Bullying in nursing field does exist

Nurses Relations

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I have never before encountered bullying before nursing school. But it so clearly exists, clearer than the air we breathe.

I learned how to "accommodate" the bullies, who thought that "I had a problem" with asking the professor for clarification, hence I am ESL - English as second language

This person was so bothered by it, that she approached me in the cafeteria, and told me how much she dislikes me. :(

I ended up successfully graduating and passing NCLEX on my first try.

Lesson learned: please report school or floor bullies. If you don't, they will go on destroying more lives.

Do not give in to them!!!

*Hugs*!!!!

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Bullies like weak victims. It really ruins their whole plan when someone stands up to them with cool authority.
Bingo...I know this sounds controversial, but some people are more likely to be bullied than others.

In every workplace setting or classroom, some people are magically left alone by the bully while others are picked on without mercy. This does not happen by accident...the bully knows precisely who he/she can target and get away with it. Read: it's the folks who won't effectively stick up for themselves or defend themselves against the attacks.

The people who are left alone by the bully tend to be the ones who will actively resist being teased or picked on. If the bully knows you'll embarrass him or curse him out in front of the group, he'll look for the weak link who is unlikely to do anything when belittled.

We had a student handbook that described bullying and that it would not be tolerated whatsoever. That may be a good place to start. That way when you report it they will sit down with her and it might scare her enough to stop her behavior.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Yes bullying exists in nursing but not more than in other professions. I have friends that are teachers, salespeople, police officers etc. and they see bullying too .

Bullying can take many forms through many outlets. For example, virulent passive-aggression could exist in behavioral or verbal form. Someone coming up to you explicitly conveying their disdain for your existence can now be considered hate-speech, assault, a physical threat, a future promise to conduct and carry out an act resulting in physical harm, etc...the old 'Scut Farkus' days of classical bullying (unfortunately) consisting of some stolen lunch money and a fat lip have been replaced by social media posts consisting of almost a whole 6th grade class of kids encouraging one student to kill them self. She was absolutely bullied.

Context? You mean 'subtext.' The context is pretty clear.

Specializes in Hospice.
Context? You mean 'subtext.' The context is pretty clear.

No, I mean context ... what events led up to this "mean girl" feeling it was appropriate to accost the OP and blurt out her dislike? Unless MG is psychotic, it's highly unlikely that this behavior occurred out of the blue. Without some context or backstory, it's impossible to know whether this was bullying or a carefully edited snippet of a much longer story in which the OP possibly played a very different role from that of a passive victim. Bullies exist, for sure ... but it's important to remember that it usually takes two to tango.

I report work\ nursing error.

I only reported bullying because after a disagreement a co worker refused to sign off on my nurses note .... This note is our time sheet....don't mess with my money now! 😤😤

I think the amount of bullying that goes on in nursing is beyond ridiculous. I stood up to nurse bullying and got fired from my job recently. I think that as the United States of America continue to adopt third world nations culture of slave mentality in the workplace it will continue, but the powers that be will come up with a clever new catch phrase bullying- problem solved.

Specializes in GENERAL.
I disagree. Without context, you really can't say one way or the other.

I do believe that walking up to someone you hardly know in a public area within a school of nursing and telling them that they don't like you over a difference of opinion, with or without context, is something left to the old neighborhood.

Otherwise it's "Lord of the Flies" over and over again.

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
Also, same person harrased my friend who is AA, in clinicals.

What is AA?

What is AA?

Guessing African American

Great comments about bullying. Yes. Workplace bullying is alive and well. But as some of you mentioned - not everything is bullying. For a behavior to be considered bullying, it must include 3 things: 1. There has to be a target (the target can be 1 person or a small group, i.e. night shift nurses, new nurses, etc.), 2. The behavior has to be harmful in some way to either target or to patients, and 3. the behavior has to be repeated. It can't just be a one-time nasty comment during a crisis situation. So, if you believe you are being bullied, compare your experience to the true definition. What I find in my experience is that there is bullying but not nearly as much as nurses being uncivil to each other!

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