Horizontal Violence

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Horizontal Violence: What Nurses Can Do
In today’s society, several nurses have been exposed to horizontal violence. Horizontal violence, also known as lateral violence or workplace bullying, is considered an act of hostility between nursing professionals. Horizontal violence forms harmful work environments while damaging communication amongst nurses and compromising patient care. It is a proven critical worldwide concern. In the PowerPoint, The Effect of Lateral Violence & Incivility on Quality and Safety, Kathryn Schroeter says,
In 2004, The Institute for Safe Medication Practices published a survey on workplace intimidation. Almost half of the 2,095 respondents, which included nurses, pharmacists and other providers, recalled being verbally …show more content…

This caused the respondents to fall vulnerable to horizontal violence. Nurses have the power to put an end to horizontal violence. In order for these nurses to prevent horizontal violence, all nurses within the nursing profession should be taught to stand up for themselves, educate themselves on bullying, show their coworkers that they care about each other, and not let any negativity get to them.
In order to prevent horizontal violence, all nurses in the nursing profession should have to take a test on bullying about how it makes people feel the need to alienate himself or herself from everyone else. The test will include questions on what the nurses are feeling and thinking. It will develop a strong awareness of society among the nurses who are taking the test in order to help fight feelings of alienation. By taking this test, it will give all nurses regardless of their level of practice a sample on what this can do to a nurse who is feeling alienated. The test can result in fewer nurses quitting their jobs because it will help demonstrate the alienation thoughts for every nurse to be able to …show more content…

Horizontal violence sometimes causes physical and psychological consequences. For instance, in the movie Cyberbullying, peers were constantly bullying Taylor over social media at her school, which pushed her to her breaking point. By this time, Taylor thought the only option for her to stop the bullying and harassing was to commit suicide, so she did. Like Taylor, thousands of kids are being constantly bullied in school around the world, including nurses. According to “Doctors and Nurses’ Most Likely to Commit Suicide,” Jeremy Laurance explains how “health professionals have higher than average suicide rates because they work in a stressful environment. A total of 342 nurses committed suicide, a rate of 11 per 100,000. The average suicide rate is seven per 100,000 but among women, it is three per 100,000” (Laurance). As stated by “Nurse Against Nurse: Horizontal Bullying in the Nursing Profession,” Granstra expresses how “some of the most common negative outcome are headaches, stress, irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbances, excessive worrying, impaired social skills, depression, etc.” (253). Meaning, horizontal violence has many side effects. Some side effects can be treated while others may become more permanent. By attending voice therapy, a line of treatment that

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