A Matter of Respect and Dignity: Bullying in the Nursing Profession

TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

I know of two victims that I no longer feel sorry. Mostly because they bring everything upon themselves. I think they crave the attention. One constantly runs to the stairwell or broom closet for a good cry. The other brought Valentine's day treats for everyone that was "nice" to her and left out all the "meanies."

First of all, nobody deserves to be bullied, I don't care how much they cry or how different they may seem, no one deserves it.

Second of all, you make it sound as though it was rude or snotty, etc for the nurse to only make valentine's day treats for the people she liked. Why the hell would she make the effort, spend the time, and the money making something special for someone that she hates?

Anyway bullying is getting to a ridiculous level in our profession. The attitude that I've had for a while is rather simple and quite effective: I go to work, take care of my patients, go home and live my life. I'm not there to talk or to make friends simply to do my job and make sure my patients are better off when I leave then they were when I came in. It might sound cold, but it sure makes things simpler.

LTV950rn · Apr 20, 2011

I respectfully disagree with this statement. Whether you realize it or not, certain people are targeted for bullying due to a couple of specific reasons. Also, I believe that a person who does not demand respect in the workplace is ultimately responsible for the poor treatment that will soon follow.
Have you ever wondered why some people are always victimized by bullies and other people are always left alone? I have observed that bullies always target certain individuals, and at the same time, leave the other people on the unit alone. Unfortunately, it's all about perception. If you are perceived as a softy or a pansy who will not stand up to the bully, you'll be targeted for further harassment. If you're perceived as someone who will put up resistance and not allow anyone to run over you, then the bully will quickly know to leave you alone because you're now viewed as too difficult of a target.
In a nutshell, bullies love easy targets. They thrive on people who will not do anything in response to the bullying. Bullies avoid harder targets and tend to steer clear of people who will openly resist being pushed around.
Bullying is a crime of opportunity. Bullies prey on the most opportune targets: people who are less likely to respond in a defensive manner to the bullying. Also, if nothing is done during the first instance of bullying, the bully will continue the rampage, because he/she knows that he/she can get away with it.

Blaming the victim? I hope you aren't one of those workplace bullies. While you do need to be assertive, some of the reason new nurses are targeted is for that reason-they are new. Perputuating the stereotype that the victim is to blame is not right. A person who is a bully is just that-a bully. It is not fair to justify why certain people should be picked on or targeted, while others are not. If there is a real issue with the care or performance of the person who is being targeted, there are other ways to address that rather than cutting them down. Just my :twocents:

SkiMama · Apr 20, 2011

How do I deal with bullying? Look the person directly in the eye and make a comment in response to their words or insulting behavior that lets them know very clearly that they have just been called out and I am not going to take it.

How does a new grad, even one who is not timid about standing up for themselves, handle being bullied by an experienced nurse?

I think when the field is level it's one thing for someone to stand up to the bully, it's different when there are always newbies coming (and going).

Why is this such a recurring issue in nursing? Yes, it happens everywhere, but you don't hear about it so much in other arenas. Is it more common in nursing? Is it more common b/c nursing has largely been dominated by women professionals? I hate that stereotype - women are catty. But is there truth to it here?

If yes, we should know better. Those nurses participating in gossip, or personally criticizing another nurse who has been abused for being a baby, whatever - should be ashamed. Nursing is a profession, not a sorority or a popularity club. I know life isn't always as it "should" be, but this is ridiculous. I truly hope that nurses who are responsible for perpetuating this cycle of workplace/coworker abuse will be held accountable and educated that these actions will not be tolerated. And if they cannot be professionals, I hope they are weeded out. Plenty of intelligent, professional nurses eager to be team players are waiting to take their place.

Blackcat99 · Apr 20, 2011

How do you stand up to a bully.?

It all depends on the situation. Are you being bullied? Please tell us your situation and perhaps we can offer you some suggestions.

iNurseUK, RN · Apr 20, 2011

I hate to add my opinion to the "Years ago this didn't happen" lobby but I am sorry to say it is true. Twenty years ago healthcare looked different, there were adequate staffing levels with student nurses counted in the ward strength and not supernumerary as they are now.

Nursing managers were NURSES not some basement dwelling adolescent with a degree from Hicksville University that would not know a nursing issue from a pile of horseapples.

Patient acuity and caseloads are higher now. Every other speciality from doctors to physiotherapists expect the nurses to be at their beck and call. If anything goes wrong it seems the default course of action to blame the nurse.

The rise of bullying and other negative behaviours seems to me to be a consequence of the changes in nursing discussed above. Instead of being free to worry about our patients we spend half our lives worrying about our licenses. The blame culture has infected nursing fatally.

heron, ASN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

Interesting that no one has pointed out yet that shyte rolls downhill. While bullying can be rooted, in part, in individual personality issues, it is also true that institutional culture has a whole lot to do with it as well. A punitive, disrespectful and abusive corporate culture will breed that behavior in workers.

eagle78 · Apr 20, 2011

There is no reason for a person to bully another. Personally I have no problem standing up to a bully..

Unfortunately there are people who do not have the ability to stand up for themselves, and that is fuel that keeps feeding those inidividuals who are bullies. There have been times in my life when I have felt the need to stand up for someone who was being bullied. I hate to see someone being picked on.

It saddens me that some people don't have any sympathy for the victim because of their inability to stand up. True, the bullies feed on that behavior, but I really think that if they could change they would. I guess my point is that those of us who can stand up need to for all the victims who cannot. Just my :twocents:

metal_m0nk, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

Funny, I read the article and while it does specifically discuss triggers by which bullies choose their targets, being a "pansy" or "softy" (or like descriptors) were not mentioned.

Some situations and factors which WERE mentioned as precipitating target choice:

- Being a new graduate or new hire

- Receiving a promotion or honor that others feel is undeserved

- Having difficulty working well with others (if the "others" are exclusionary and derisive, that's no big surprise - what's interesting is what I see time and time again is that it's usually the aggressors who are the loudest about pointing and hollering "She doesn't get along!!" and not some objective observer)

- Receiving special attention from physicians or

- Working under conditions of severe understaffing

Nope, nothing about wimpiness, being a pansy, or not being 'assertive enough' (this one always makes me laugh - especially when a person's perceived lack of assertiveness does not interfere with any other aspect of their job, save for what some self appointed assertiveness assessor and her cowardly cohort think).

Gotta call ******** on that one.

eagle78 · Apr 20, 2011

There may not be any initial "triggers" like you mentioned. I do believe that if the person does not stand up for themselve that it does fuel future occurrences. Attempts have been made towards me, when I stood up I did not have a problem with the individual anymore. For those who do not, or can not, stand up for themselves, they may find themselves in the situation again. Alot of times with the same individual.

metal_m0nk, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

There may not be any initial "triggers" like you mentioned. I do believe that if the person does not stand up for themselve that it does fuel future occurrences. Attempts have been made towards me, when I stood up I did not have a problem with the individual anymore. For those who do not, or can not, stand up for themselves, they may find themselves in the situation again. Alot of times with the same individual.

That may be true for some. Certainly not for any and all cases.

Still, there are those who like to run around screaming that the problem begins and ends with the target. I hardly ever hear those people actually take some honest, unflattering responsibility for their role. My guess is because doing so might make them look less than fresh. Kind of difficult to not look like a jerk when you're telling an objective listener that you wish that cry baby you just yelled at would just quit her job already (or something to that effect).

JulieCVICURN, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2011

I'm sure this is going to be an unpopular statement, but bullying IS worse in nursing than in any other profession or job I've ever been in. And I've been a career changer for most of my adult life, so I've worked in several different industries and have never seen anything like the horrendous ways nurses treat each other. In every industry there are people who don't get along with each other, but this is the only profession in which I've seen people go out of their way to be nasty and unhelpful to coworkers.

I have not encountered this at my facility, but when I was in nursing school and did clinicals in different facilities there was a distinct difference between them. I went to 5 different locations and in about half of them I witnessed rude and awful behavior by the nurses to each other. When one of the hospitals tried to recruit me around graduation time I told the recruiter exactly why I would never consider working for that hospital, and it was because of the bullying behavior by the staff nurses.

It's not "blaming the victim" to know that you do teach others how to treat you. Yes, nobody should have to develop a thicker skin to tolerate others' bad behavior, but the fact is that there are *******s in the profession and you can either allow them to continue to steamroller over you or you can show them that you're not intimidated. The way management works in most places, you won't be likely to be rid of them anytime soon.

CanadianWolverine · Apr 20, 2011

Funny, I read the article and while it does specifically discuss triggers by which bullies choose their targets, being a "pansy" or "softy" (or like descriptors) were not mentioned.
Some situations and factors which WERE mentioned as precipitating target choice:
- Being a new graduate or new hire
- Receiving a promotion or honor that others feel is undeserved
- Having difficulty working well with others (if the "others" are exclusionary and derisive, that's no big surprise - what's interesting is what I see time and time again is that it's usually the aggressors who are the loudest about pointing and hollering "She doesn't get along!!" and not some objective observer)
- Receiving special attention from physicians or
- Working under conditions of severe understaffing
Nope, nothing about wimpiness, being a pansy, or not being 'assertive enough' (this one always makes me laugh - especially when a person's perceived lack of assertiveness does not interfere with any other aspect of their job, save for what some self appointed assertiveness assessor and her cowardly cohort think).
Gotta call ******** on that one.

Hmm I have worked in places where death threats and other violent threats were made against me and others because #1 we were noobs, and #2 some was because of race. The only people to continue to get bullied were the ones that stayed silent or never stood up for themselves. Sometimes will have to take your licks either physically or verbally to be respected. Making sure you do your job better than anyone else is paramount as well.

Always respect yourself and never give in to a bully.