i have had a very interesting experience with the aacn's "healthy work environments" initiative. it really does seem that one just had to "name it to claim it!"
i have posted an excerpt from the aacn's on-line and journal article on lateral violence - has anyone had any experience with these behaviors (below)?
how much of your practice is impacted by issues such as these!?
i know that, in retrospect, i have had a role or two that i am not proud of! however, i resolved that i would be a part of the solution - not a part of any problem. so, what do you recognize?
have you been a victim or a villain?
how do we stop this now?
please share your feeling, comments, observations or experiences.
thanks!!!
and
practice safe!
from the june 2007 edition of : critical care nurse
manifestations of lateral hostility
lateral hostility, bullying, horizontal violence, and the like may be conveyed in a nearly endless variety of forms that denigrate a nurse's professional dignity. some of those expressions identified in the literature include the following3,14,17:
* backstabbing, gossiping
* belittling gestures (deliberate rolling of eyes, folding arms, staring straight ahead or "through" when communication is attempted)
* constant criticism, scapegoating, fault-finding
* elitist attitudes regarding work area, education, experience
"Just how long will lateral (and vertical) violence be tolerated in nursing?!"
quote from post#144 by DeLanaRN
It's been present and advantageous for some, for so long that it seems that the answer to your question is "never"!
Combatting it has hardly ever brought restitution of reputations, jobs, and any real kind of satisfaction, yet it perpetuates. The payoff seems to be "Gotcha!!"
That makes the perpetrater feel more powerful, wise, and wonderful. We've all seen this, most of us back away from it, lest we become involved, and many good nurses have gone away from nursing, to other seemingly less avoricious vocations.
So next time your staffing is low, think about that. Perhaps you'll think of ways to support those who have been victimized by it.
It does happen in other professions as well - but that is no excuse for initiating, participating in, condoning or defending the behaviors...
I was an operations manager for a Fort 500 company that uses a contracted employee business model for day to day operations and in one facility I was stationed, there was one contractor who tirelessly tried to have me fired. But not before she'd charmed her way into a friendship with me in an attempt to gain my trust and ascertain what my strengths and weaknesses might be so that she could exploit them. She was pretty well bonkers. And she underestimated me - thought she had me figured out. When the poo hit the fan, my response was one she hadn't anticipated. I saw her coming from day one. But had I been especially vulnerable at the time (dealing with divorce, illness, a death in the family, what-have-you) it might have ended badly.
I've since moved on from the company, but in doing some research after I left, I found that her antics had been behind the resignations of 5 individual staff, including two managers leaving the facility within 3 weeks of each other - but because she was a contracted employee and not necessarily subject to all of company policy, she had been able to get away with it for a very long time. I know now that the reason I was targeted was two-fold: Her most recent target had left the company and she wanted my job but didn't have the credentials to be considered. So, like the two managers that preceded me I was (in her twisted mind) a necessary target.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
jlsRN, I understand the nurse described may not see herself as an instructor, but as nurses we ARE to teach, that includes student nurses and new nurses. A rose by any other name remains a rose, and the response the student received was intended to bully and intimidate the student and it did absolutely nothing to foster nursing as a profession. It is no secret that "nursing eats its young" we can't afford the attitude displayed in this time of a major Nursing shortage. If we are seen to devalue new potential nurses and students how is that raising our credibility as professional in the eyes of other disciplines? Pharmacists, psuchologists and physicians don't publicly attack each other nor do they air their dirty laundry by maligning each other in public. It is workplace violence and intimidation, it is hurtful to all.
It's no secret that some like to tout the phrase "nurses eat their young", although I don't think it's ever been proven that nursing is harder on newbies than any other job. Personally, I'd like to see that phrase go away.
I truly believe health care institutions quietly encourage lateral violence among nurses because it diverts our attention and energies away from things we could change. We're so busy infighting that we don't have enough energy left over to duke it out with administration over issues like mandatory overtime, frequent call-offs, understaffing, safe patient care, adequate benefits and pay.
We acquiesce our power and prefer to take our frustrations out on each other. Very sad state of affairs.
If nursing is going to solve the problem of lateral violence, it has to take ownership of the problem and work positively to encourage HEALTHY communication between health care co-workers.
I truly believe health care institutions quietly encourage lateral violence among nurses because it diverts our attention and energies away from things we could change. We're so busy infighting that we don't have enough energy left over to duke it out with administration over issues like mandatory overtime, frequent call-offs, understaffing, safe patient care, adequate benefits and pay.
We acquiesce our power and prefer to take our frustrations out on each other. Very sad state of affairs.
If nursing is going to solve the problem of lateral violence, it has to take ownership of the problem and work positively to encourage HEALTHY communication between health care co-workers.
Correct. Other posters in this thread have commented that lateral (and vertical) violence has historically been used to the benefit of some staff and administrators for a very long time. In training, were we not all taught that the work and the workplace are not about us? We have sometimes taken that teaching so seriously that we start thinking that nothing is about us and that we have no business expecting respect and consideration from anyone.
As for the use of the word "violence:" violence is what it is, hostile and brutal. It is an abusive, demeaning, dispiriting slap in the mouth when it happens, and that is what it is meant to be by the person doing it. It is intentional violence, plain and simple.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
according to my own job description, it's not part of my job.
and that's jumping the gun to say that if someone doesn't want a student following them around, then they should change careers.
nor is it part of my job description. usually, i welcome students, but there are some students who have worn out their welcome very quickly. it's unbelievably arrogant to say that if someone doesn't wish to have a student following them around they should change careers.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
If a nurse is really imposed to have a student assignment, then she should be assertive enough to say so. What she never was a student nurse?
Not sure exactly what you mean -- if a nurse feels really opposed to having a student follow her, she should say so? If she feels really imposed upon, she should say so?
Oftentimes nurses DO feel imposed upon by having a student thrust upon even when they have already expressed their opposition to such an assignment. And oftentimes, having expressed such opposition they get told to "suck it up and deal" anyway.
And all of us were students at one time. However, most students have not been experienced nurses, having a student thrust upon them against their protests. So however much the student may not LIKE such an experience, they are in no position to judge.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i completely understand your situation. you were done dirty and there was nothing really that you could have done and that sucks.
however, you say you've been stabbed in the back so many times by coworkers i would have to question why?
you have people like tom and leslie above, and myself who aren't bullied at all, if ever and i have to question why?
i'm not about to blame you the victim by no means, because you definately were in that one case stabbed in the back by an evil person. but if it's to the point where you're talking about about a kevler vest, i have to wonder are you wearing a sign that says "stab me?".
why do some of us get stabbed in the back over and over and some of us not at all?
something to think about.
i have to second this. if you're always having problems with being bullied, stabbed in the back, discriminated against, etc. perhaps you ought to take a look at how you're presenting yourself. if it happens once, it could be them. but if it happens over and over again, it isn't them. it's you. the only thing you can change is your own behavior.
i can say this because there was a time when i would have insisted that i was constantly a victim of mean, nasty old bullies. with 20/20 hindsight, i can say that once i changed myself, the bullying stopped.
nor is it part of my job description. usually, i welcome students, but there are some students who have worn out their welcome very quickly. it's unbelievably arrogant to say that if someone doesn't wish to have a student following them around they should change careers.
that may be true...
although, don't you think it most appropriate to address the issue professionally - without resorting to demeaning, demoralizing, aggressive, neglectful and/or diminutive behavior?
basic respect for others ought to be practiced diligently in all circumstances, including those that are personally inconvenient. every employer i've ever had has expected that of me. i can't imagine it would be any different in a nursing environment...
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
that may be true...
although, don't you think it most appropriate to address the issue professionally - without resorting to demeaning, demoralizing, aggressive, neglectful and/or diminutive behavior?
basic respect for others ought to be practiced diligently in all circumstances, including those that are personally inconvenient. every employer i've ever had has expected that of me. i can't imagine it would be any different in a nursing environment...
do you disagree?
i cannot imagine what part of my post led you to believe that i thought it was appropriate to address "the issue" less than professionally or less than respectfully.
i have to second this. if you're always having problems with being bullied, stabbed in the back, discriminated against, etc. perhaps you ought to take a look at how you're presenting yourself. if it happens once, it could be them. but if it happens over and over again, it isn't them. it's you. the only thing you can change is your own behavior.
i can say this because there was a time when i would have insisted that i was constantly a victim of mean, nasty old bullies. with 20/20 hindsight, i can say that once i changed myself, the bullying stopped.
yes, you can change your behavior by bearing your own fangs or you can change your work place which is neccesary sometimes, when the place is so toxic and has so many carnivores that no one no matter how gamey one becomes they cannot withstand the onslaught of biting, tearing and chewing!
i have found that this has worked for me and i am fortunate enough to have been able to bite back quick enough and hard enough that some of the predators look for more vulnerable prey. i don't know how much this does to change the overall workplace environment, but has allowed me to continue to do what i love doing with fewer wounds though i have quiet a few scars on my tough old hide.
i suspect that in learning to hold our own and expending so much energy in this process we and our patients are deprived of the opportunities we would have in a less hostile environment. in prison situations inmates learn to attack before being attacked and i fear that may happen in nursing all too often, rendering that nurse incapable of descerning when her behavior crosses over the line and becomes lateral violence!
i cannot imagine what part of my post led you to believe that i thought it was appropriate to address "the issue" less than professionally or less than respectfully.
so you agree then? or...
sidenote: where do y'all keep the head-scratching smiley?
lamazeteacher
2,170 Posts
"Just how long will lateral (and vertical) violence be tolerated in nursing?!"
quote from post#144 by DeLanaRN
It's been present and advantageous for some, for so long that it seems that the answer to your question is "never"!
Combatting it has hardly ever brought restitution of reputations, jobs, and any real kind of satisfaction, yet it perpetuates. The payoff seems to be "Gotcha!!"
That makes the perpetrater feel more powerful, wise, and wonderful. We've all seen this, most of us back away from it, lest we become involved, and many good nurses have gone away from nursing, to other seemingly less avoricious vocations.
So next time your staffing is low, think about that. Perhaps you'll think of ways to support those who have been victimized by it.