Nurse Mobbing/bullying

Nurses Relations

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:balloons: I am new to the forum and would like to get feedback from others who have experienced mobbing/bullying/harassment in the healthcare field. Please share so others might learn more about this issue that needs further exploration.

Also-----I have left employment with certain companies because of unethical workplace politics. If you are not happy with your job, get another one, it beats suffering burn-out & giving up on nursing. Good Luck.

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:balloons: Re: the posts following my initial post - thanks and I look forward to networking with others about this topic. August has been a stressful and difficult month already at my work where I work in psychiatric nursing. One particular nurse is targeting me and there is a pattern of her ever-so-slightly CHANGING a couple of words which TOTALLY makes what happens FALSE. Her communication is misleading and inaccurate - in other words - she LIES!!!! But she seems to have strings to the big wigs!! I confronted her and told her that working with her is extremely stressful after she absolutely lied about something. The mgt is PASSIVE. I'm so tired of this type of behavior in nursing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am at the point of just leaving but don't know whether to stick it out or not. The older I get (now in my 40's), the less stress I want to deal with.................

Also-----I have left employment with certain companies because of unethical workplace politics. If you are not happy with your job, get another one, it beats suffering burn-out & giving up on nursing. Good Luck.
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An excellent website on the subject is http://bullyinginstitute.org/. Check out their section on 'working for new laws'. Dr. Namie's book The Bully at Work is worth having, too.

My best advise to anyone who is being mobbed/bullied at work is to make a formal complaint in writing. Cite examples of the bully's behavior, and end your letter with the line that "I believe that (name of bully) is creating a hostile work environment, and I want this behavior to stop immediately. Submit the letter to your HR department, with copies to your dept administrator, your immediate supervisor, and anyone else between them in the chain of command. ( Do this even if the bully happens to be someone on the list between you and the top.) A copy to risk management is a good idea,too. If you have an attorney, send a copy there, too.

This will put your employer on notice that you are being singled out for harrassment/ bullying, and will also go into the bullying person's personnel file.

It will be addressed because there are laws regarding "hostile work environments' and those who create/promote them. Your employer can no longer pretend that they didn't know about the problem.

Keep notes with dates of incidents with names of witnesses present. If you are called into a meeting about the bullying, you will have specifics to support your position.

Can you tell I've had experience with this?

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Specializes in Home care, assisted living.

I had one boss (an LPN) who managed her staff by constantly threatening to write us up or terminate us for any little thing. She had an "attitude" with the staff and at our first staff meeting with her she argued with one of the CNAs in front of everyone. She said, for all of us to hear, "I can see that this person is going to be difficult." (I was very tempted to put a stop-o on the argument and kindly remind my boss that arguments need to take place in the office--yelling and screaming at your staff where residents and their families can hear and see it is VERY unprofessional behavior!) My boss also clearly informed us, in so many words, that she is her own woman and does things her way. If we didn't like her style, the newspaper is full of jobs and we were free to find another one. :angryfire Later on, she had a habit of intimidating CNA's into silence by cutting their hours. No one was allowed to go over her head for fear of losing their job. Eventually some of the CNA's got fed up, reported her behavior secretly, and she ended up resigning before anyone had a chance to fire her. Our maintenance man later said to us that if we could work under her, we could work under ANYONE. :rotfl:

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Currently taking elective course about Workplace Violence.

I encourage all to very careful as to what you say and do these days. There are many things that can be interpreted as WPV, legally.

If your workplace has a policy/procedure in effect that states they have a zero-tolerance-you can expect to receive some sort of discipline for violating that policy. I am not saying it is right-just that is how it is.

Check your state laws and check your employee handbook, if you have one, and they are supposed to have one!

This is an issue that nurses need to take a stand on. They have willingly stood by and taken abuse for as long as I have been a nurse--don't ask!

Nurses have typically taken care of everyone else and not themselves. Very sad situation and i do not think it will change until nurses stand up for themselves against such treatment.

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mobbing, bullying & harassing is one of the biggest obstacles and worse problems that face our profession today. most people who work in the nursing profession for any length of time will experience some form of it. it starts with unqualified people in management who lack knowledge about the nursing practice act, federal and state regulations as well as labor board laws, criminal and civil laws, ada, etc. that cause them to violate nurses civil rights and it ends with the victims who lack the tools to defend themselves giving the harassers in this field the message that continuing this behavior is acceptable. i had one employer who refused to pay me, then after 3 months of requesting my check from everyone and their brother (and being talked to like i was garbage) they finally paid me. i reported them to the labor board and guess what they got fined $220.00 per day x 30 days for not paying me. i will be getting over $6,000.00 for standing my ground. most people probably would have feared for their job and walked away. not me. i didnt need to work for a nursing registry that treated me like that. if they screwed up my check once they would probably do it again. :angryfire

good going luci! happy for you. we need more folks like you to stand up and fight.they try to pull this frequently in my area-agencies at times try to classify nurses as indepedent contractors so they don'y have to pay your taxes,ect. on my home health visits i keep a daily log of my visits, time,ect.they have tryed this 15-20 times in one year but i catch them now. they got me once bit i learned!!gotta watch 'em all the time!!i am new here also-mike:rolleyes:
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it probably is worth repeating and many have heard this and know it to be that 95% of the profession is female, and well, yes, females can be cruel and unusual, and especially in this profession in which we haven't quite figured out how to harness all the power that we in fact have. but we seem to take out alot of our frustration on each other because of the often 'system failures' that surround us in our work environment.

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These last few weeks have been rough for me at work also. Have been in OB for about 4 months, worked med/surg before. Someone who I thought was my friend emailed our manager and must have told her that I asked her for help with a foley and that I can not start an IV on everyone that walks onto the floor. and something about fetal heart monitoring. Well I got an email from the manager to say that she would be in early Monday morning to watch me prep a woman for a C/S ie foley,paperwork and IV.(Not that I haven't done many of these in the past) Boy was I mad...

OK, so in walks the woman 15 minutes late, 300lbs and a latex allergy, so that means she cant use our regular foley's, those put together latex free ones. Well I prep her for the foley, manager assisting, she tells me to aim here(definitely not the urethera) then I go into the lady parts, well you know what then get a new one, then manager takes over, uses not one more but about 5 more until about 15 minutes later with the woman very sore by that point do we get one in. Off to the IV, very small veins deep inside. I try once, then manager procedes to try 2 more times, with woman screaming because it hurt. NM then tells me to get the other RN to start the IV, mean while it is 7am now daylight shift on, wanting to count narcs etc. I am in the med room when a coworker asks whats up and I just let it rip, telling her what has been going on, how much of an a** the NM made of herself, sick of people being so backstabbing etc..by that point I am so upset that I am crying, when the NM walks in to show me what happens to the iv cath when you try to advance it instead of the needle how it bends etc. She asked what was wrong, I told her just venting, she said vent to me....She (NM) then had to be sup for the day and I had passed are the way to the time clock and she asked me if I wanted to talk.......NO!!!!!!!!!!!. It made me sort of happy that the woman walked in because it just goes to show she made a total you know what out of herself and proved to me that just because one nurse cant get an IV or foley doesn't mean you are incompitant, just means you want to do what is best for you pt and get someone who might be able to do it on the first attempt and with less pain and anxiety involved.

This is worst of all things related to this job, which is enough, because you never know who is going to tattle on you next. Before this incident I emailed the NM and told her if she want me to start acting like them, I can and I began by telling her how one shift I assess and did all the vitals and assessment paperwork, on our pts while a certain RN sat at the desk, how they sit for hours watching TV etc......Hope NM gets a brain and realizes this type of behavior needs to be stopped, and a professional environment developed.

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When I was a DON a few years back, I was bombarded every day by nurses telling tales; Pointing out the faults and "stupidity" of their coworkers, especially new hires. New nurses would work about a month, then leave without much explanation. I got so sick and tired of the line of complainers outside my office door, that I decided to check up on the tattlers themselves. Their work was always incomplete. Meds were not signed off, documentation was never finished, etc.. You name it. When I told them to clean up their own act, a very heated exchange took place. They threatened me with the NLRB, ACLU, State Board of Nursing, etc. After that, I did rounds every day and checked everyone's work, so not to appear biased. Thankfully, they quit and went somewhere else, saying "I hadn't heard the last of them." We were so short-staffed at the time, you would think they would have welcomed and helped those new people.

These last few weeks have been rough for me at work also. Have been in OB for about 4 months, worked med/surg before. Someone who I thought was my friend emailed our manager and must have told her that I asked her for help with a foley and that I can not start an IV on everyone that walks onto the floor. and something about fetal heart monitoring. Well I got an email from the manager to say that she would be in early Monday morning to watch me prep a woman for a C/S ie foley,paperwork and IV.(Not that I haven't done many of these in the past) Boy was I mad...

OK, so in walks the woman 15 minutes late, 300lbs and a latex allergy, so that means she cant use our regular foley's, those put together latex free ones. Well I prep her for the foley, manager assisting, she tells me to aim here(definitely not the urethera) then I go into the lady parts, well you know what then get a new one, then manager takes over, uses not one more but about 5 more until about 15 minutes later with the woman very sore by that point do we get one in. Off to the IV, very small veins deep inside. I try once, then manager procedes to try 2 more times, with woman screaming because it hurt. NM then tells me to get the other RN to start the IV, mean while it is 7am now daylight shift on, wanting to count narcs etc. I am in the med room when a coworker asks whats up and I just let it rip, telling her what has been going on, how much of an a** the NM made of herself, sick of people being so backstabbing etc..by that point I am so upset that I am crying, when the NM walks in to show me what happens to the iv cath when you try to advance it instead of the needle how it bends etc. She asked what was wrong, I told her just venting, she said vent to me....She (NM) then had to be sup for the day and I had passed are the way to the time clock and she asked me if I wanted to talk.......NO!!!!!!!!!!!. It made me sort of happy that the woman walked in because it just goes to show she made a total you know what out of herself and proved to me that just because one nurse cant get an IV or foley doesn't mean you are incompitant, just means you want to do what is best for you pt and get someone who might be able to do it on the first attempt and with less pain and anxiety involved.

This is worst of all things related to this job, which is enough, because you never know who is going to tattle on you next. Before this incident I emailed the NM and told her if she want me to start acting like them, I can and I began by telling her how one shift I assess and did all the vitals and assessment paperwork, on our pts while a certain RN sat at the desk, how they sit for hours watching TV etc......Hope NM gets a brain and realizes this type of behavior needs to be stopped, and a professional environment developed.

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When I was a DON a few years back, I was bombarded every day by nurses telling tales; Pointing out the faults and "stupidity" of their coworkers, especially new hires. New nurses would work about a month, then leave without much explanation. I got so sick and tired of the line of complainers outside my office door, that I decided to check up on the tattlers themselves. Their work was always incomplete. Meds were not signed off, documentation was never finished, etc.. You name it. When I told them to clean up their own act, a very heated exchange took place. They threatened me with the NLRB, ACLU, State Board of Nursing, etc. After that, I did rounds every day and checked everyone's work, so not to appear biased. Thankfully, they quit and went somewhere else, saying "I hadn't heard the last of them." We were so short-staffed at the time, you would think they would have welcomed and helped those new people.
I observed this phenomenon where I used to staff and a lot of the older staff complained about new nurses or just new hires and in reviewing their work-I observed that they had in may cases committed the same errors they accused others of. People with shortcomings of their own attempt to take the focus off their shortcomings by criticizing others, transference I guess-Mike
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There are some great resources out there right now concerning this topic. has become big news in the European countries where there is less tolerance than in the US. Try doing a search for Bullyism in the workplace or workplace bullyism. You'll be surprised and horrified at all the nasty stuff that goes on out there. If you're in the situation.... remove yourself. It's not worth it to stay.

Good luck,Darla

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I was working in a wound care center. I was just hired and 2 months later found out that I was pregnant. The director of the center was very supportive. Until it came time to work of course. The clinic hours were 800-1530 now we had patients scheduled every 10 minutes. Every wound was to be measured and cleaned and lido applied for debridments, and if bioengineered tissue was to be applied that was to be prepared. As soon as the doctor arrived to start seeing patients she took off to go and gossip with all of the directors. I ran my A*@ off, in the beginning it was not that bad. As I got to 5 months and 6 months I could not take it anymore. I am asthmatic and you all know how asthma flares when you are pregnant not to mention smelling nasty wounds all day did not help. The director would leave me there with the CNA that was lazy as all hell. I for one am not lazy. No breaks at all, and I couldn't just leave the doctor there by himself to take care of the patients. I also had to do all of the front desk work because she refused to pay someone to come in and help. AGGGGHHHHHH sorry my blood starts to boil. The CNA hardly spoke any english so he could not answer the phone not to mention that he was not the sharpest tool in the box. So there I am 6 months pregnant running all over the damn place I could not freaking breathe and ny feet hurt I wasnt gaining any weight. I would not get a break until 3 pm and then I still had charting to do. If she did see any patients she would not chart on them. AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH I had to call in a couple of times because of asthma attacks, she was pissed, talking all kinds of crap about how I called in sick to everyone in other departments (she used to be house sup.). Anytime that I has trouble breathing she would say well I can't breathe either, because she also had asthma!!!!! I swear SATAN was my freaking boss. God made her my boss to test my patience, and I would have to say it worked. She was horrible the director from the ED would come in because at 3:00 the ED used our center for fast track. My director would scream at the ED director to get out, we are not finished yet. She talked crap to everyone!!!! I go to the doctor because I also start experiencing contractions. I started getting sharp abdominal pains. I started crying in the OB's office I can handle alot of crap but this lady was driving me crazy. I did everything!!!! When I was not at work she would call me at home because she did not know what the hell was going on. So my OB tells me that I cant go back to work. "you are having premature labor, your stressed , your fibriods are getting bigger." I had about 5 fibroids and they were quite painful. So he took me off work. I walked over to the clinic to give my director the papers for my release from work. SHE WAS ANGRY!!!! What she told me was SH*# now I have to cancel my vacation, and I had false labor too and my doctor did not release me from work, see if you can't talk him into letting you work part time. I wanted to punch her in the face as hard as I could. This woman did not care about me or the saftey of my child. She was suppose to give me a review , never did. She told me that if I wanted my review I would have to get the doctor to release me back to work. I could not belive it!!! We once had a meeting and the CNO was very impressed with how I turned everything around in that clinic, the bills were all screwed up, the CNO told &*$% to give me a raise and of course she never did.Two weeks before I was to return to work I called and she told me that she did not have a position for me. I was so relieved but pissed at the same time cause where the hell was I suppose to go. I ended up working in the ED running fast track so I still had to see her ugly face. Everyone has complained about her but they will not fire her because she runs the wound center which is an out patient clinic that rakes in money for the hospital. So everyone has to deal with her crazy a#$ because she makes money for the hospital. I bet if you asked ten people if they liked her 10 would say no!!!!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

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