Nurse Bullying. Have you experienced it?

[Alexx_xox]

So, recently I have noticed on Facebook sites a lot of nurses actually bullying fellow nurses on social media.

Things I have seen nurses bully about:

-nurses who were really put together for a shift

-nurses who had polished nails

-nurses with tattoos

In fact, on my Instagram handle, I was actually bullied once because a girl thought I wore too much makeup for a shift in the ER. With all this bullying I see on social media, it makes me wonder whether this also occurs in the work setting?

Do any of you guys have any input on nurse bullying? Have you ever experienced it? If so, what was it regarding?

On one my favorites scrub brands Facebook, a nurse literally bashed another nurse and stated "I would NEVER want you as my nurse" and this was all said because the nurse in the photo had her nails painted.

Why do people go out of their way to be rude to others? And if its ok with their hospital policy to have painted nails and tattoos showing, then why do so many others care??

Let me know what you guys think.

xox

[Alexx_xox]

Of course and I never disputed that but to call everything "bullying" dilutes the definition and takes the focus away from the really damaging things. They are anonymous strangers on the internet. They have no power.

I understand that they may not have power, but some people can still feel bullied by these comments. Especially when they're public and others can see them. It can be viewed as embarrassing for these online nurse bloggers as well. Either way, its negative and unneeded. People need to stop being keyboard bullies.

[Alexx_xox]

Of course and I never disputed that but to call everything "bullying" dilutes the definition and takes the focus away from the really damaging things. They are anonymous strangers on the internet. They have no power.

Also, this post wasn't just regarding online nurses, I was also referring to those in the work place.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

I understand that they may not have power, but some people can still feel bullied by these comments. Especially when they're public and others can see them. It can be viewed as embarrassing for these online nurse bloggers as well. Either way, its negative and unneeded. People need to stop being keyboard bullies.

KEYBOARD BULLIES, I love that!

Keyboard bullying goes way beyond nursing, the world is full of rude people. You see rude people at the grocery store, at the mall, in restaurants, and the list goes on. We can't make people stop being rude, we can only chose how we react to the rudeness.

As long as people can hide behind their computer or their cell phone there will be rudeness. Look at all the examples out there, just pull up your Facebook page and see how people react on social media, they are just not children they are adults also. I'm not trying to get into a debate about politics, but look at our president, he uses social media to degrade others. Our children learn by example, so the only thing that I feel I can do is teach my children and grandchildren by example.

[Wuzzie]

I understand that they may not have power, but some people can still feel bullied by these comments. Especially when they're public and others can see them. It can be viewed as embarrassing for these online nurse bloggers as well. Either way, its negative and unneeded. People need to stop being keyboard bullies.

"Feeling" bullied and actually being bullied are two entirely different things. Incivility hurts but it is not bullying. I have experienced both and I agree they are extremely painful.

[Alexx_xox]

KEYBOARD BULLIES, I love that!

Keyboard bullying goes way beyond nursing, the world is full of rude people. You see rude people at the grocery store, at the mall, in restaurants, and the list goes on. We can't make people stop being rude, we can only chose how we react to the rudeness.

As long as people can hide behind their computer or their cell phone there will be rudeness. Look at all the examples out there, just pull up your Facebook page and see how people react on social media, they are just not children they are adults also. I'm not trying to get into a debate about politics, but look at our president, he uses social media to degrade others. Our children learn by example, so the only thing that I feel I can do is teach my children and grandchildren by example.

Agreed, we just need to teach our kids better and hopefully they also teach their kids better.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Yeah, I don't think I've ever been bullied. I'm a big, grumpy old guy who usually could give two poops what most other people think unless its important and has to do with my job. I think what you are talking about is not bullying its just common stupidity and cattiness which is pervasive in our line of work. A good way to take the sting out of this is to not partake in it. For example, the nurse fashion critics on facebook?!?!? I can't begin to imagine taking time to read that drivel. Punch out of the social game and don't feed the pig

[Wuzzie]

I think what you are talking about is not bullying its just common stupidity and cattiness which is pervasive in our line of work.

Do you really think it's more pervasive in nursing or do we feel like it is because, for most of us, this is all we have ever known? I have teacher friends and medic friends and business friends who, to a person, speak of the incivility they see in their own workplaces. I think for us it's because we don't have offices or cubicles or even our own workstations where we can escape for even a second when we are in a bad mood or somebody else is. For us we are pretty much in each other's faces all. day. long. And if it's not a peer's grill it's a patient's and they usually aren't particularly cheerful either. So it might appear that we have it worse but I think we are pretty much like every other work environment we just can't get away from it like they can.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

If you are truly interested in the subject, do a site search and you will find enough threads here to collapse the internet. Honestly, it's been talked to DEATH on AN.

[ItsThatJenGirl, CNA]

I've been treated pretty badly by a few people on this website, but I wouldn't say it's bullying. Did I get my feelings hurt? Yep, but it didn't negatively impact my schooling, life or career.

I think being treated poorly and being bullied are very different and we should apply the terms correctly. And everything Wuzzie said.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Yeah Wuzzie I hear ya. I think its pervasive in units that operate 24/7. I've worked in the ER most of my career and the gossip, pettiness and total lack of any acceptable boundaries are obvious. I was detailed to an administrative post for about a year. Just about everybody there was a nurse. It was much, much less pervasive at the cubicle ranch.

[Wuzzie]

Yeah Wuzzie I hear ya. I think its pervasive in units that operate 24/7. I've worked in the ER most of my career and the gossip, pettiness and total lack of any acceptable boundaries are obvious. I was detailed to an administrative post for about a year. Just about everybody there was a nurse. It was much, much less pervasive at the cubicle ranch.

I'm wondering if it was more pervasive or just more obvious. I know, I know, semantics and all that, but sometimes I just wish I could banish a cranky co-worker to their cubicle instead of the nurses station.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

I do think that, due to specific features particular to nursing as a profession (conservatism, isolationism aka "we're the nurses" against the rest of the world, protectiviness toward what nurses consider to be "theirs", nepotism and antiintellectualism being some of them) bullying is more prevalent in nursing, although all medical field in common has this problem to certain degree.

I was treated extremely badly by other nurses during my first year because, well, I was smarter than half of them put together plus that manager who led the pack. Sorry, but that was just that - plus the most ordinary rasism and xenophobia thrown in for a good measure. Smart, hard-working, introverted, silent new grad nurse seems to be a perfect target simply for possessions g these virtues. But all that was like innocent babies' play in comparison with what was done with medical residents in one academic center I once worked. There were four committed suicides among them over just one year, plus three more of CRNA students and several more attempts that failed. Later in my life, I'd met a girl who did a few years in a European boarding school specializing in ballet training. What was done there, by her, was well beyond and above that residency program and it was systematically done for 12 to 14 years old children. And when you read "Harry Potter", please keep in mind that it is really how things are in some poorer managed British specialty boarding schools - or worse.

Most of my family and close friends belong to academic science circles, and many of them experienced workplace bullying, especially in lower level universities. But nobody reported it being as bad as what I experienced. When I first I finished up with PTSD and stress cardiomyopathy, both my psychologist and cardiologist told that they saw other nurses with similar experiences.