Horizontal Violence in Nursing
Nursing is a rewarding and growing profession. Yearly, there are about 155,000 new graduate nurses (Changes in, N.D.). Despite this, many organizations are still under the stress of understaffing. This can be due to a concept best known as horizontal violence in nursing. Many think that bullying is an issue that occurs more often with minors in a school setting, but horizontal violence in nursing negates this thought. Horizontal violence in nursing is best defined as “bullying that occurs between coworkers” (Granstra, 2015). This bullying cannot only negatively affect seasoned nurses, but also new graduate nurses that may lack confidence in their abilities as they are new to the field. Consequentially, this can
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Horizontal violence in nursing is a factor that drives many nurses away from certain jobs or patient care units. This can end up being quite costly for an organization. For example, a lot of time and money goes into training new nurses to the patient care unit as well as new graduate nurses to the profession. Some may require more training than others and this can be costly for an organization. When horizontal violence in nursing occurs, these new nurses may be driven to leave their jobs secondary to their dissatisfaction with their job. When this happens, all of the time and money spent training that nurse is wasted and the organization will then need to spend that money again training a new replacement …show more content…
As described above, horizontal violence in nursing can lead to a negative outcome in regard to mental health. Absenteeism can be directly related to this negative outcome because nursing staff may feel the need to call in rather than go to work. When this occurs, management then has to scramble to find coverage for the shift. If they are unable to find coverage, incentives may be offered in an attempt to entice staff to pick up the shift. These incentives can include things such as time and half for pay, which can negatively impact the organization
Police and prosecutors tend to downplay the violent assaults on health care workers unless someone is severely injured, even though 30 states have felony laws against it (Jacobson, 2014, p. 4). According to a descriptive study conducted by Lisa Wolf there were many instances in, which the legal, judicial system was unwilling to pursue charges against patients, or family members who assaulted nurses. Thus the focus on legislation to make an assault on health care workers a felony crime may have limited efficacy unless efforts are made to address society’s complacency toward violence against nurses (Wolf et al., 2014, p. 3). In Pennsylvania two house bill’s were introduced one in 2011 House Bill 1992.
Towards the end of the article Kaplan provides the reader with evidence that produces anger. She quotes nurse Wheeler from Wilkes-Barre Hospital after asking her about breaks during work by adding her response, “I don’t think I’ve ever.” The audience not only is shocked by this nurse’s statement; they may feel anger because every employee should be entitled to take a break after long strenuous hours of nonstop work. Another piece of evidence that supports Kaplan’s appeal to pathos is when she lets the audience know that nurses and nurse aides are two of the main occupations that lead to musculoskeletal injuries. The reader cannot help but feel horrified when finding out that nurses easily garner injuries due to inadequate staffing.
What was once thought of as a profession driven by compassion and the desire to help those in need has now become filled with weary burnt out nurses who have lost sight of their purpose. Stress has caused them to distance themselves from the principles nursing is built upon. Our health care system needs to be revamped to improve the quality of care being administered. Nurses can be proactive and take steps to avoid burning out but, our health care administrators have to take matters into their hands because they have the capacity to initiate change. They must realize the gravity of the situation and take an offensive position to make a stand against the crisis of nursing
Great post! Lateral Violence/bullying is a very good concern and topic of discussion. I’m glad that your group have chosen this topic because it truly does need change. It makes it a very sensitive topic to discuss in the workplace because of fear of losing your job, causing conflict or the repercussions that may come for speaking out. Some nurses will leave while others may stick around and accept the behavior.
Present conclusions supported by data, evidence, and information discussed throughout the paper. Do not add new information. Be sure to proofread your entire paper for errors. In summary, horizontal violence poses a significant challenge and threat to the nursing profession, warranting increased focus and attention.
The varying definitions of turnover, “have impeded a clear understanding of associated financial costs, as replacement cost estimations vary according to location and components included in the measure,” yet there is a definite hindrance in the indirect costs of the nurse turnover (244). Another effect the nurse turnover has had is on nurses who have continued in the profession. It has been shown that “as hours of care per patient day increased, so did the overtime nurses were asked to work and the incidence of missed shifts due to illness,” meaning the less nurses available, the more likely other nurses are going to have to work overtime or become ill due to the amount of work they have done. In order to accurately portray the current situation, Hayes implemented many different research studies done on the topic of the nursing turnover. These improved the credibility, or ethos, of her
Nurses who are victims of bullying might take more sick days, look for opportunities from other organizations and abandon their occupation. Absenteeism from work caused by horizontal bullying is increasing. Many nurses do not have the encouragement or the capability necessary to manage with bullying and just fail to come to work in order to avoid the experience, mainly if they are aware that they are going to be teamed up with a “bully” for that certain shift. Absenteeism increase to costs that are not necessary for the organizations and adds a burden to the remaining staff, resulting to an increase turnover and nurse disengagement. While interning at the Miami Jewish Health Systems, the report shows about 150 nurses who quit at the same time due to horizontal bullying.
n her Nytimes Op-ed article “we need more nurses” Writer Alexandra Robbins reveals that while nurses plays a very important role in improving the health care system of the country, most hospitals and medical establishments are understaffed with nurses. nurses are often one the least recognized group of people who are long due overstretched with the service they provide. Inadequate staffing has become one of the major problems across the country, with the exception of state of California, no other state has set up a standard minimum nurse to patient ratio.many studies has shown that when more patients are assigned to a nurse, the higher for the risk of death, infection,complication, falls and longer hospital stay. the author quoted
For example: - The hospital or healthcare facility has to put its nurses to work harder. This can cause current nurses and other healthcare staff to feel underappreciated, overworked, and even have to fill roles that are not theirs. The added stress of working too hard or seeing too many patients can lead to them getting sick more often, or quitting, which is a great detriment to the hospital. - The associated risks to patients and patient safety increase when the nurse/patient ratio is inadequate.
Kantek & Gezer (2009) has indicated that over 50% of the students frequently and 80% occasionally experienced conflicts. Some student nurses reported that they had experienced aggression and bullying in clinical settings from staff nurses, nursing managers, and patients and their families. Nursing students are particularly inexperienced, immature and unprepared to manage conflict and response in avoiding way frequently in conflict situations (Pines et al., 2014). Therefore, more attention and support should be provided to student nurses due to their inability to effectively manage the conflicts they
Violence against healthcare providers is a significant problem that has been receiving growing attention. Incidents of workplace violence are experienced by nurses and physicians on a day-to-day basis, especially in emergency departments. The corollary of this phenomenon has become a significant matter due to the psychological stress it is placing on healthcare providers, hence affecting their efficiency and productivity. We may often undermine the consequences of workplace violence, but studies show that it may cause distress, apathy, rage, disappointment, helplessness, anxiety, self-doubt, and insecurity of healthcare workers. (Öztunç 360-365)Hence, their entire job performance is decreased and absenteeism is increased.
Keywords: nursing, short staffing, burnout Effects of Short-Staffing in the Nursing Profession
Theoretical Framework on Violence in the Workplace Violence can be experienced by many different people in different situations in health care. In the healthcare world, nurses are one of the most exposed groups to workplace violence in the world. Circumstances that lead patients to the hospital can be very stressful which can lead to anxiety, agitation, depression. Through using the theoretical framework developed by Ida Jean Orlando, workplace violence can be viewed and applied to address or even prevent violence experienced by nurses possibly. Violence has been a long-standing issue in the workplace.
Abstract A literature review was conducted to answer the following evidence-based research question "What are the effects of horizontal violence in the workplace on nurses and patient care?" The review includes a systematic review, two qualitative reviews, one quantitative review and a mixed method review that will aid in answering the research question while focusing on the effects of horizontal violence on nurses and what interventions could possibly be used to prevent this type of violence in the workplace. These studies were retrieved through various electronic databases in which will be discussed in the remainder of the literature review. The literature that was used were all published within the last five years with four of them being published in the United States and one from the United Kingdom.
Discussion The study result shows that 27.8% of the 234 novice nurses experienced workplace bullying, and 38.9% have witnessed other people became bully targets in the unit, which comparing with researches have done abroad with an incidence rate of 55%~65% is lower (Berry et al., 2012; Griffin, 2004), which may due to Taiwan's national conditions, nursing cultural background and degree of awareness of bullying. Most of the novice nurses are women, who are asked to have the virtues of sacrifice and devoting, and have an attitude of respect and obedience to the senior and superior by traditional education, in which, 6.8% of people will respond to the supervisor, and only 5.1% will come forward, therefore, most people choose to avoid confronting