Recognizing Bullying In Pediatric Patients

[Nurse_Ziba]

and another one!

first line of defense

recognizing bullying in pediatric patients

as a middle school nurse for chatsworth avenue school in larchmont, n.y., terese carey, rn, bsn, ncsn, cares daily for children who come to her office complaining of stomach aches and headaches. but once at her office, many tell her their complaints stem from a fear of being bullied or that they feigned illness to avoid a bullying situation.

though rarely treating physical injuries from bullying, carey says treating her patients’ emotional wounds is just as important. “bullying affects the child emotionally and physically, so you have to take care of the whole child,” says carey, a school nurse for more than 13 years. “you need to have a holistic approach ... because if you don’t take care of the emotional [wounds], forget about the physical [well-being of the child].” many times emotional wounds are contributing to their physical complaints.

according to the u.s. department of health and human services, bullying is physical harm, such as punching and shoving, spreading rumors, social isolation, teasing people in a mean way, and ganging up on others. given the prevalence of bullying in society — a 2005 study by the national center for education statistics reported that 14% of 12- to 18-year-olds had been bullied six months before being interviewed — carey and other bullying-prevention advocates hope nurses become more aware of bullying and assume responsibility for tending to children who are at risk.

full article: http://news.nurse.com/article/20100407/ped02/100407003

[bergren]

Every week on the NASN home page, in the upper right hand corner, there is a Quick Poll for school nurses to keep NASN informed of what is going on in schools.

A newspaper op-ed last week was published in response to several teems arrested for bullying related to the high school student who commited suicide in Massachusetts. The op-ed said that as long as school employees were bullied by other school employees, how could the adults in the building effectively advocate for better behavior and attitudes among the students?

So this week's Quick Poll asks if you have been bullied by co-workers in your school nurse role.

Please go to NASN home page to participate. http://www.nasn.org

[Nurse_Ziba]

Hi bergen! Thank your for letting me know about the poll. :) As a new nurse I fit the being bullied profile. :uhoh21:

[bergren]

Hi bergen! Thank your for letting me know about the poll. :) As a new nurse I fit the being bullied profile. :uhoh21:

So sorry to hear that........ Who is bullying you?

[Nurse_Ziba]

The head nurse and the other nurses. My first year was hell but I managed to be very patient and optimistic. I don't work with them the whole shift since I'm stationed in the small clinic - ELC and would only return to the main clinic after class hour. The sad thing is although I'm not with them they still manage to bully me around.

I find it Ironic that I get along very well with teachers, staff, parents, and students but not with them. On my second year I started to be upfront and that only made the bullying worst. I tried every harmonies way to make it stop but jerks are jerks. If I'll go down to their level, what difference does it make? I don't want to be like them. I opted to be quiet and she confronted me for doing so. I told her why is everything an issue? Just because i prefer to be quiet it was taken against me. She couldn't answer me. Right now I'm still being bullied but not as bad as before. I realized that some people are just pain the A** and that we just need to be the bigger person. I'm still in the process of growing and I'm embracing the challenge of dealing with difficult people because I believe that at the end of the day it's what we learned from the experience that matters. :)

[bergren]

Ziba

I am so sorry you are still having that experience. I think you are doing the right thing staying under the radar.

[Nurse_Ziba]

Yep. I'm trying to stay under the radar and at the same time I'm documenting all the incidents just so I have something to back me up when something happens. You'll never know how dirty they can get.