Intimidation of nurses in the workforce continues to be a problem. Intimidating behavior affects not only the nurse but patient care as well. The nurse might be intimidated by peers, patients or physicians. Intimidating behavior is not healthy and should be addressed. In this paper the issue of nurse intimidation will be discussed. The discussion will include definitions of intimidation, the impact of intimidation on the nursing profession, the impact of intimidation on patient care, solutions for handling intimidation, implications for nursing curriculum, and future research possibilities regarding the topic of intimidation.
Definition of Intimidation
Intimidation is a form of bullying. Forms of intimidation can be behavior that belittles such as being shouted at or the use of profanities, and wrongly assigning blame (Edwards, 2007). Intimidation in the healthcare field among and between practitioners is most commonly in the form of verbal abuse. Verbal abuse may be an angry tone of voice, yelling and screaming, threats against a person or institution, or derogatory comments (Edwards, 2007). For the purpose of this paper, the terms intimidation, bullying, and disruptive behavior will be used interchangeably. The American Medical Association stated in 2002, “Personal conduct, whether verbal or physical, that affects or that potentially may affect patient care negatively constitutes disruptive behaviors”. Porto (2006) describes multiple types of disruptive behavior: profanity or disrespectful language, demeaning behavior, name-calling, throwing of instruments and charts, criticizing of other caregivers in front of patients or other staff, comments that undermine a caregiver’s confidence to provide care for a patient. While s...
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Lateral Violence in Nursing Lateral violence is an act of aggression that occurs among nurses (Becher & Visovsky, 2012), many nurses are exposed to incidents of lateral violence two or more times weekly (Ceravolo, Schwartz, Foltz-Ramos, & Castner, 2012) (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, 2014). Lateral violence which is also called bullying, incivility, disruptive behaviors and horizontal violence may be covert or overt acts of verbal or nonverbal aggressions (American Nurses Association, 2011). Lateral violence may be verbal, physical or psychological in nature (Blair, 2013). Victims of lateral violence may have profound psychological effects including fatigue, insomnia, stress, depression, shame, guilt, isolations, substance abuse,
Horizontal violence is an action that has been reported and documented in nursing and other healthcare professions for many years. This type of behavior between nurses has provided very discouraging and truly serious outcomes for nursing professionals and unfortunately for their patients as well. Horizontal violence is “hostile, aggressive, and harmful behavior by a nurse or group of nurses via attitudes, actions words, and/or behaviors.”(Becher, J. & Visovsky, C (2012)). This can be done either overt or covert. Overt, done openly, is when the victim is experiencing name calling, bickering between colleagues, fault finding, c...
Incivility is an issue in nursing. Our profession is of caring and as nurses we do this without second thought. It’s a cruel act of a nurse’s character to treat colleagues the opposite of the values which form why nurses are nurses. An issue of incivility exists among nursing students. According to Karatas, Ozturk, and Bektas (2017), the issue of bullying in the academic setting is well known and frequent. As a family nurse practitioner (FNP) student it is important to be aware
According to (Abdollahzadeh, 2016), the issue of incivility in nursing can be defined as “low intensity” deviant behavior with the intent to harm the target. Nurses are subjected to incivility at a higher rate than other job fields, and this concern is one that has an impact on the mental health and well-being of nurses and can lead to a reduction in job satisfaction and employee recruitment and retention
Nurse horizontal violence towards new nurses and nursing students includes methodical, unwelcome or unprovoked behaviors with the intent to upset, control, humiliate, harm, or segregate (Hutchinson, Vickers, Jackson, & Wilkes, 2006). Horizontal violence can be furtive and shrewd (such as withholding information or spreading gossip) as well as obvious and direct, such as reproaching in front of other staff, false complaints, or threatening body language (Hutchinson et al., 2006). Other forms of the experience, described both in nursing and non-nursing literature, include bullying, mobbing, intimidation, and aggression (Farrell, 2001). Bullies form cliques and engage in repetit...
Assaults in the healthcare setting are recognized as a growing problem. In considering the violence and aggression in mental health units, the larger issue of violence and aggression in mainstream culture must not be ignored. It has been observed that physical attack in a mental health unit setting appear to be happening more frequently while the attacks include patient-to patient and patient-to-staff aggressive behavior. Most commonly, reporting of aggressive behavior toward healthcare staff is noted; however, it cannot be completely explained by patient characteristics or staff member behaviors (Foster, Bowers, & Nijman, 2006). To improve patient control of aggression and violence, an organization must better define the management and reporting of this behavior, identify appropriate management programs and training, and evaluate the frequency and precipitants.
Berry, P. A., Gillespie, G. L., Gates, D., & Schafer, J. (2012). Novice Nurse Productivity Following Workplace Bullying. Journal Of Nursing Scholarship, 44(1), 80-87. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2011.01436.x
It has various negative effects which are persistent in nature, and the individual victim realizes the behaviour as bullying (Wilson, 2016). Bullying is associated with physical and psychological problems among nurses leading to absenteeism, poor performance, low job satisfaction, and increased turnover (Ganz, et al., 2015). The issue of bullying among nurses further affects the entire health care team including patient outcomes and health care costs due to the declining level of nurses’ performance (Becher & Visovsky, 2012). Although bullying exists in the nursing work place, they are silent in nature, and goes undetected (Becher & Visovsky,2012). Hence, identifying and managing workplace bullying needs efforts of individual facing bullying and support of the
Healthcare is a stressful field of work and because of that it is easy to blur the boundaries of professionalism.
The author of this paper has a pretty good understanding of her strengths and weaknesses, and genuinely believes in people. She believes that positivity and encouragement work far better than incivility and punishment. With her career goal of returning to trauma services and becoming a trauma coordinator, the author hopes she can include healthy workplace education in her future trauma prevention program. She would like to use her position as a Trauma Coordinator to reach out to employees and the community to encourage a healthy workplace. With disease processes such as hypertension, autoimmune disorders, depression, anxiety, and PTSD associated with workplace bullying (Healthy Workplace Bill [HWB], 2016), the author feels this education is beneficial, and compliments trauma prevention. Furthermore, she would like to bring some of the tools from the Healthy Workplace Bill (Healthy Workplace Bill [HWB], 2016) to the nurse practice counsel, shared governance committees, and organizational leaders. She would like bullying to be considered a never-event, much like hospital-acquired infections. By employing some of the tactics proposed in the healthy workplace bill, the author of this paper believes she can make a
The trauma related to negative behavior can afflict the healthcare environment on many levels, from creating a hostile work environment in which job performance is affected, by increasing job turnover and causing nurses to leave the profession altogether. The Joint Commission states that in the United States 65.6 million workers have experienced or witnessed bullying, psychological harassment affects 38 percent of healthcare workers, and 44 percent of nurses are impacted by this behavior (The Joint Commission, 2016). Inclusively, this behavior can influence the way nurses care for their patients, staffing levels, and the healthcare organization’s
Yildirim, D. (2009). Bullying among nurses and its effects. International Nursing Review, 56(4), 504-511. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19930081
Nurses continually strive to bring holistic, efficient, and safe care to their patients. However, if the safety and well-being of the nurses are threatened or compromised, it is difficult for nurses to work effectively and efficiently. Therefore, the position of the American Nurses Association (ANA) advocate that every nursing professional have the right to work in a healthy work environment free of abusive behavior such as bullying, hostility, lateral abuse and violence, sexual harassment, intimidation, abuse of authority and position and reprisal for speaking out against abuses (American Nurses Association, 2012).
Today, most people perceive nursing as a women profession. Men who enter this field have been looked at as outcasts. Many individuals feel that a man does not belong in a "feminine? profession. I believe that statement to be untrue and unfair. The issue of gender discrimination in nursing is the same as other professions. The only difference is nursing is dominated by women, and men are the minority fighting for equality.
It is essential for a nurse, or any medical professional, to not feel threatened so that way they are able to administer their best care possible. Every case and instance is different, no two patients or hospitals are the same. This is why individuals are stressing the act of becoming more personable with patients and the public because a treatment option that may be ideal and work perfectly for one case, may be extremely harmful for another. The goal of a nurse, or even the entire hospital/facility is to create a safe and welcoming environment in which they can provide essential care for each individual. Our intricate health system may be filled with varying degrees of controversy, but the public would be in dire situations without