Effective Approaches in Addressing Workplace Bullying

Effective Approaches in Addressing Workplace Bullying
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Effective Approaches in Addressing Workplace Bullying
Literature suggests that disruptive behaviors like bullying and incivility are prevalent in today’s healthcare settings. A 2016 OSHA report established that 50% of nurses were victims of verbal abuse (which is a form of bullying) in 12 months. Also, 59% of emergency nurses experienced some form of bullying in seven days (OSHA, 2016). More recent studies indicate increased bullying cases despite the existence of a zero-tolerance policy (Johnson & Benham‐Hutchins, 2020). Thus, the challenge of ensuring a healthy working environment rests majorly on nurse leaders and managers. The role of nursing leaders and managers is vital to ensuring professionalism in the workplace and adequately addressing this issue.
Impact of Bullying on Quality of Care and Patient Safety
Description of Bullying
ANA (2015a) defines bullying as repeated and unwelcome harmful actions of a perpetrator to a victim with the intention of humiliating, offending, or causing distress. It takes various forms, including intimidation, verbal abuse, withholding support, sabotage, taunts, and incendiary remarks (ANA, 2015b). However, some threatening non-verbal cues also fall under this category of disruptive behaviors (TJC, 2016). Bullying can be between two nurses at the same level or between a manager and a nurse subordinate. Murray (2017) categorizes the former as lateral violence and the latter vertical violence. Both are types of bullying or incivility. In contemporary settings, bullying happens through writing through social media platforms and text messaging. Nevertheless, leaders or managers must differentiate bullying from behavior that upset others. Acts like constructive feedback, fair and equitable managerial action, advice about work behavior, and differences of opinion are not forms of bullying (Cleary et al., 2009).
Impact on Quality of Care and Patient Safety
The Joint Commission (2016) posits that disruptive behavior compromises safety and quality of care. Often, victims of bullying lose confidence, motivation, and develop low self-esteem. In extreme cases, they leave their workplaces while others develop psychological disorders. Evidence confirms that bullying has adverse psychological effects on the victim. Three studies reported that bullying victims exhibited signs of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, sleep problems, and burnout. These symptoms have adverse effects on the individual’s optimal job performance, delivery of quality care, and patient outcomes. (Evans, 2017; Magnavita, 2016; Longo & Hain, 2014).
Nurses coordinate about 4/5 of patient care, and thus they depend on the exchange of information with members of their team. However, bullying disrupts interpersonal relationships in the workplace. As a result, the lack of exchange of vital patient information and collaborative decision-making can contribute to medical errors. Johnson and Benham‐Hutchins (2020) report that a bullied nurse is less likely to voice their concerns when a medical error occurs. Additionally, they are likely to avoid encountering the bully and increase t...