Bullying and Incivility in the Nursing Profession: Effects on New Graduate Nurses in Australia

Running Head: NURSING PROFESSION
While Nursing is a Profession Dedicated to helping others, the Highly Charged Nature of Many
of the Environments in Which Nurses’ Work can lead to Situations Where Emotions Boil Over.
Name:
Institution Affiliation:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:

NURSING PROFESSION 2
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Background.................................................................................................................................................3
Methodology and search strategy................................................................................................................4
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................5
Types of bullying, incivility, and violence in the workplace.......................................................................5
Discussion...................................................................................................................................................6
How new graduate nurses' may be affected by incivility and bullying........................................................8
Strategies that new graduate nurses can use to overcome incivility and bullying in their new nursing role 9
Interdisciplinary team................................................................................................................................10
Findings.....................................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................................13
Appendix A...............................................................................................................................................17
Table of Evidence......................................................................................................................................17

NURSING PROFESSION 3
Introduction
People in the modern world have generally become more aware of their surroundings,
and they know how they should be treated by other workmates and even clients. Almost
everyone across the globe is aware of his/her self-esteem and value in the society than in the past
(Hodgins, MacCurtain & Mannix-McNamara, 2014). The reason which is making people more
aware of how they should be treated is due to rise of things like human rights which emphasizes
equality of all people in the society. People know their rights in the working environment, and
they are even aware of what sort of environment they should work in (Misawa & Rowland,
2015). From this perspective, most people think that working condition refers to the physical
environment in which they work into and it should free from hazards. However proper working
environment can also refer to a healthy environment in which employees are shown some respect
by their fellow employees and employers and they are not mistreated, and they are given a
chance to participate in the decision making of the organization which makes them feel valued.
In the past, people were exposed to hazardous and dangerous working environment which were
harmful to their health. In contrast, in the modern world, we are living today people are more
aware of the problems which were encountered in the past, and they cannot hesitate to expose
any hazards in the workplace.
Background
Despite having awareness aimed at protecting human rights in the workplace, some
individuals still do not realize that they are facing workplace problems (Condon, 2015). The

NURSING PROFESSION 4
working environment does not necessarily need to be hazardous, but they can be considered
inappropriate in case employees are exposed to bullying and incivility in the course of their
operation as employees are exposed to stress. Bullying is a type of hazard which employees are
mistreated by their supervisor and even their fellow employees. Statistics which have been
conducted indicated that 2 million people who are working are bullied, and at least one person in
a group of four people is bullied at least once for the past five years. Bullying is said to occur to a
person at work when they are subjected to aggressive behavior from their friends and supervisors
(Laschinger, 2014). Bullying is the process in which an individual feel intimidated by someone
who uses their strength and power to mistreat and hurt them. The presence of this person makes
them feel uncomfortable and vulnerable to the extent that they feel stressed which demotivates
them and they are not able to operate effectively. Research conducted indicated that it is very
significant to expose bullying because it causes anxiety which leads to physical and mental
distress. Six million working days are lost annually due to stress caused by bullying, job
insecurity and long hours. People who are exposed to bullying are said to have a poor health
condition, and they are not motivated to perform their work effectively. They are also believed to
have low productivity and increased rate of absenteeism as compared to those who are not
bullied. Bullying is long-term harassment which is aimed at a target person (Read & Laschinger,
2013). Incivility, on the other hand, is defined as rude and discourteous actions like gossiping,
spreading rumors and in actions such as refusing to help other when requested to do so. Incivility
can occur in healthcare sector because healthcare professional operates an environment that
involves life and death situations.

NURSING PROFESSION 5
Methodology and search strategy
The paper uses the following database to search for relevant information which can give
clear understanding of the topic. The search for this literature uses articles which were published
between 2013 to 2018. Databases such as Cochrane library and MEDLINE were used to retrieve
significant information. Terms such as “bullying and incivility in healthcare sector”, “types of
bullying and incivility”, “how new nurse graduate are affected by bullying and incivility in their
workplace” and “strategies which new nurse graduates can use to overcome bullying” were used
in the literature review. Significant journals and articles which can help in future development of
the nursing career were also picked. The search for this literature review was only limited to
search strategy and keywords which are published for the last five years.
Literature Review
Types of bullying, incivility, and violence in the workplace
There are different workplace bullying, incivility, and violence which young nurse
graduates are exposed to in the health sector of Australia. Some of this activities involve blaming
young nurse graduates unreasonably by senior healthcare professionals for their own mistakes.
This happens mostly to young employees to an organization because no one believes them even
if they make complains and the bullies are seniors. Been treated differently is another form of
bullying (Lachman, 2014). This happens mostly to individuals who are isolated by their
supervisors and seniors from the first time they join the organization because they are more
skilled and competent in their fields and seniors are jealousy of them, and they are afraid they

NURSING PROFESSION 6
may end up taking their positions. This happens to the seniors who have already built lobbies and
they are okay in their comfort zone and they don't bother doing anything to enhance their skills
and thus they resist to take new people in their groups because they're not secure about their
positions. Lobbying is the base of rumors and grapevine in the organization. When there are
lobbies and groups, people defend and support their group and in the process they criticize each
other for no good reason (Griffin & Clark, 2014). The criticism can have negative impacts on the
organization in case they keep on happening in daily basis resulting into serious issues.
Sometimes it can be a group of people against one person just because the person may be having
more skills and knowledge than them. This can lead to violence to the extent that the person by
end up been beaten by the group.
Humiliation in front of a guest is another form of bullying and incivility which young
nurse graduates from Australia suffer from. This is because their seniors are aware that if they
attack and humiliate young employees in front of a guest their confidence will go down to the
extent that they can end up making some more errors. Seniors also do this in front of guest so
that they can attract their attention and make the new nurse graduate feel like an amateur who
does not know anything about what they are doing (Griffin & Clark, 2014). Excessive
monitoring is another form of bullying which makes young employees uncomfortable and they
are not been able to offer their best. This is mostly done by supervisors, but sometimes they
overdo it especially for new employees who sometimes make them think they do not know
anything and thus leading to low and reduced productivity in the organization. Some people do
not like been monitored especially throughout. Though, monitoring the progress of employees is
fine, excessive monitoring kills a working environment as employees are not in a position to give