Analysis of Workplace Bullying Incident in Nursing: A Case Study

This essay analyzes a case study involving a nursing student, Shannon Doe, who reported experiencing workplace bullying from her preceptor, RN Tim Coloton. The essay begins by defining workplace bullying, differentiating it from other forms of conflict, and exploring its prevalence within the nursing profession. It examines the specific incidents described in the report, including the preceptor's comments and criticisms, to determine whether they constitute bullying. The essay also discusses the potential impact of such behavior on the student and suggests strategies for dealing with incidents of bullying, including reporting mechanisms, modeling good behavior, and fostering resilience through various methods like expressive writing and establishing supportive relationships. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing and addressing workplace bullying to protect both patient safety and the well-being of healthcare professionals.

Running head: ESSAY
Transition to practice 1
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ESSAY
Introduction- Novice graduate nurses face a range of challenges that create a
significant negative impact on their successful transition to nursing practice. In the always-
changing environment of health and social care, the demand for nurses remain unaltered
(Lea, 2018). However, clinical nursing practices are currently under pressure for functioning
in an efficient and lean manner, owing to the decreased reimbursements, increased
consumerism, workplace aggression, and upsurge in regulatory oversight (Vanderspank-
Wright et al., 2018). Incident reporting refers to the mechanism by which healthcare
professionals disclose details about unintended physical or emotional injury caused by
another professional or the system. This essay will elucidate the incident reporting that
involves workplace bullying.
What is bullying- Workplace bullying refers to the tenacious pattern of maltreatment
from individuals in the workplace, which eventually results in either emotional or physical
harm. It generally comprises of tactics such as, nonverbal, verbal, physical, psychological
abuse, and humiliation (Mikkelsen et al., 2020). This kind of workplace bullying is
predominantly challenging owing to the fact that unlike the characteristic school bully,
bullies at the workplace frequently function within the recognised rules and dogmas of their
association and their wider community. According to Karatza et al. (2016) bullying is
generally covert or overt and its negative impacts are not restricted to the targeted persons,
and result in a debility in employee confidence and alteration in organizational culture.
Despite the stellar status associated with the nursing profession, nurses are subjected
frequently to the hidden culture of bullying, hazing disruptive behaviour and name-calling, all
across the globe.
When and where does workplace bullying/harassment occur- The nursing workplace
has been recognised as a domain that is characterised by recurrent workplace bullying and it
is commonly regarded that relational aggression like intimidation and gossiping are pertinent.

2ESSAY
Common instances of bullying in nursing profession are (i) management of doctor bullying a
nurse, (ii) nurse bullying patient, (iii) senior nurse bullying nurse, (iv) patient bullying nurse,
and (v) nurse bullying allied health personnel (Han & Ha, 2016). Workplace bullying
typically occurs when the work of an employee is undermined or the employee is isolated or
addressed using sarcastic and demeaning terms. Bullying has also been associated to work-
related stressors and factors such as role conflict/ambiguity, workload, job insecurity, and
cognitive anxieties of the occupation (Birks et al., 2018). In addition, it has been found that
employees who report experiences of negative feelings like anger, sadness, anxiety and
insecurity more and neurotic employees demonstrate an increased likelihood of being a
victim of workplace bullying. An analysis of the incident suggests that Shannon Doe
perceived the behaviour of her preceptor as a form of bullying. Nurses frequently lack
autonomy, answerability, and influence over their profession. Inopportunely, owing to non-
existence of this control they are subjected to expatriate and self-destructive violence at the
workplace.
What is not bullying- The incident report suggests that despite the absence of any
physical injury, communication with Shannon had been initiated in a manner by RN Tim
Coloton that added to her stress and made her feel nervous and anxious about the placement
experience. The RN used terms like ‘padawan’ that refers to followers, learners or apprentice.
Furthermore, calling her a ‘walking textbook’ and highlighting her mistakes during handover,
with the sole intention to enhancing her practice were perceived by her as intimidating and
victimization. For any particular event to be categorised as bullying, the antagonist generally
displays the tendency to hurt the victim, and the latter must recognise the event as a
thoughtful act of abuse. However, in order to be classified as bullying, the incident must
encompass three components namely, (i) recurrent actions or intimidations, (ii) a power
inequity, and (iii) purpose to cause injury (Vanderspank-Wright et al., 2018). Not liking a

3ESSAY
person, having unpleasant feelings while being around a person, being excluded and isolated,
teaching assertiveness, engaging in heated disagreements, and a single event of making fun or
telling a joke cannot be considered as bullying (Nielsen & Einarsen, 2018). The incident
report suggests that the RN did not have any intention of causing harm to Shannon, rather
complimented her ability and also provided constructive feedback. Therefore, despite the
communication being perceived unpleasant by the victim, cannot be considered workplace
bullying.
Dealing with incidents- Working beyond the shift hours, coping with disturbance,
handling numerous complex patients though frequently short-staffed, functioning without
sufficient meal breaks, and reassuring inconsolable family members have been identified as
the tip of the iceberg for nursing professionals. However, unwanted and recurrent harmful
actions envisioned to embarrass, offend and cause suffering amid nurses is a tremendously
grave issue that intimidates nurse safety, patient safety, sanity of the workers, and the status
of the nursing profession. A thought-provoking detail about nurse bullying is that it is
regarded as a practise of “lateral violence”, also referred to as “horizontal violence” (Barber
et al., 2017). However, rarely do the healthcare managers adopt strategies for effective
management of bullying. According to the AHRC (2015) all employers are responsible for
ensuring that their workers are treated fairly. Bullying at workplace can be dealt with by
modelling good behaviour like effective communication, and setting outlooks on how
employees must treat one another using mutual central values that uphold respect, thereby
diminishing negative behaviour. Creating anonymous reporting systems also facilitate the
victims to come forward and speak directly about the issues affecting them. Employees are
also encouraged to document photocopies of text messages, emails, or letters from the
suspected harasser, in addition to a time-stamped record of every occurrence.

4ESSAY
Recommendations- While documenting bullying incident is imperative, it is necessary
to identify that not all difficult or tense situations at the workplace are aggressive behaviour.
In order to increase resilience, Shannon needs to change her narrative by engaging in
expressive writing that will prevent her from ruminating. Recurrently exposing herself to
situations that she considers intimidating will also help in changing her perspective towards
the RN (Catlett, 2017). Establishing close relation with workplace colleagues and family
members is vital. Shannon needs to look beyond the current scenario and identify any subtle
manners in which her sense of being victimised gets altered. Development of realistic goals,
in relation to caring for patients and acting on adverse events by adopting decisive actions
would also prove helpful (Pathak & Lata, 2018). Apart from looking to occasions of self-
recovery, there is a need to maintain an optimistic outlook, while developing abilities in
trusting own instincts.

5ESSAY
References
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2015). Workplace discrimination, harassment and
bullying. Retrieved from
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/employers/workplace-discrimination-
harassment-and-bullying
Barber, C., Dague, R., McLaughlin, T., Mullen, E., & Scott, J. (2017). Horizontal Violence
Among Nursing Students in the Clinical Setting. 2017 NCUR.
Birks, M., Budden, L. M., Biedermann, N., Park, T., & Chapman, Y. (2018). A ‘rite of
passage?’: Bullying experiences of nursing students in Australia. Collegian, 25(1),
45-50.
Catlett, C. (2017). From Article to Action: Building Hope, Efficacy, Resilience, and
Optimism. Young exceptional children, 20(4), 191-193.
Han, E. H., & Ha, Y. (2016). Relationships among self-esteem, social support, nursing
organizational culture, experience of workplace bullying, and consequence of
workplace bullying in hospital nurses. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
Administration, 22(3), 303-312.
Karatza, C., Zyga, S., Tziaferi, S., & Prezerakos, P. (2016). Workplace bullying and general
health status among the nursing staff of Greek public hospitals. Annals of general
psychiatry, 15(1), 7.
Lea, J. (2018). Preparing for transition to nursing practice. The Road to Nursing, 278.
Mikkelsen, E. G., Hansen, Å. M., Persson, R., Byrgesen, M. F., & Hogh, A. (2020).
Individual consequences of being exposed to workplace bullying. In Bullying and
Harassment in the workplace.: Developments in theory, research and practice. 3rd.
edition. CRC Press.

6ESSAY
Nielsen, M. B., & Einarsen, S. V. (2018). What we know, what we do not know, and what we
should and could have known about workplace bullying: an overview of the literature
and agenda for future research. Aggression and violent behavior, 42, 71-83.
Pathak, R., & Lata, S. (2018). Optimism in Relation to Resilience and Perceived
Stress. Journal of Psychosocial Research, 13(2).
Vanderspank-Wright, B., Lalonde, M., Smith, A., Wong, S., & Bentz, J. A. (2018). Exploring
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Critical Care Nursing, 29(2).