Nurses’ perceptions of teamwork and workplace bullying

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the association between nurses' perceptions and attitudes of teamwork and workplace bullying. A total of 128 nurses in two hospitals in the northeast USA completed three surveys: Attitudes about teamwork survey, Team characteristics survey, and Negative intention questionnaire. A majority of nurses believed that teamwork was an important vehicle for providing quality patient care. Two thirds of the nurses reported the presence of important variables such as leadership, trust and communication on their teams. Despite these positive perceptions, a third of the nurses reported being bullied and half observed others being bullied. A number of effective team skills were associated with fewer occurrences of workplace bullying.

Organizational determinants of bullying and work disengagement among hospital nurses

“…This raises questions as to whether our response population is representative of all hospital system nurses or whether our sample is comprised of nurses who were particularly troubled by bullying at work. Nevertheless, our prevalence rates (approximately 30% experiencing bullying and over 50% having witnessed) are similar to those in other studies (Logan & Malone, ). Moreover, response rates on previous questionnaire studies of nurse bullying have ranged from 7% (Hutchinson, Wilkes, Jackson, & Vickers, ) to 40% (Olsen et al., ), with most somewhere in between.…”

“…This was surprising, since previous research has identified poor interpersonal relationships, lack of communication and poor nurse leadership as antecedents to nurse bullying (Logan & Malone, 2018;Trepanier et al, 2016). Relational coordination reflects co-worker communication and relationships and defines high quality relationships as characterized by shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect (Carmeli & Gittell, 2009;Havens, Vasey, Gittell, & Lin, 2010).…”

“…Both psychological safety and competence development had protective effects on nurse disengagement from the workplace due to bullying, although psychological safety was the stronger factor. Previous studies have identified knowledge and skills about bullying as important for reducing nurse bullying (Albishi & Alsharqi, ; Logan & Malone, ). However, the competence development measure in our study concerned opportunities for developing professionally in one's work and using one's competence.…”

Incivility through the continuum of nursing: A concept analysis

“…Within the literature reviewed, two main themes were identified as antecedents: a culture of incivility and power gradient. A culture of incivility is the presence of negative behaviors in academia and the workplace with or without policies against uncivil behaviors, lacking collaboration, or demonstrating ineffective communication to promote change . In the work and academic environments, a lack of positive role models exist who demonstrate civil interactions .…”

“…In the work and academic environments, a lack of positive role models exist who demonstrate civil interactions . In a culture of incivility, staff and student nurses are unable to trust each other, feel disrespected, and are undervalued for their contributions to the nursing profession …”