Effects Of Professionalism In The Workplace

Professionalism in the Workplace

Trebora Murphy

Med-Surg Nurs 144

1/30/2015

Cathy Westberry

The purpose of this paper is to explain how bullying affects professionalism in the workplace. Actions of bullying, verbal, and physical abuse affects not only the safety of the patient, but communication between co-workers and has adverse actions on the unit as a whole. For example, a relationship between a superior and a subordinate is unprofessional and leads to chaos in the workplace if not handled correctly. A Charge Nurse and an ER technician embarked on a secret romantic relationship. During the next few weeks, co-workers started to see the work of the two begin to suffer and affect the unit drastically. In the midst of emergencies, they were both nowhere to be found. Staff started to get frustrated and expressed this with questions like, “Where were you? I needed your help, we had four ambulances come in and we did not know where you wanted them to be placed”. They were met with anger and defensiveness and told to mind their business. This type of behavior went on for a while until the Charge Nurse started to let the ER technician work out of the scope of his practice by rooming ambulances, directing RNs on patient care, and starting patient IVs. At this point, the nurses started to complain because the ER technician would

A physical altercation took place between the Charge Nurse and another nurse, who she had been bullying for some time. It was unsafe, unprofessional, immature, and disorderly. Luckily no patients were harmed, but at that moment we lost the trust of our patients. They no longer saw our hospital as encompassing the values we had on our walls (Reverence, Integrity, Compassion, Excellence) or that the Pillars of our success were even true (Best place to work and practice, Best Place for health and healing, Best Stewardship, Best Access to