Impact of bullying and harassment among nurses in the healthcare workplace

Introduction

Bullying and harassment are prevalent issues within healthcare settings, significantly impacting both individual nurses and the nursing profession. This response references the scholarly work of Hartin et al. (2020) in their article titled “Bullying in nursing: How has it changed over 4 decades?” to analyze the impact of bullying on nurses within the contemporary healthcare sector. This study investigates the evolution of bullying over time and explores the factors contributing to its persistence within the nursing industry in Australia. The effects of bullying and harassment in the workplace have far-reaching and negative consequences for nurses, their patients, and the healthcare system at large.

Bullying in Healthcare

The value of combating bullying and harassment in healthcare extends beyond the direct impact on nurses and patients. It has far-reaching effects on healthcare delivery, including efficiency, quality of treatment, and long-term viability. When bullying occurs on healthcare teams, patient safety, and treatment quality might be jeopardized. When nurses are bullied at work, they may have trouble concentrating on their patients because of their stress (Lever et al., 2019). As a result, mistakes, omissions, and inferior patient outcomes might occur due to this preoccupation. Bullying may have far-reaching effects on patients in a field where accuracy and teamwork are paramount.

Bullying contributes to the already severe problem of a lack of qualified nurses in the nursing profession. As with any job, bullying in nursing increases the likelihood that an employee will quit. This turnover has a multiplicative effect on the nursing shortage by adding to the work of the remaining employees. This places a burden on healthcare facilities’ budgets and interrupts patient care while they work to hire and train replacement nurses (Goh et al., 2022).

The economic impact of bullying in the workplace can cost healthcare providers a lot of money. The costs of hiring, orienting, and training new employees are considerable due to high turnover. Furthermore, when nurses quit due to bullying, it undermines continuity of care, resulting in longer hospital stays and higher healthcare costs. In the end, bullying costs the healthcare system human lives and money (Chan et al., 2019). Organizations in the healthcare industry have a moral obligation to ensure their employees’ well-being by creating a secure and encouraging workplace. Nurses’ capacity to give appropriate care for their patients’ well-being. Maintaining ethical practices in healthcare necessitates a concerted effort to eradicate bullying and provide a safe workplace for nurses (Doran et al., 2020).

Suggestions to Address Bullying

Proactive interventions, education, and organizational culture change may address healthcare bullying. This report will examine some of the most crucial nurse bullying prevention suggestions. Giving nurse supervisors the skills to prevent and resolve bullying is critical. These leaders need bullying recognition, response, and prevention training. They need the knowledge and tools to foster workplace respect. To deliver effective leadership, healthcare organizations should prioritize experienced and emotionally savvy managers (George & Strom, 2017).

A major cultural shift is needed. This transition demands people to act on their convictions and create a bullying-free society. Open communication, teamwork, and honesty should be modeled by leadership. Healthcare organizations should create and execute anti-bullying policies. This is crucial due to increased bullying rates (Astor & Benbenishty, 2018). Nurse training and education are crucial to reducing workplace bullying. Nurses require considerable training to recognize, intervene, and prevent bullying. Conflict resolution, assertiveness, and clear communication may benefit from this training. Given the information and skills, nurses can better protect themselves and their coworkers against bullying. Establishing clear reporting processes makes reporting bullying simpler. These systems must protect whistleblowers and anonymity. Nurses must know they will be heard, supported, and appropriately investigated when reporting bullying (Rashidi & Rouhani, 2022).

Bullied nurses should receive various services from healthcare organizations. This infrastructure includes nurse-run support groups and mental health counseling. Nurses must acknowledge the psychological and emotional effects of bullying to recover and regain confidence. Holding leadership accountable for bullying prevention is vital. Top executives, nurse supervisors, and charge nurses should oppose bullying. They established the business standard by making the office welcoming to everybody. How leaders handle workplace bullying should affect their performance ratings and promotions (Amoo et al., 2021). The importance of studying and gathering data cannot be emphasized. The healthcare business should engage with academics to track workplace bullying. This data-driven approach lets companies assess their anti-bullying programs, make adjustments, and see outcomes in happier employees and better patient health.

A Comprehensive Solution

Healthcare institutions must take a holistic approach to the problem of bullying and harassment among nurses. Comprehensive anti-bullying rules and procedures outlining precise definitions of bullying and repercussions for abusers are developed as part of this strategy (Koh, 2016). Training and education programs should be created to ensure that all healthcare workers are well-versed in bullying prevention and conflict resolution approaches. Encouraging a culture of reporting is crucial, and organizations should implement methods that allow nurses to report bullying anonymously and without fear of punishment (Ramirez et al., 2023). Nurses can deal with the emotional toll of bullying by using available counseling services, resources, and support groups. Finally, anti-bullying measures must be regularly monitored and evaluated by collecting data on reported occurrences and results to assess their efficacy and make any required modifications (Gaffney et al., 2021).

Conclusion

The importance of tackling bullying and harassment among nurses in the workplace is fundamental to patient care, the future of the nursing profession, and the quality of healthcare delivered. The recommended techniques can help healthcare companies eliminate bullying in the workplace and provide a safer, more welcoming place for nurses of all backgrounds to work. In the long run, this method helps everyone involved such as nurses, patients, and the healthcare system as a whole.

References

Astor, R. A., & Benbenishty, R. (2018). Bullying, school violence, and climate in evolving contexts: Culture, organization, and time. Oxford University Press, USA. https://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wdB2DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Astor,+R.+A.,+%26+Benbenishty,+R.+(2018).+Bullying,+school+violence,+and+climate+in+evolving+contexts:+Culture,+organization,+and+time.+Oxford+University+Press,+USA.&ots=nbhNaKvy2

Chan, C. M. H., Wong, J. E., Yeap, L. L. L., Wee, L. H., Jamil, N. A., & Swarna Nantha, Y. (2019). Workplace bullying and psychological distress of employees across socioeconomic strata: a cross-sectional study. BMC public health, 19, 1-8. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-6859-1

Doran, C., Rebar, A., Waters, K., Meredith, P., & Doran, C. (2020). A Review of the Evidence Related to the Impacts of, and Interventions for, Workplace Bullying in the Construction Industry. Mates in. https://mates.org.au/media/documents/Workplace-bullying-report.pdf

Gaffney, H., Ttofi, M. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2021). What works in anti-bullying programs? Analysis of effective intervention components. Journal of School Psychology, 85, 37-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2020.12.002

George, L. M., & Strom, B. I. (2017). Bullying and victimization dynamics in high school: An exploratory case study. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 19(1), 147-163. https://doi.org/10.1515/jtes-2017-0010

Goh, H. S., Hosier, S., & Zhang, H. (2022). Prevalence, Antecedents, and Consequences of Workplace Bullying among Nurses—A Summary of Reviews. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(14), 8256. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148256

Hartin, P., Birks, M., & Lindsay, D. (2020). Bullying in nursing: How has it changed over 4 decades? Journal of Nursing Management, 28(7), 1619-1626. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13117

Koh, W. M. S. (2016). Management of workplace bullying in hospital: A review of the use of cognitive rehearsal as an alternative management strategy. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 3(2), 213-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2016.04.010

Lever, I., Dyball, D., Greenberg, N., & Stevelink, S. A. (2019). Health consequences of bullying in the healthcare workplace: a systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(12), 3195-3209. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30816567/

Ramirez, M. R., Gower, A. L., Brown, C., Nam, Y. S., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2023). How do schools respond to biased-based bullying? A qualitative study of management and prevention strategies in schools. School Mental Health, 15(2), 508-518. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12310-022-09565-8

Rashidi, Z., & Rouhani, S. (2022). Study of Academic Bullying in educational departments; Case study (humanities and engineering departments). Iranian Journal of Engineering Education, 24(93), 105-132. https://doi.org/10.22047/ijee.2022.324743.1883