Lateral Violence: A Growing Issue In The Nursing Profession
Lateral Violence
Shelisa Cooper
Southern New Hampshire University
Nursing Leadership and Management
NUR 310
Joyce O 'Reilly
June 16, 2014
Lateral Violence
Lateral violence (LV) is growing issue in nursing and tend to be oxymoronic since the nursing profession is known as a profession of caring. Though lateral violence exist in other professions, the nursing profession should lead the charge in resolving such acts among a profession that plays such a vital role in the quality of others’ lives. Lateral violence should become extinct within the nursing profession. In order for this to take place LV need to be brought to the fore front of discussions among the nursing educational arenas and also throughout healthcare …show more content…
organizations.
Since new nursing graduates tend to be the initial target of lateral violence, nursing educational institutions should evaluate lateral violence through discussions and research, and also provide training regarding various ways to promptly deal with a situation that may involve LV. Within healthcare organizations LV should be a topic that is discussed and the organizations’ position should be clearly defined. It has been proven that healthcare organizations suffer financial loss if LV exist within their culture. Part of the financial loss is due to lateral violence has been found to be one of the leading causes of new graduate nurses resigning from nursing positions. Revenue is lost when nurses resign and the organization also runs the risk of low quality indicators if LV exist because it has been proven that the existence of LV also increase the risk for medical errors. ("Lateral Violence," 2011, p. 1) It is this authors’ opinion that LV may not be fully eliminated from an organization because it is of this authors opinion that there will always be nurses that are having personal and even professional difficulty and their only coping mechanism is to lash out at others, but lateral violence can be positioned in a place of priority within an organization where that nurse/employee would have avenues within the organization to receive help during their time of difficulty and also policies should be in place that if that person decided to forgo assistance and lash out toward a co-worker that they would quickly understand that there are consequences to their actions and could possibly lead to termination.
Lateral violence is a form of bullying that occurs when a colleague maybe of higher position intimidates a person to make that person feel dejected or cause them to become emotionally upset.
These behaviors can be in the form of gossiping, back biting, body and facial obstinate language or withholding information to set the nurse up so to speak. Student nurses, new nurses and nurses that are new to a workplace are noted to be most susceptible to LV. This population are understood to have the highest probability to leave a job or may even choose another profession within the first year of their profession (Sauer, 2011, p. 3). Student nurses reported that 53% of them experienced being put down by a staff nurse and 56.9% reported that they had be verbally abused and threatened. There are major consequences that occur due to workplace bullying. Lateral violence not only place undo pain and suffering of the direct victim but also causes conflict for the organization and also has an effect on patient care. The Joint commission (2007) has come to the conclusion that unresolved issues of LV adversely affects the safety of patients within that facility and also affect quality of care. LV also affects the ability to retain qualified staff which adds to the already diminished number of working nurses. (Lateral violence and Bullying in the Workplace, 2008, p. …show more content…
4)
The emergency department (ED) is noted to have various factors where LV can occur or even prevail. The ED setting patient care variances can change rapidly. The nature of the ED can be very stressful for nursing staff. The workload can be very difficult due to staffing constraints and budgeting restrictions. Also the acuity of patients needing emergency medical care can be very high. Emergency department managers should put a process in place to deal with lateral violence and have it be a high priority. It is suggested that there are ways to eradicate workplace violence if attention is given to it. The nurse that has experienced the assault should be able to address the issue quickly. The manager should facilitate that the victim is able to confront the aggressor and address their concerns regarding their actions against them. Managers should also insure that they create a safe environment and that it is understood that LV is not tolerated in any form. (Sauer, 2011, p. 5)
Almost 1/3 of nurses in the workforce has reported bullying. It is understood that organization play a big role in allowing LV to be common place. The culture of an organization can contribute to LV existence. They could have a hierarchy type leadership where you have from the bottom up type structure. Also when an organization is going through a phase of restructuring and downsizing, these factors can play a role in LV due to the stresses of the restructuring such as maybe the nurse to patient ratio is changed where the nurse will now have 5:1 verses 4:1, maybe positions are being eliminated. LV can be prevalent in an organization if its practice is to not confronted and backed up by a policy of no tolerance. (Sauer, 2001, p.2)
LV cause nurses to suffer from various social, psychological and physical outcomes.
After a period of time the stressors of lateral violence can cause the victim to develop, hypertension, cardiac palpitations, anxiety disorders, and sleep disorders. These symptoms usually occur because the nurse has suffered things like, non-verbal innuendos, sabotage, putdowns and gossiping. Some of this can take place over various media outlets as well. In order to undergo or tolerate lateral violence it is understood that the person usually have the quality of low self-esteem or personal image, suffer from depression, self-hatred and feelings of powerlessness. (Embree & White, 2010, p. 167)
Another theory is that role and gender may have an effect on the prevalence of LV within the nursing profession. The nursing profession is predominately female and it is said that as women have not been raised to value themselves as female. The nursing profession is predominately female and have to be submissive to a predominately male physician staff, which may lead to a feeling of powerlessness within the profession. This may contribute to the inner frustration within the profession which then in turn may promote nurse-nurse violence. (Sheridan-Leos, 2008, p.
400)
Actions must be taken to stop this cycle of LV. There are countries that have implemented laws to protect workers from lateral violence but not in America at this time. The nursing profession and healthcare organizations must learn to manage LV with the goal of illuminating it all together. Management must look at workplace organization and policy to insure that there are guidelines regarding the intolerance of LV. It is suggested that managers will need to evaluate their unit and observe for signs of LV practices and bring it out into the open in staff meetings. Confront the behavior and allow staff members to talk it through. It is also suggested that conflict management training and educational opportunities are offered to help alleviate this phenomena (Sheridan-Leos, 2008, p. 402).
Lateral violence is a topic that is ongoing and has opened up a lot of doors of investigation. Some of the authors have noted that since lateral violence have several names like workplace violence for instance, other research is a challenge at this time. But as a profession that is known for its caring, nurses as a whole in this students’ opinion will need to learn how to care for one another as well. The author of this paper have suffered many forms of lateral violence. It was and is still understood in nursing that there is a “rite of passage” that nurses have to go through to see if you are really cut out to be nurse. This author’s skin was toughened the hard way. It is of this authors’ opinion that older nurses should now advocate for the young and let their “rites of passage” be met with opened arms.
References
Break the Spell and End Lateral Violence in Nursing. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.nursetogether.com/break-the-spell-and-end-lateral-violence-in-nursing
Embree, J. L., & White, A. H. (2010). Concept Analysis: Nurse-to-Nurse. Nursing Forum, 45(3), 166-173. http://dx.doi.org/10.111/j.1744-6198.2010.000185.x
Lateral Violence and Bullying in the Workplace [PDF]. (2008, February). Retrieved from http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/pdfs/nursing/center_lateral_violence_and_bullying_position_statement_from_center_for_american_nurses.pdf
Sauer, P. (2011, August 11). Do Nurses Eat Their Young? Truth and Consequences. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 38(1), 43-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.jen.2011.08.012
Sheridan-Leos, N. (2008). Professional Issues: Understanding Lateral Violence in Nursing. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 12(3), 399-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1188/08.CJON.399-403
Shelisa Cooper
Southern New Hampshire University
Nursing Leadership and Management
NUR 310
Joyce O 'Reilly
June 16, 2014
Lateral Violence
Lateral violence (LV) is growing issue in nursing and tend to be oxymoronic since the nursing profession is known as a profession of caring. Though lateral violence exist in other professions, the nursing profession should lead the charge in resolving such acts among a profession that plays such a vital role in the quality of others’ lives. Lateral violence should become extinct within the nursing profession. In order for this to take place LV need to be brought to the fore front of discussions among the nursing educational arenas and also throughout healthcare …show more content…
organizations.
Since new nursing graduates tend to be the initial target of lateral violence, nursing educational institutions should evaluate lateral violence through discussions and research, and also provide training regarding various ways to promptly deal with a situation that may involve LV. Within healthcare organizations LV should be a topic that is discussed and the organizations’ position should be clearly defined. It has been proven that healthcare organizations suffer financial loss if LV exist within their culture. Part of the financial loss is due to lateral violence has been found to be one of the leading causes of new graduate nurses resigning from nursing positions. Revenue is lost when nurses resign and the organization also runs the risk of low quality indicators if LV exist because it has been proven that the existence of LV also increase the risk for medical errors. ("Lateral Violence," 2011, p. 1) It is this authors’ opinion that LV may not be fully eliminated from an organization because it is of this authors opinion that there will always be nurses that are having personal and even professional difficulty and their only coping mechanism is to lash out at others, but lateral violence can be positioned in a place of priority within an organization where that nurse/employee would have avenues within the organization to receive help during their time of difficulty and also policies should be in place that if that person decided to forgo assistance and lash out toward a co-worker that they would quickly understand that there are consequences to their actions and could possibly lead to termination.
Lateral violence is a form of bullying that occurs when a colleague maybe of higher position intimidates a person to make that person feel dejected or cause them to become emotionally upset.
These behaviors can be in the form of gossiping, back biting, body and facial obstinate language or withholding information to set the nurse up so to speak. Student nurses, new nurses and nurses that are new to a workplace are noted to be most susceptible to LV. This population are understood to have the highest probability to leave a job or may even choose another profession within the first year of their profession (Sauer, 2011, p. 3). Student nurses reported that 53% of them experienced being put down by a staff nurse and 56.9% reported that they had be verbally abused and threatened. There are major consequences that occur due to workplace bullying. Lateral violence not only place undo pain and suffering of the direct victim but also causes conflict for the organization and also has an effect on patient care. The Joint commission (2007) has come to the conclusion that unresolved issues of LV adversely affects the safety of patients within that facility and also affect quality of care. LV also affects the ability to retain qualified staff which adds to the already diminished number of working nurses. (Lateral violence and Bullying in the Workplace, 2008, p. …show more content…
4)
The emergency department (ED) is noted to have various factors where LV can occur or even prevail. The ED setting patient care variances can change rapidly. The nature of the ED can be very stressful for nursing staff. The workload can be very difficult due to staffing constraints and budgeting restrictions. Also the acuity of patients needing emergency medical care can be very high. Emergency department managers should put a process in place to deal with lateral violence and have it be a high priority. It is suggested that there are ways to eradicate workplace violence if attention is given to it. The nurse that has experienced the assault should be able to address the issue quickly. The manager should facilitate that the victim is able to confront the aggressor and address their concerns regarding their actions against them. Managers should also insure that they create a safe environment and that it is understood that LV is not tolerated in any form. (Sauer, 2011, p. 5)
Almost 1/3 of nurses in the workforce has reported bullying. It is understood that organization play a big role in allowing LV to be common place. The culture of an organization can contribute to LV existence. They could have a hierarchy type leadership where you have from the bottom up type structure. Also when an organization is going through a phase of restructuring and downsizing, these factors can play a role in LV due to the stresses of the restructuring such as maybe the nurse to patient ratio is changed where the nurse will now have 5:1 verses 4:1, maybe positions are being eliminated. LV can be prevalent in an organization if its practice is to not confronted and backed up by a policy of no tolerance. (Sauer, 2001, p.2)
LV cause nurses to suffer from various social, psychological and physical outcomes.
After a period of time the stressors of lateral violence can cause the victim to develop, hypertension, cardiac palpitations, anxiety disorders, and sleep disorders. These symptoms usually occur because the nurse has suffered things like, non-verbal innuendos, sabotage, putdowns and gossiping. Some of this can take place over various media outlets as well. In order to undergo or tolerate lateral violence it is understood that the person usually have the quality of low self-esteem or personal image, suffer from depression, self-hatred and feelings of powerlessness. (Embree & White, 2010, p. 167)
Another theory is that role and gender may have an effect on the prevalence of LV within the nursing profession. The nursing profession is predominately female and it is said that as women have not been raised to value themselves as female. The nursing profession is predominately female and have to be submissive to a predominately male physician staff, which may lead to a feeling of powerlessness within the profession. This may contribute to the inner frustration within the profession which then in turn may promote nurse-nurse violence. (Sheridan-Leos, 2008, p.
400)
Actions must be taken to stop this cycle of LV. There are countries that have implemented laws to protect workers from lateral violence but not in America at this time. The nursing profession and healthcare organizations must learn to manage LV with the goal of illuminating it all together. Management must look at workplace organization and policy to insure that there are guidelines regarding the intolerance of LV. It is suggested that managers will need to evaluate their unit and observe for signs of LV practices and bring it out into the open in staff meetings. Confront the behavior and allow staff members to talk it through. It is also suggested that conflict management training and educational opportunities are offered to help alleviate this phenomena (Sheridan-Leos, 2008, p. 402).
Lateral violence is a topic that is ongoing and has opened up a lot of doors of investigation. Some of the authors have noted that since lateral violence have several names like workplace violence for instance, other research is a challenge at this time. But as a profession that is known for its caring, nurses as a whole in this students’ opinion will need to learn how to care for one another as well. The author of this paper have suffered many forms of lateral violence. It was and is still understood in nursing that there is a “rite of passage” that nurses have to go through to see if you are really cut out to be nurse. This author’s skin was toughened the hard way. It is of this authors’ opinion that older nurses should now advocate for the young and let their “rites of passage” be met with opened arms.
References
Break the Spell and End Lateral Violence in Nursing. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.nursetogether.com/break-the-spell-and-end-lateral-violence-in-nursing
Embree, J. L., & White, A. H. (2010). Concept Analysis: Nurse-to-Nurse. Nursing Forum, 45(3), 166-173. http://dx.doi.org/10.111/j.1744-6198.2010.000185.x
Lateral Violence and Bullying in the Workplace [PDF]. (2008, February). Retrieved from http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/pdfs/nursing/center_lateral_violence_and_bullying_position_statement_from_center_for_american_nurses.pdf
Sauer, P. (2011, August 11). Do Nurses Eat Their Young? Truth and Consequences. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 38(1), 43-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.jen.2011.08.012
Sheridan-Leos, N. (2008). Professional Issues: Understanding Lateral Violence in Nursing. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 12(3), 399-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1188/08.CJON.399-403