Workplace Bullying for Nurses

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Earlier, I was flipping through the May 2012 issue of The Walrus, and on one of its pages, there is a short item written by Victoria Beale, titled Ratched Effect: Nurses, the original mean girls. She writes:

Nurses are expected to show untold compassion toward patients and deference to doctors-which may mean their empathy is exhausted when they deal with fellow nurses. According to dozens of articles published in professional journals, nursing is prone to "lateral violence," or bullying within a group of roughly the same status. These studies contend that because the characteristics required of nurses, such as "warmth and sensitivity," are undervalued by those higher up in the medical hierarchy, nurses experience a lack of "autonomy and control" over their workplace. Some feel compelled to exert power aggressively over those equal to or just below them, such as novice or student nurses; in the United States, 60 percent of newly registered nurses leave their first positions within six months as a result of lateral violence (globally, it's one in three). Nurses refer to this phenomenon as "nurses eat their young," also the title of a 2005 study on the subject.
I am a recent entrant to a nursing program in Vancouver, B.C., and even though I have not worked in the healthcare sector, I can see the plausibility of Beale's observations, namely the exhaustibility of one's patience. I am, however, a little surprised by the researches that attribute nurse bullying to the perceived lesser ranking of nurses relative to other health professionals.

I would be very interested to hear from those who has witnessed or experienced this "lateral violence" in the Canadian healthcare sector. How was it dealt with, and are novice or student nurses the most common victims? Or has one noticed acts of aggression made toward foreign-trained, less-specialized (eg. LPN), visible minority, male, or older nurses? Or vice versa?

In three years time, I am expected to graduate from my nursing program as an Asian, male, registered nurse. I can't say at this point that I am worried at all about what has been stated in the article, nevertheless, I think this is a considerable issue given its commonness, and that one day it might happen to me or those around me, so I would like to have at least a little familiarity with current nurses' experiences.

Specializes in Home Care.

If you like to work with machines and technology why would you want to be a nurse? Nurses work primarily with people, not machines.

But if you want to get into healthcare with machines and technology then take a look at being a perfusionist or orthotics and prosthetics.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Excellent point.Nursing has little to do with machines.I wonder what the OP thinks OR nurses do.

Even ICU and OR staff deal with the patient. I mean sure, the Scrub handles the instruments and the odd power tool but at the end of the day, it's the surgeon that gets to do the good stuff with them. Dialysis nurses get to play with the machines but it's primarily patient based interaction on the dialysis unit. A friend moved over to ICU and she says she's doing more personal care stuff and dealing with families than she did on the floor.

I'm thinking ultrasound tech would have more technology based skills.

Admittedly I am quite excited that I am receiving such attention about my personal interest, and since this thread has veered into a pseudo-interview, I will happily take the opportunity to reveal more about myself.

Undoubtedly, I would not mistake the healthcare sector as dilemma-free, but I believe there is a fine difference between what I dislike about my work and that found in a hospital environment. As with many for-profit companies, it is the employee's duty to work for the company's interest, primarily a monetary one, of course. For my position, I had obligation to carry out tasks for the company, some of which I may not like, but what is difficult was that all of the tasks were periodic. Such tasks were the very nature of my job. With nursing, I believe the dilemma would, in most cases, be circumstantial, and as in the example given by Fiona59, I think the conflicts arise from the different weighing of pros and cons, which is far more flexible than, say, file a lawsuit against this debtor on legal grounds no later than this date regardless of any consequence for him/her. Ultimately, I think I am right to propose that the mandate of the healthcare industry (public in particular) is to promote individual and public health, rather than to serve interests irrelevant to most citizens, and this is why I would argue that nursing is one of the more morally rewarding professions.

I think it goes without saying that for nurses, human interaction (communication, physical care, etc.) is one of the most common procedures of patient care, and although I missed mentioning this in my previous post, I think nursing is one profession that emphasizes both social and technical know-how, which is a combination I do enjoy. I certainly would not go on a slippery slope and simply study to become a robotic engineer, just because I expressed an interest in machines, technology, and instruments. itsmejuli did mention few interesting career options hitherto were unfamiliar to me, perfusionist is one. It is something I did not know about. But really, if I could go back to childhood and start preparing for my career with knowledge I now have, I think I would train myself to be a racing car driver, and I would aim to race for a team with a green car.

As for what I think OR nurses do, I think they provide ad hoc care for OR patients throughout the procedure. Before and after surgery, there is the fun of reading off monitors, and during surgery, OR nurses get to manage all the different equipment used, whilst providing auxiliary support to surgeons and other OR staff when needed. Of all the major nursing specialities, I still believe OR nurse is one that operate, witness, and maintain a wide range of technology and equipment. I would love to hear about more nursing specialities that are deem close to my interests and needs, esoteric or not, because fortunately, I am soon to become a nursing student, so that I still have the luxury of planning ahead. With regard to imaging, for me, anyway, I find sonographers' job less exciting than OR nurses'. I think I will use the word repetitive. Somehow, I imagine the same for nephrology, especially when I currently don't think I prefer having the same patient year after year. In any case, I suspect OR nurses' tasks would vary more from patient to patient and day to day, and with less predictable work pace. Exciting, in other words. On the other hand, I don't intend to become a surgeon because of money, time, and energy constrains.

There is a difference between Nephrology and Dialysis. Dialysis staff often work on specialized units where they dialyze the same patients year after year (satellite units). Acute care Dialysis staff work with patients in ICU and PICU. Then there are the nephrology floor staff. Yes, i work in a regional centre where all these specialties are.

OR nursing can be incredibly routine and not at all exciting. I've heard scrub describe their role as one "an educated monkey could do". Look at the States. They have OR staff that aren't even nurses because it is more cost efficient to have non-professional staff be the "instrument person". The circulator basically passes drugs, fetches missing items, monitors the sterile field, and documents all the equipment and procedures performed. They participate in the pre and post op count. If you work in a small town you will deal with routine apis and cholis, the odd section. Every thing big is forwarded to regional centres. I have friends who do eye procedures or hip surgeries day after day. Our Women's Centre has staff that do only gynie and c-sections and that's it. Others specialize in neurosurgery. General covers everything else. Trauma's are given priority but they aren't day to day events. Usually there are only two nurses in the OR, one RN at all times and usually and LPN/ORTech.

Oh, and depending on BC's financial state, do they require their OR staff to pay for their own eduation? Several times in the last decade, here in Alberta the health authority has funded their own staff and new grads through the peri-operative course.

Now, now Fiona. What have you been told about dashing the dreams of the newbies ;)

Eric you want to be a nurse. You want to be able to help people. That's great. Worry about being a nurse first then where you want to work later. Who knows what you may end up liking. Maybe L&D! Either way you will not stay in one place forever. It will kill you or you someone if you try. You need the change to expand your mind, keep you always learning and keep you from getting stuck in your ways.

I LOVE my job now (mostly) but I think Ill only stay for 3 more years. Need to keep moving and learning

About the OR - I hated it! It was cool watching surgeries, but I was BOARD! Just not my cup of tea. I missed getting to know the pt. That is where my strength is. Maybe you'll discover you good at solving problems, work well in high stress situations, or maybe you`ll love the OR. I have a few friends who love working in the OR and love it.

ICU, tele, dialysis, Neur, resp are all areas that you would be working with machines. Typically in the OR it is the anesthetist who is monitoring the machines. You will be mainly passing tools and counting tools (although in ON that is almost all an RPN job) or charting the whole thing. Get a placement in the OR and see if you like it.

Best of luck.

That's me the voice of doom and gloom!

Could you imagine being trapped in the Cataract OR and doing cataracts for the rest of your day!!!

I figure I've got maybe five years left in me. I'm a floor nurse, like the patient ed part of the job, really enjoy a good dsg change and believe it or not I seem to have a way of making my patients "feel secure and safe" (quote from letter of appreciation). I seriously am going to frame that when I get my copy from my manager!

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I work with an RN that thought she would love the exciting world of OR nursing.She too was very bored.I have observed a couple of surgeries and the nurses mostly just handed things to the surgeon.Daisy is right,it is the anesthetist that handles the machines.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.
That's me the voice of doom and gloom!Could you imagine being trapped in the Cataract OR and doing cataracts for the rest of your day!!!I figure I've got maybe five years left in me. I'm a floor nurse, like the patient ed part of the job, really enjoy a good dsg change and believe it or not I seem to have a way of making my patients "feel secure and safe" (quote from letter of appreciation). I seriously am going to frame that when I get my copy from my manager![/quoteOh yes,there's nothing as satisfying as a good dressing change is there?

No, it's ok. If my plan to become an RN can be easily swayed by this conversation, then I probably shouldn't be in nursing. In any case, this thread allowed me to learn a great deal about nurses and possible specialites.

Currently, B.C. has student loan forgiveness program for certain healthcare students if employed in underserved regions. As for OR training, I have heard some hospitals will sponsor students in their advanced education, but I do not know if this is a province-wide practice funded by the government.

Aside from the card stacking opinions about the world of OR, is there any thing positive that can be said about the OR specialty other than witnessing surgical procedures? There seem to be expert consensus that OR is one of the most boring and uninspiring fields in nursing, and that I am tempting career-happiness suicide by wanting to join the teams of OR after graduation. If true, I pity the hopefuls who are going into OR come this graduating year. Fortunately for me, I have this forum and the luxury of planning ahead.

Specializes in Home Care.

Once you start your clinical placements you'll get a better idea of what you want to do. You may find that nursing isn't at all for you.

Perhaps by the time you graduate there will be more nursing jobs in BC.

I thought I'd love Geriatrics and LTC, was I wrong. If it came down to LTC or leave nursing? I'd leave. I found out I was a surgical nurse. Love wound care, seeing a patient get stronger and move through the system. I guess my ideal unit would be a day surgery unit but they are hard to get a position on due to senority issues (I've been nursing less than 15 years).

Half my class wanted to work postpartum, I've only heard of one that went to that world. Again seniority issues and the reality is despite our rising birth rate there just isn't that many positions.

We're not trying to talk you out of anything, just want to make sure you enter into this with very open eyes and a real life view point.

Alberta had or might still have a loan forgiveness programme, but there was/were some great clauses in it. If most of your student loans were federal, they wouldn't pay them off. Be very careful and read all the fine print because you can't hope the loan rebates will be there four years down the road with the state of the BC economy. We've had more than a few BC new grads come out to work in casual lines here because they couldn't find jobs.

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