Sixty percent of new nurses quit their first job within the first six months due to the behavior of their co-workers, and nearly 50 percent of nurses believe that they will experience bullying at some time in their careers, according to research presented in a new e-book from Aurora, Colo.-based American Sentinel University.
The new e-book, "Dr. Renee Thompson's Series on Nurse Bullying," examines the roots of bullying and conflict resolution as Renee Thompson, DNP, RN, a nursing professional development/anti-bullying thought leader, shares her professional insight on how to best address and eliminate workplace bullying.
Here are five other thoughts and statistics from the e-book.
1. Nearly half — 48 percent — of new graduating nurses are afraid of becoming the target of workplace bullying.
2. In Dr. Thompson's research and observations, she identified two primary reasons why bullying is prevalent in nursing:
Nursing is a female dominated profession. "Theories suggest that age-old female 'competition' has shifted from competing over a man to competing over status, respect and position in the nursing environment. The same behaviors once witnessed between two women fighting over a man are the ones witnessed today in the behavior of bullies," Dr. Thompson wrote.
Nurses are an oppressed profession. Dr. Thompson noted that nurses are seen as a silent majority, which can bring about frustration. "Feelings of frustration, coupled with an increasingly complex and stressful job, can create environments where nurses 'take it out' on each other. Since nurses can't 'take it out' on administrators or physicians, the theory is that they take it out on the already oppressed, subservient group," she wrote.
3. Dr. Thompson identified the following as common overt bullying weapons:
Verbal criticism or name-calling
Intimidation
Blaming
Ethnic jokes or slurs
Finding fault
Threatening
Physical violence
4. Dr. Thompson identified the following as common covert bullying weapons:
Sabotage
Withholding information
Excluding others
Unfair assignments
Undermining
Downplaying accomplishments
5. Dr. Thompson's recommended action steps to address bullying are:
Name the behavior. "Bullies who feel a sense of power during their tirades gain momentum as they scream, yell or spread rumors and sabotage their co-workers. Naming the behavior as it occurs can stop things immediately and prevent an escalation of that behavior," Dr. Thompson wrote.
Document, document and document. "If you are being bullied, start a documentation trail. Keep a small notebook with you and write down dates, times, witnesses, verbatim comments, and any behaviors you believe undermine a culture of safety and a professional work environment," Dr. Thompson wrote. "Keep growing this documentation trail until you are at the point where you can file a formal complaint."
I agree. If I could "LIKE" this post a few dozen times, I would.
I'm getting so tired of "the bully card." And anyone who truly believes that she is "being bullied just because they're jealous of me" ought to take a real long, close look at her interactions with coworkers. "They're just jealous" is the kind of thing your mamma told you to make you feel better when you were little. It doesn't mean much now except that you have an excessively high opinion of yourself."
She's kind of a local girl . . . I've disagreed with her about some things and she thinks I'm wrong. To each their own.
I'm not crazy about the reasoning behind why nurses are mean to each other being because we are women.
Linking her video from a recent posting in a professional nurses network in my area.
I have experienced nurse bullying and managers need to screen and train their preceptors and pay them extra and make them accountable for what the nurse student is learning. Make sure they are following the competency forms and during preceptorship training, make them aware of any stereotypes, negative beliefs and prepare them to teach with the goal of forming a nurse into an excellent caregiver. I have experienced bullying and sadly, it is very stressful and unfair. My preceptor was so bad that I had anger issues with her for a long time because she was there to judge not teach. I have forgiven this nurse and moved on to a better place with less judgmental nurses. Thank you Lord.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
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What these have in common with her book excerpts in the OP, in my opinion, is that she runs a business targeting those who feel inadequate or victimized as nurses.
Edited to add: thinking about this some more ... I just wanted to clarify my last paragraph. In a nutshell, I have a real issue with those who assert that interpersonal problems are the result of some defect in us as women! In a nutshell, I do not accept that half of the human population is, in 2016, predisposed to negative behavior patterns solely on the basis of gender. Nope, not buying it. One who repeatedly finds herself involved in unproductive interactions would do well to examine her own contributions to the situations.[/quote]
Thank you. The whole "this happens in female environments" thing really gets on my wick. Yes, it is a symptom of dysfunctional management. When I think of children in my old school who were bullied, they were always first singled out negatively by the teacher. In the same way, hospital leadership sets the tone. First we are herded into meetings where we are told to "manage up". Back on the floor, tattling is encouraged and staff are pitted against one another.
Now there are whole industries hoping to cash in in one way or another.
I have experienced nurse bullying on numerous occasions. The ones that I remember are: 1. An old nurse educator when I was in nursing school. 2. Old nurse at an assisted living facility. 3. Old nurse in a clinic setting. And probably more that I cannot recall at the moment. All three are old nurses who liked to "eat their young" as you may already know that term. I think to myself how immature they are compared to me (even though they are 30+ years older than I am). Bottom line.... the reason they are like that is because of pure jealously. Old nurses do not like when a younger nurse comes in the workplace for numerous reasons. Many of them def need to retire. Just my two cents :)
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I have experienced nurse bullying on numerous occasions. The ones that I remember are: 1. An old nurse educator when I was in nursing school. 2. Old nurse at an assisted living facility. 3. Old nurse in a clinic setting. And probably more that I cannot recall at the moment. All three are old nurses who liked to "eat their young" as you may already know that term. I think to myself how immature they are compared to me (even though they are 30+ years older than I am). Bottom line.... the reason they are like that is because of pure jealously. Old nurses do not like when a younger nurse comes in the workplace for numerous reasons. Many of them def need to retire. Just my two cents :)
I was going to start popping some corn, but I think I'll just pass.
Nurses who "eat their young" is another form of bullying. Verbal bullying, and it should not be tolerated. I see phrase "eat their young" SO much on this forum. It is a HUGE issue in the nursing profession.
I have experienced nurse bullying on numerous occasions. The ones that I remember are: 1. An old nurse educator when I was in nursing school. 2. Old nurse at an assisted living facility. 3. Old nurse in a clinic setting. And probably more that I cannot recall at the moment. All three are old nurses who liked to "eat their young" as you may already know that term. I think to myself how immature they are compared to me (even though they are 30+ years older than I am). Bottom line.... the reason they are like that is because of pure jealously. Old nurses do not like when a younger nurse comes in the workplace for numerous reasons. Many of them def need to retire. Just my two cents :)
One nice thing about being an old nurse is that I no longer feel the need to pussyfoot around the deadwood. I've heard all the whining and worn-out excuses for poor performance/work ethics for years. Don't see any point in wasting my time indulging them. I'm not paid to be your mother, your teacher or your therapist.
I'm not crazy about the reasoning behind why nurses are mean to each other being because we are women.
If this were true, it would a) affect all women at all times, which we know isn't true, and/or b) if it only effects nurses, then it must be something that they are teaching in nursing school. I don't remember that being on my curricula, and the 5 guys in my graduating classes must have gotten to sit those classes out :)
Ideally, were would respect one another and help each other out. Unfortunately, the world isn't so ideal and many people have to live with fact that they might be targeted and isolated. It's not something I like to see either. I'm just a student but I've seen my classmate cry on her first day just because her nurse outright ignored her, wouldn't even look at her from the very moment clinicals begin. It's so sad really... I mean they teach us all about empathy, compassion, and understanding towards our patients yet somehow when it comes to coworkers, we can't/won't do the same??
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I agree. If I could "LIKE" this post a few dozen times, I would.
I'm getting so tired of "the bully card." And anyone who truly believes that she is "being bullied just because they're jealous of me" ought to take a real long, close look at her interactions with coworkers. "They're just jealous" is the kind of thing your mamma told you to make you feel better when you were little. It doesn't mean much now except that you have an excessively high opinion of yourself."
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,305 Posts
She's kind of a local girl . . . I've disagreed with her about some things and she thinks I'm wrong. To each their own.
I'm not crazy about the reasoning behind why nurses are mean to each other being because we are women.
Linking her video from a recent posting in a professional nurses network in my area.
Here's an older one that mentions NETY . . . .
Here is her website.
Nurses Do No Harm - RTConnections - Anti-Bullying