Our Own Worst Enemies

Abstract

Nurse bullying is a systemic, pervasive problem that begins well before nursing school and continues throughout a nurse's career. A significant percentage of nurses leave their first job due to the negative behaviors of their coworkers, and bullying is likely to exacerbate the growing nurse shortage. A bullying culture contributes to a poor nurse work environment, increased risk to patients, lower Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient satisfaction scores, and greater nurse turnover, which costs the average hospital $4 million to $7 million a year. Addressing nurse bullying begins with acknowledging the problem, raising awareness, mitigating contributing factors, and creating and enforcing a strong antibullying policy. Nurses and stakeholders also must actively work to change the culture, and understand that bullying has no place in the nursing profession or anywhere else in health care.

The hollow: A theory on workplace bullying in nursing practice

“…Therefore, a decrease of approximately 149,500 RNs will likely occur, as RNs age and begin to reduce their work hours. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] With a net growth of approximately 1,089,500 RN FTEs within the United States nationally, the RN workforce in 2030 is estimated to be 3,895,600 FTEs. RNs will continue to be in demand as a profession between the years of 2014-2030, with an expected increase in RN FTEs of 795,700.…”

“…New graduate nurses statistically, consist of 65% of graduates from Associate Degree nursing programs and 75% of graduates from Bachelor of Science in nursing programs. 25 The latter new graduate nurses, are seeking to further educate themselves and leave bedside patient care early 16,21,22,[28][29][30] in their nursing careers.…”

“…Hence, bullying and incivility contribute to burnout and turnover intentions. 6,22,23,27,27,29,31,32…”

“You Need to Get Over the Difficulties and Stand Up Again”—A Qualitative Inquiry into Young Nurses’ Coping with Lateral Violence from the Feminist Perspective

“…In nursing, LV is described as nurse-to-nurse aggression. It has destructive effects on victims both physiologically and psychologically, such as tiredness, sleep deprivation, depression, and lower self-esteem [ 2 , 3 ]. These can affect the professional performance of nurse victims, resulting in poor patient care quality.…”

“…Despite the adverse effects of LV on nursing, it is often taken for granted by nurses. Nursing educators and managers are allegedly not sensitive to LV among nursing students and clinical nurses or do not care about it, even if they know it is happening [ 3 , 4 ]. Young nurses themselves see it as an inevitable path in starting their nursing careers.…”