Nursing Issues: Workplace Violence and Bullying

RUNNING HEAD: NURSING ISSUES 1 Nursing Issues: Workplace Violence and Bullying Belinda Ortiz West Coast University NURSING ISSUES 2 Background In the past decade, cases of violence and bullying in the healthcare sector have increased. The nursing profession tops in the list of occupations with the highest rates of bullying and workplace violence (Matt, 2012). According to the American Nurses Association, the nurses must practice by following the principles of ethics such as compassion, respect, and sensitivity to human dignity. However, various researches show that nurses often display unwarranted behavior more than other disciplines. Although collaboration and teamwork help nurses provide quality care, increasing care of bullying and lateral violence result in undesirable outcomes on the victims and the patients, as well as colleagues. According to Sanner-Stiehr & Ward Smith (2016), bullying or lateral violence involves the mistreatment of peers by exhibiting hostile or aggressive behavior towards them in a hospital or other workplace setting. In most cases, this behavior aims to belittle, humiliate, or embarrass the victim. This behavior is disrespectful since it is intentionally carried out and directed towards a targeted individual, who in most cases, is the weaker, younger, or less experienced nurse. Also, the incidences of workplace bullying do not occur once and happen over a long time, causing the victim to suffer emotionally, psychologically, and physically. Nursing Issues: Workplace Violence and Bullying

According to Escribano et al. (2019), over 27 to 85 percent of nursing staff have experienced bullying or have been victims of the same at one time in their practice. Lateral violence and bullying may occur in the form of verbal abuse, favoritism, sabotage, humiliation, and assault. Workplace bullying is a global phenomenon that is not only in the U.S, as shown by research by Weaver (2013), that bullying among Korean nurses stands at 15%, 33% in the U.S, and 21 percent among Turkish nurses. The global impact of workplace bullying or lateral violence is a concern since it results in adverse effects, including increased nurse turnover, NURSING ISSUES 3 reduced morale, reduced productivity, and increased burnout and stress.

This, in turn, lowers the quality of patient care as well as the safety of patients. This makes the issue of lateral violence in the field of nursing of great concern since, despite the staggering figures, most of the bullying activities go unreported due to fear of retaliation or tarnishing organizational reputation. However, this behavior is destructive and is associated with increased medical errors and compromises patient safety leading to more deaths. Significance of the Problem Estimates by Waever (2013), showed that by 2020, the U.S would require over 800,000 nurses. However, it will be impossible to reduce the nursing workforce shortage gap if the issue of workplace bullying is not addressed. This is because the number of nurses leaving the profession is increasing. For instance, the nurse turnover rate in the U.S, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada range from 15 to 44 percent (Khan et al., 2018). Also, Khan et al. (2018) report that over 30% of the victims of bullying resign while more than 21% of colleagues witnessing the violence leave in search of better working environments. This shows the seriousness of the matter since the cases of turnover could rise. Bullying in the workplace affects the victim nurses, the other clinical staff and colleagues, and the organization where it happens. In the case of victims, they are affected in various ways, including physiological impacts that result in increased irritability and anxiety, and emotional impact like a feeling of guilt, disbelief, helplessness, and anger.

Also, the nurse has a high likelihood of developing PST, reduced self-esteem, and lack of confidence (Matt, 2012). On the other hand, the clinical staff who witness bullying are affected since they are unable to interact and communicate effectively with other staff. Also, they may experience elevated stress NURSING ISSUES 4 levels and may not be able to work well with colleagues with a history of bullying, leading to reduced job satisfaction. Lastly, the healthcare organization suffers in terms of reduced productivity, reduced morale, lack of patient satisfaction with care, increased absenteeism, and tarnished image, which may lead to loss of workers, clients, and patients (Escribano et al., 2019). In this case, bullying in the workplace is becoming expensive for healthcare organizations, since it results in a loss of millions of dollars annually. This includes financial losses dues to absenteeism, turnover, litigation, among other financial losses. There are various ways that organizations can deal with the problem. For instance, research shows that education and creation of awareness to students about bullying can help address the issue. According to Sanner-Stiehr & Ward Smith (2016), education on how to identify inappropriate behavior should be included in the nursing curriculum. This can be done through simulations to help students identify various clinical scenarios and practice how they would respond. Such simulations can help students master the skill of communication, enabling them to identify inappropriate behavior and respond accordingly. Nursing Issues: Workplace Violence and Bullying

The other method of dealing with workplace bullying is by developing organizational policies that aim to stop tolerance to violence and inappropriate behavior among nursing staff interactions. For instance, the policy should establish penalties and strict consequences for those found guilty of perpetrating violence and bullying. According to Ryan (2015), such policies are effective in curbing unprofessional habits among nurses during practice. NURSING ISSUES PICOT Questions 1. In the nursing profession, what is the impact of organizational cultural change compared to the development of bullying policies in reducing the negative outcomes of workplace violence such as absenteeism and turnover in the long run? 2. In a hospital setting, would having a bullying policy in place reduce the cases of bullying among nursing staff resulting in improved quality in a year? 3.

For students in the field of nursing, can education through bullying simulations compared to no educational activity help prevent inappropriate behavior such as abusive and aggressive behavior within the first year of hire? 5 NURSING ISSUES 6 References Escribano, R. B., Beneit, J., & Luis Garcia, J. (2019). Violence in the workplace: some critical issues looking at the health sector. Heliyon, 5(3), e01283. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon. 2019.e01283 Khan, N., Jackson, D., Stayt, L., Walthall, H. (2018). Factors influencing nurses’ intention to leave adult critical care settings. British Association of Critical Care Nurses, 24(1), 2432. Matt, S. B. (2012). Ethical and Legal Issues Associated with Bullying in the Nursing Profession. Journal of Nursing Law, 15(1), 9-13. DOI: 10.1891/1073-7472.15.1.9 Ryan, L. (2005). The journey to integrate Watson’s caring theory with clinical practice. International Journal of Human Caring, 9(3), 26-31. DOI: 10.20467/1091-5710.9.3.26 Sanner-Steihr, E. & Ward-Smith (2017). Lateral violence in nursing: Implications and strategies for nurse educators. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(2): 113-118. doi: 10.1016/j.profnurs.2016.08.007 Weaver, K. (2013). The effects of horizontal violence and bullying on new nurse retention. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 29(3), 138-142. … Nursing Issues: Workplace Violence and Bullying