Managing Workplace Bullying: A Baseline Assessment of Nurses' Knowledge

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that occurs in the nursing workforce. Nurses who are affected by workplace bullying suffer physically and psychologically (Sellers, Millenbach, Ward, Scribani, 2012). Because of this, hospital retention rates suffer and patient care is compromised (Chipps & McRury, 2012). Due to the prevalence of workplace bullying and the inability to eradicate the behavior, it is predictable that nurses will be exposed. For these reasons, it is necessary to provide nurses with the tools to manage bullying in the workplace. The aim of this doctoral capstone project was to assess nurses’ baseline knowledge about workplace bullying and use the results, along with evidence from literature, to develop a workplace bullying management learning tool. A systematic review of literature was done to develop the self-assessment. The self-assessment was administered through SurveyMonkey to 125 nurses on medical surgical and medical telemetry nursing units in a large Midwestern hospital. Sixty nurses participated in the self-assessment, giving a response rate of 48%. Data were collected and the results were analyzed showing none (0%) of the nurses were able to describe the differences between workplace bullying, horizontal/lateral violence and incivility. One (4%) nurse was able to list the two types of bullying, 9% were able to correctly describe the behaviors seen in each type of bullying, and 84% described correct ways to prevent workplace bullying. Sixty-eight percent described correct ways to control bullying situations, 82% described correct ways to intervene on behalf of their co-workers, 78% know who to report workplace bullying to and 6% know the exact information to report. Based on the results from the self-assessment and evidence from literature, a learning tool was developed and distributed to the two nursing units. It is imperative for all nurses (not just some or most) to know how to manage bullying in the workplace. Key words: workplace bullying, horizontal violence, incivility, nursing, education, training and management