Break the Silence: Report Bullying

[SEABOATSHELLS]

The importance and impact of bullying in the workplace are significant to nursing in many ways. Bullying threatens the very foundation, of not just nurses, but its business ethics, structure, and productivity. Nursing is a sensitive structure that demands teamwork, dedication, and drive.

The rise of bullying threatens to create barriers in nursing that will result in a negative way. This impact bullying has on nurses impedes their ability to function professionally by interfering with teamwork, morale, and personal health. Prevention is the only way to stop or eliminate bullying. An anti-bullying program must become an integral part of nursing training by deeply embedding the need to identify and prevent this destructive action in the workplace.

A nurse takes the oath to do no harm to others. Nurses dedicate their hearts and minds to practice faithfully in their profession. The qualities a nurse must possess are to be compassionate, sympathetic, and empathetic towards others. These qualities are especially important for nurse managers so they can guide and mentor nurses along with their career path. A nurse manager who lacks these qualities and does not support their nurses creates problems in their working environment.

An unspoken problem is nurse manager bullying. The nursing issue is that nurse manager bullying can cause intimidation and psychological harassment amongst their employees. This harassment can cause the employee to have devastating psychological, physical, emotional, and social outcomes.

It is time in the nursing profession to break the silence that nurse managers who bully nurses create an unhealthy work environment that can result in health problems or cause nurses to resign. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide do occur in staff who are bullied by their co-workers and/or nurse managers.

It is time to be proactive as nurses and identify bullying behaviors and report them immediately. Look at your co-workers who are being treated poorly reach out your hand and guide them to get counseling so they can heal from this.

Here are some basic suggestions on what to do if bullying occurs in the Workplace:

1. Send the employee who is being bullied to Employee Health to talk with an appointed staff member who can guide them in where to get counseling.

2. Remove the employee immediately from the toxic environment and place them in a better working environment so no form of retaliation can occur.

3. Employee Health should report bullying to the Bullying Task Force. The Bullying Task Force is composed of a Peer Counsel Committee who will review each case. This Peer Counsel Committee is important because it does not consist of management who possibly would not be as objective as a peer.
4. Implement a Bullying Support Group. This is important in the recovery of staff who are bullied. The Bullying Support Group will utilize a twelve step program much like Alcoholic Anonymous.
5. Have employees fill out a survey online that can be filled out anonymously and sent directly to the Associate Directors office.
6. Have Human Resources track all staff who leave a position and have them fill out a bullying survey online.

Exit interviews should be conducted on all employees leaving their jobs. This interview should be kept confidential so it does not interfere with or impact new job opportunities. Surveys should be done that ensure confidentiality in the data collected. In order to collect honest and accurate data, it is extremely important to provide confidentiality. Surveys that ask identifiable data such as age, work level, and sex are often a deterrent for employees to complete the survey honestly. A person's identity can easily be assessed by this information. All of the data collected can be utilized to help strengthen the laws, guidelines, and policies to provide a safe working environment and to stop bullying

Educating hospital staff on the importance of looking for suicide and PTSD symptoms is extremely important. Nurse managers need to be educated that treating their employees in a caring way will help to retain them. They will realize happy employees are more productive and tend to stay in their jobs. Cruelty will cause the human spirit to fail. Nurse managers that bully allow the human spirit to fail in the employees they bully. The human spirit is affected by the consequences of bullying which are physical and psychological changes in the person that is bullied. Jean Watson's Human Caring Theory should be taught to all employees to restore caring in the health care system so bullying behavior can be stopped.

Educating and providing resources to new employee nurses on bullying, the Whistle Blowers Act, and sexual harassment should be incorporated into new employee orientation. All staff would also benefit from a yearly review on these topics. Hopefully, this will keep nurses aware of proper workplace behavior and we can retain nurses. There are programs available for this problem, but many nurses are not aware this issue exists nor how to identify bullying. There are several others that provide information on books, education, and counseling available for anyone who is bullied.

There are no governmental laws that prohibit workplace bullying. Governmental laws addressing workplace bullying should be in place. There needs to be a law acknowledging that bullying exists. Once legislation is established then health care organizations will have zero tolerance in allowing this behavior. Strong institutional policies need to be in place in every healthcare organization to prevent bullying in the workplace.

Report Bullying; Break the Silence; Save Your Co-Workers Life

Sarah Yuengling RN MSN

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Ruby Vee said:

Nothing ALWAYS works. But the majority of the time, if you don't tolerate bullying, you won't be bullied.

I am sorry it is so hard for you to understand...

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

morte said:

I am sorry it is so hard for you to understand...

What is difficult for me to understand is why so many negative interactions are perceived as bullying when most of what I've witnessed that has been reported as bullying is someone who hasn't learned to accept negative feedback gracefully (or at all), someone wasn't greeted as effusively as they felt was their due by a colleague who was busy with other concerns, someone who hasn't learned how to get along with others in a professional situation (the "victim", not the "bully") or someone who wants to deflect blame from themselves by playing the NETY card.

I'm not denying that bullying exists -- but it doesn't exist to the extent that we see it claimed. Nor does it exist any more in nursing that it does in any other profession. I think it's highlighted more because people expect nurses to be empathetic and nurturing to everyone all the time. That's not likely -- we're just as human as the mine worker or tipped over the Porta-Potty with his female shift mate inside.

When we make overly dramatic claims about having been bullied when it's merely a case of negative feedback or an unsatisfactory "good morning", we devalue REAL bullying. When we accept at face value everyone's claim that they've been bullied without digging deeper to find the real story, we detract resources from someone who has really been bullied. If all the frivolous claims of bullying or nursing eating their young went away, we'd have the time, the resources and the energy to address the actual bullying that does go on. But all these claims of nurses eating their young, and screaming "lateral violence" every time you don't like a personal interaction or are afraid to stand up for yourself is sucking the energy right out of us all.

[TristleRN]

I don't find the two terms (obnoxious and bullying) confusing at all.... one is just plain annoying, but the other makes you feel deflated, humiliated, dragged down, and stressed. I can ignore obnoxious. The bully is a bit harder.

[imenid37]

Part of the root of the problem with a manager or other leader being a bully, is that this was part of nursing management culture not so long ago. The manager was often intimidating and someone who was to be "feared." Managers, charge nurses, etc. often intimidated other staff into taking shifts, doing tasks, and patient assignments that they did not want to do. Many only knew how to tell, but not to ask. They were not to be questioned. If a staff person were to say, "I can't take another patient right now," they were labelled as weak or inadequate by the person in charge. One incident often turned into a lifetime label. The managers themselves were intimidated by their bosses. The bully was often seen as "getting things done." Once a new grad was no longer a newbie, they took often too on the bully persona to target the lowest on the totem pole. It was a right of passage. Some embraced this role much more fully than others.

Some administrators and managers still promote this type of person, though not overtly. I am sure I am not the only one who has chuckled that the lateral violence lecture is being given by the biggest bully in the department. The "actions" of some do not match the words. They are quick to explain that what they are doing is "coaching", not threatening. Unfortunately, there are still many hateful people in this caring profession. When you look at how another person has completed a task, your instinct may be to judge it as inferior and say so. If they met the parameters of what was asked, then keep your mouth shut if you cannot be nice OR offer advice kindly. Offer help if you wish. Remember that you do not have control of everything. Get over it. Worst of all, don't watch a person fail and then ridicule them or gossip about it. That says volumes more about YOU as a person than it ever does about their skill level. We have all been the objects of kindness and cruelty. Every day we decide how will will pass this experience on to the others we meet.

To me, the best defense it to out the bullies and refuse to yield to them. This is hard for many new staff, so it is left to those among us who have known for years, that this is not the way to be. That does not mean that people are allowed to "get away" with not meeting standards or that there are no rules. It means, thinking before one speaks, being polite, keeping private conversations private, and equally enforcing the rules. In many ways, it is a lot more effort than being a bully ever was. We are all human, it is much easier to see the faults in someone you do not like. It is vital to be objective. You have to enforce rules equally. When you are wrong, you should apologize. When you receive a sincere apology, you should accept it and move on.

In some settings, happily, this has changed to a great extent. The focus on team work, patient safety, diversity, and bullying in other areas of life have helped. We need to work together as a team. Nursing isn't, and never has been a one woman or man show. It truly often does take a lot more effort to lift someone up than it does to keep them down.

[HeartRN13]

I agree with Ruby that the term bullying is being used far too much in the wrong context. No matter where you go, no matter which hospital or facility you work at, there is conflict or tension among nurses. Some of it is the lack of accepting new employees in a welcoming manner. Some of it is personality conflict. Some of it is low morale. Some of it is just plain childish. I do not think the majority of it is bullying.

I am new to a floor, I started 2 months ago. I'm learning the dynamics of the hospital and the floor. There are a world of issues in this place related to poor communication, poor organization with some of the processes, unsafe staffing ratios, and I could go on for hours. I personally am not someone who will cower when things get tough, and I will speak up for myself when it is necessary. My new coworkers don't like this. My boss and I had a conversation and she told me she was proud of me for standing up for what was right, and I did the right thing. She also said she hopes that I will continue to do so, in hopes that eventually others will follow and do the same. Whenever I work my coworkers do not talk to me, and no matter what I say or how I say it, they all find a problem with it. I know that I do not speak to anyone in a rude or condescending manner. I would also not ever call this bullying. I'm just the new kid in school, and everyone has their friends and they really don't care to accept me as theirs. I'm perfectly ok with that because my patients and their families are so extremely grateful, and that's what I'm there for.

I still help anyone who needs it on the floor, but I don't socialize on a personal level. Am I the outsider? Yes I am. But it's not bullying. It's women being women.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Ruby Vee said:

Let me be absolutely sure I understand your point. If a preceptor rolls eyes at a new grad, fails to answer her questions in the manner in which the new grad prefers, fails to greet her in the morning and fails to include her in social situations, that is bullying. If the new grad roller her eyes at the preceptor, fails to answer her questions in the manner in which the preceptor deems appropriate, or fails to include the preceptor in social situations, that's just rude and disrespectful bus is not bullying.

Actually, I would say neither situation is bullying.

I also think that for a situation to be considered "bullying" there needs to be an element of power or hierarchy of the bullier over the bullied. In most situations, a new grad nurse does not have an element of power over the older, more experienced nurse.

[Nola009]

nurseforlife24 said:

I think this has more to do with them being rude and having no respect than bullying though.

I'm at least glad this thread is making an effort to bring this reality out in the open if it's so widespread. But this is just... it just seems to belittle experiences of other people who have gone through real bullying by comparison.

It could definitely be seen as bullying. This is why I enjoy working within a diverse group (don't mistake this for wanting to be the token ___. I usually do not enjoy being the only of my race or generation!!)... it really cuts down on the cliques, and the catty, rude behavior that often comes with them.

[TriciaJ, RN]

ThePrincessBride said:

I have an absolutely horrible nurse manager who I've thought about reporting to HR. She has a history of sending long emails that belittle and call out other people. She has threatened to call us out in front of our peers, she has called us lazy and told us that the partients wants and needs should be responded to immediately, never mind we are severely understaffed and over worked. She has also complained about her job and the fact that she is on thin ice with her bosses. She has also shared that she has multiple job offers with WAY higher salaries. To me, sharing all of that information is just unprofessional and to belittle people like that is uncalled for. She has said some other things that have made me want to report her to hr, but I'm not high up enough in the food chain for it to matter.

This one's almost laughable (of course I don't have to work for her). It just sounds like she's such a loose cannon all you have to do is sit back and wait for her to finish torpedoing herself. Or wait for her to accept one of her lucrative job offers (yeah, right).

[TriciaJ, RN]

merrywhiterose said:

Our DON has 2 RN drinking buddies/best friends. Those 2 RN's seem to think they are better than the other nurses because they've brown-nosed their way into being buddies with the DON. So the RNs try to act like the other LPNs & RNs don't know anything when in reality the 2 RNs are new to the nursing profession. They mentally bully others by pitting everyone against each other.

Your DON doesn't realize that she's hurting her own career by befriending people like this. A REAL friend to the DON would want to be the best nurse and coworker she could be, to reflect well on her friend. Those who think their "friendship" merits special treatment in the workplace are not really friends. They are eventually going to bring her down.

There's a reason to think twice about befriending subordinates. This is it.

[TriciaJ, RN]

TristleRN said:

I don't find the two terms (obnoxious and bullying) confusing at all.... one is just plain annoying, but the other makes you feel deflated, humiliated, dragged down, and stressed. I can ignore obnoxious. The bully is a bit harder.

"Obnoxious" behaviour annoys most people most of the time, and demonstrates social cluelessness in general. "Bullying" is deliberate, calculated and targeted.

[SeattleJess]

kbrn2002 said:

There is a free webinar on 9/26/13 on this topic [bullying vs conflict in the workplace] that has an added bonus of counting for CEU's if you live in a state that requires them.

Thatnks, kbrn2002, for offering this resource. I'll be a first-year student this fall and I appreciate hearing about resources like this one.

[SeattleJess]

Thanks, RNfaster! I hope everyone gets a chance to read this. It squashes some harmful ideas I've encountered in the profession. It's hard, I know, but let's not support a culture of tolerance for abusive behavior. I'm just a student and already I've encountered some of that old-style "nurses eat their young" behavior. Let's make this a dinosaur behavior - extinct.