Argumentative Essay on Bullying

Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons, by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is: Threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, or; Work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done; or Verbal abuse (Workplace Bullying Institute, 2014) (1). In the Sentinel Event Alert released by The Joint Commission in 2008, states that “intimidating and disruptive behaviors include overt actions such as verbal outbursts and physical threats, as well as passive activities such as refusing to perform assigned tasks or quietly exhibiting uncooperative attitudes during routine activities.”(2) Working in a high-stress environment some do not always know how to cope with the stress that we deal with daily and will take it out on others and the bullying begins. Bullying has no place in the operating room. Some harmful actions may be more overt, such as making demeaning comments or using intimidation to undermine a coworker. Other forms of incivility and bullying can be more covert, such as failing to intervene or withholding vital information when actions are clearly indicated and needed for work to be done in a safe manner. We must stop and remember why we are there in the first place: The patients. We must make sure we are providing an environment that is appropriate to care for our patients to the best of our ability. We entered the field because to some extent we wanted to care for patients, but I believe in order to have the patience, respect, and ability to care for patients it all starts with how we treat those we work with every day. Bullying not only affects the person being bullied, it affects the whole department; communication suffers, and reduces performance and morale.

Bullying in the OR environment is becoming more and more prevalent. The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses released a study in 2013 in the AORN Journal, where the average number of bullying acts that participants experienced more often than ever (ie, intensity) was 9.7. Respondents experienced an average of 2.1 acts weekly or daily (ie, frequency). Approximately one‐third (34%) of participants would be characterized as targets of workplace bullying (ie, experiencing at least two bullying acts weekly or daily). Among individuals who met the definition of being a target, the most frequently experienced acts occurring weekly or daily were having rumors or gossip spread (50%), being ordered to work below competency level (46.3%), being humiliated (45.4%), having information withheld (43.6%), and being excluded (41.8%). Of the respondents, 59% reported witnessing coworkers being bullied. Only 6% of participants indicated they never experienced a bullying act (3). With such a high percentage of people witnessing coworkers being bullied, we can see that the prevalence of bullying in the OR is an issue. I personally have witnessed and experienced bullying while in the OR mostly from surgeons and senior surgical techs. Senior nurses and surgical techs can become extremely territorial and in turn, will bully new employees and even students. We quickly forget how it was to be thrown into this environment fresh out of school and I have witnessed techs purposely sabotaging new hires for absolutely no reason except for the fact that they were new.

Preventing and not tolerating bullying of any kind should be the goal of every operating room department. With so many negative effects that bullying brings with it and that it could potentially lead to a patient safety issue, policies regarding bullying should be in place. “Any behavior which impairs the health care team’s ability to function well creates risk,” says Gerald Hickson, M.D., associate dean for Clinical Affairs and director of the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2). Bullying should be zero tolerance, with non-retaliation policies set for those who report bullying, accountability, consequences for physicians, and a clear outline of disciplinary actions. Education on bullying would be appropriate f