Healthcare Healthcare facilities are supposed to be places that offer support and healing, but did you know workers within the healthcare industry experience more bullying and deviant behaviors than in any other industry?
According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, an organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying, 36% of all complaint calls are from nurses, making them the most frequent callers. In fact, one study found that within the first six months, 60% of nurses leave their first job due to the behavior of their coworkers.
Statistics also show that bullying behaviors within the healthcare industry start as early as nursing school. In the same study mentioned above, within a six month period, 78% of students experienced bullying in nursing school. In another study, over 50% of nursing students reported seeing or experiencing nurse-on-nurse bullying during their clinical rotations.
A third study also found that bullying occurs at all levels within the healthcare industry with 60% of nurse managers, directors, and executives reporting they experienced bullying in the workplace. Furthermore, 26% considered the bullying to be “severe.”
The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nurse bullying as “repeated, unwanted harmful actions intended to humiliate, offend and cause distress in the recipient.” It can include incivility, exclusion, physical violence and death threats, among other things. ANA also says the behaviors are “a very serious issue that threatens patient safety, RN safety and the nursing profession as a whole.” In fact, in 2014, the Joint Commission found that 63% of cases resulting in the unanticipated death or permanent disability of a patient could be traced back to a communication failure by hospital staff.
Amy Rock Editorial, LLC 