Public Comment on ANA Draft Position Statement: Workplace Violence and Incivility Issues

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Email received from PSNA. Karen

Public Comment on Draft ANA Position Statement: Incivility, Bullying, and Workplace Violence

The American Nurses Association's Workplace Violence and Incivility Professional Issues Panel is requesting public comment on the Draft Position Statement: Incivility, Bullying, and Workplace Violence. It is anticipated that this statement will assist registered nurses and employers with understanding, defining, and mitigating/eliminating incivility, bullying and violence in the workplace. Nurses, students, and other stakeholders are invited to review and comment on this document.

ANA would encourage you to read the document in its entirety before posting your comments. This will help with understanding the flow and how the content is arranged. You can then submit your specific comments related to each section, as well as general comments at the end. When submitting comments, please reference the appropriate line number.

The comment period is open until 5 pm ET on April 30, 2015. Access the public comment page here.

Thank you for participation.

All the best,

Betsy M. Snook, MEd, RN, BSN

PSNA Chief Executive Office

View: Draft American Nurses Association Position Statement: Incivility, Bullying, and Workplace Violence

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Might be an unpopular one, but here's my opinion:

Bullying and incivility in nursing doesn't occur any more than in other professions; we just seem to make a bigger deal out of it than others and call things bullying and incivility when those aren't appropriate terms. The ANA is an association out of touch with the true needs of working bedside RNs: being overworked, taking more patients than is optimal, not getting breaks. Take care of those issues, and I'll bet that half of the issues with "bullying" and "incivility" will disappear because nurses won't be as stressed out and happier in their jobs.

[fakebee]

Have to agree with Rose Queen that the ANA is completely out of touch with the bedside nurse. Not saying that bullying doesn't occur buT I feel nurse/patient ratios are 10,000 times more important to the success of nursing.

[scottaprn]

Might be an unpopular one, but here's my opinion:

Bullying and incivility in nursing doesn't occur any more than in other professions; we just seem to make a bigger deal out of it than others and call things bullying and incivility when those aren't appropriate terms. The ANA is an association out of touch with the true needs of working bedside RNs: being overworked, taking more patients than is optimal, not getting breaks. Take care of those issues, and I'll bet that half of the issues with "bullying" and "incivility" will disappear because nurses won't be as stressed out and happier in their jobs.

Almost every peer reviewed study says that bullying happens in nursing at a higher rate than the average profession. It is also clear that this leads to staff turnover which plays into short staffing etc.

I disagree with the ANA politically so I would never join but bullying is a true problem in nursing.

[toomuchbaloney]

Yup

I'm not a fan of the ANA but bullying occurs at higher rates in nursing than in other professions.

In some part this is true because there are so many women in nursing and misogyny is alive and well in this country.

[MunoRN, RN]

I don't have much respect for the ANA, but I don't think there's any arguing that lateral violence, bullying, eating our young, whatever you want to call it happens at a higher than average rate in nursing. I've worked in commercial fishing, construction, avalanche control; hardly 'touchy-feely' kinds of work environments and yet I had never seen this level of widespread unprovoked maliciousness until I came into nursing.

[Oh'Ello, BSN, RN]

I'm thoroughly embarrassed to admit that I read this whole document. I'm more embarrassed at the list of Recommendations for Registered Nurses.

"Utilize existing codes to seek support during a bullying incident. For example,some facilities have established a Code Pink” or Code Incivility”. This involves a victim or bystander uttering Code Pink” or similar phrase and all available nurses come stand by the victim to give nonverbal support and witness"

mmmmhmmm.......... yeah about this...

[Nonyvole, BSN, RN]

Am I the only one imagining a Code Pink being called, and instead of gathering around the victim, everybody goes to lock down the unit and look for the missing baby?

But in all seriousness, I can see both sides. The idea that new hires have to "pay their dues" shouldn't be allowed, but, at the same time, focus on the macro of what is helping to trigger these lateral violence events. It isn't a single event but a cascading failure of systems that were intended to protect but are now harming. Ratios. Unit acclimatization and orientation - two different things. . Attitudes from patients, families, doctors, ancillary staff. Heck, even look at the corporate levels!

And Amy spelling mistakes blame on auto correct. Please.

[JuliaRNMSN]

Thank-you for providing the link to ANA position statements on workplace incivility in nursing. This is a complex problem that cannot be reduced to a few methods of effectively managing it. I appreciate that the cited authors (many of which I am familiar) have taken on the complexity. From a social ecological stance, the levels of influence from micro (the individual) through macro (larger policy and power institutions such as ANA, state boards of nursing, and employer organizations affect each level. Specifically, an individual RN has no real guidelines to follow. I've experienced incivility, withholding information on clients, marginalization, explicit lying from RN's, and the implicit features of infighting in two of my many positions. I did my masters thesis on the topic and chose mediation as a model to conduct myself and as a way to communicate my perceptions. Honestly, in the two organizations I experienced this negative conduct I found that most of my concerns were ignored. I had to leave these positions with no income because unemployment did not have a category for the activities condoned by the organization. There were clear policies at these workplaces but they were mainly words on paper that did not help me. When I had my phone interview last summer with unemployment it was a conference call with a new director and the HR person. I had to be careful not to broach the improper practices that hindered quality care based on what I observed.

Last, I am passionate about pursuing some work in this area to support nurses. I had no one. My state nurses organization did not contact me when I reached out for advice. I believe we need to push the best practice literature into something beyond descriptions. Effective action or the objectives clearly defining the "how we can act professionally to alleviate this destructive phenomenon."

[NGYSUN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Might be an unpopular one, but here's my opinion:

Bullying and incivility in nursing doesn't occur any more than in other professions; we just seem to make a bigger deal out of it than others and call things bullying and incivility when those aren't appropriate terms. The ANA is an association out of touch with the true needs of working bedside RNs: being overworked, taking more patients than is optimal, not getting breaks. Take care of those issues, and I'll bet that half of the issues with "bullying" and "incivility" will disappear because nurses won't be as stressed out and happier in their jobs.

You said it all..... They're certainly out of touch as it concerns the real challenges nurses face every day.