CFO or CMO get suspended for not voicing thier concerns in the warmest, most supporting terms, I'll get on board with the "Anti-Bullying" movement. In the mean time I try to keep my head down , my mouth shut, and stay out of the line of fire.

ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN · May 14, 2014

The best way to combat bullying is to create a civil and supportive culture. No gossip. No openly criticizing others. None of that "I'm not helping her" mentality. We all know who these insecure and aggressive people are.

I tell orientees that we are nice to each other and imagine how bad you would feel if people were talking badly about you. Be an adult and discuss your issue privately and only with that person. It builds trust.