Bullying in nursing

[bryn25]

Hi,

I have been a nurse for 6 years and I have never been a target until now. The new unit I'm on is very cliquey and will look for thing you did wrong. They will tell you in private what you did wrong then continue to tell everyone else what you did. I have had staff slam doors in face, roll their eyes and completely ignore me. I feel like once people don't like you and tell their clique they have it in their head that working with me is going to be a "hard" day. I used to be a confident nurse, my old manager praised me on all my good work. Now my confidence is in the toilet. I dread going to work...I consider quitting nursing. When I come home from work all I want to do is have a pity cry. This experience has taught me to always be kind to people. When you hear other people talking bad about someone I will say something positive. This bullying culture must end. Ultimately it harms patients.

[Davey Do]

Emotionally terrorization us does ultimately affect our abilities to provide quality care to our Patients, bryn. It's difficult not to allow malicious acts to affect us as we are suppose to be working in a caring environment.

We have two options: Fight the Good Fight or Get Out.

Getting Out is the easier of the two options, in that we no longer have to deal with the culprits causing the problem. Fighting the Good Fight is a long, rough row to hoe, and the majority of the work comes from changing our perspective.

Something is important because we give it importance. Of course it's normal to have others' opinions of who we are high on the list. However, let's not cast our pearls before swine. Let's allow those who matter affect us emotionally, and make the swine's opinions about us unimportant.

We need to objectively document any inappropriate behavior, especially that which affects Staff's ability to render quality Patient care, and relay that documentation to our superiors.

Finally, we need to confront the parties acting inappropriately. This is tough, because bullies have a tendency to gain power from another's loss of control. When we confront the bully, we need to be prepared, factual, direct, and unemotional.

It would be difficult to give you every nuance about this subject in a short post, bryn. However, if you desire to fight the Good Fight, there are all sorts of techniques and information out there for your perusal. I'm merely letting you know that there are ways to deal with bullies. And, as virtual supporters, we're here for you.

The very best to you.