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The Oklahoma Nurse - August 2022

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18<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Oklahoma</strong> <strong>Nurse</strong> <strong>August</strong>, September, October <strong>2022</strong><br />

Getting Clear on Bullying Versus Incivility<br />

Renee Thompson, DNP, RN, CSP<br />

Reprinted with permission<br />

from <strong>The</strong> Florida <strong>Nurse</strong>,<br />

February <strong>2022</strong> issue<br />

Numerous studies show the<br />

prevalence and devastating<br />

impact disruptive behaviors<br />

have on nurse retention and<br />

satisfaction, patient safety<br />

and the financial health of an<br />

organization. Today, more<br />

than ever, the unpredictable, Dr. Renee Thompson<br />

life-and-death nature of the<br />

pandemic has created an environment that is ripe for an<br />

increase in workplace bullying and incivility. Research at<br />

the Healthy Workforce Institute shows an uptick in bad<br />

behavior and nurses are experiencing greater workplace<br />

incivility now more than ever before. Additional studies<br />

show:<br />

• 45.7% of nurses said they witnessed more<br />

incivility than before the pandemic (El Ghaziri<br />

et al., 2021).<br />

• 14.3% of surgery patients had higher<br />

complications with surgeons who had one<br />

to three reports of unprofessional behaviors<br />

compared to those surgeons who had no<br />

reports of disruptive behaviors (Cooper et al.,<br />

2019).<br />

• 94% of individuals have worked with a toxic<br />

person in the last five years; 51% of the<br />

targets stated they are likely to quit as a result<br />

(Kusy, 2017).<br />

Developing successful, targeted interventions<br />

to reduce bullying and incivility among nurses<br />

will require that leaders develop awareness and<br />

understanding of nurses’ unique experiences with<br />

disruptive behavior. One of the biggest areas of<br />

confusion that makes it difficult to address and<br />

eliminate bad behavior is a misunderstanding about<br />

the differences between bullying and incivility.<br />

An important first step to educating yourself and<br />

your employees is to get clear on those differences.<br />

This will help you raise awareness, set expectations,<br />

and develop appropriate strategies to eliminate each<br />

type of disruptive behavior. Bullying should be a<br />

NEVER event, but not everything is bullying and when<br />

we call everything bullying, we lessen our chances of<br />

identifying and addressing true bullying behavior.<br />

BULLYING<br />

For a behavior to be considered bullying, it must<br />

include three things:<br />

A Target-This target can be a single person or<br />

group of people. Group targets can include the<br />

opposite shift, new nurses, or nurses who have a<br />

particular ethnic background.<br />

Harmful-<strong>The</strong> behavior must be harmful in some<br />

way. This harm can be to the target or harmful to a<br />

patient.<br />

Repeated-<strong>The</strong> most important element of<br />

bullying. <strong>The</strong> behavior can’t be just a one-time<br />

event, it must be repeated over time.<br />

INCIVILITY<br />

Incivility is different from bullying but tends to<br />

be much more pervasive. While the behaviors can<br />

be similar, they tend to be lower level. Incivility<br />

shows up as your typical rude, unprofessional,<br />

inconsiderate behaviors: eye-rolling, condescension,<br />

favoritism, alienation, gossiping, mocking, cursing.<br />

Make no mistake about it, incivility is a healthy<br />

and professional workplace killer, and needs to be<br />

addressed.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bottom Line<br />

Bullying and incivility can destroy work<br />

environments and impact patients in a negative way.<br />

<strong>The</strong> key is to get very clear on the behavior – is it<br />

bullying (target, harmful, repeated) or incivility (low<br />

level, rude, and unprofessional). We are hemorrhaging<br />

nurses due to bad behavior and it’s time we get<br />

educated on how to recognize and address bullying<br />

and incivility so that we can cultivate a more<br />

respectful and professional work culture.<br />

References<br />

Cooper, W., Spain, D., Guillamondegui, O., et<br />

al. (2019, June). Association of Coworker Reports<br />

About Unprofessional Behavior by Surgeons<br />

with Surgical Complications in <strong>The</strong>ir Patients.<br />

JAMA Surgery, 154(9), 828–834. doi:10.1001/<br />

jamasurg.2019.1738<br />

El Ghaziri, M., Johnson, S., Purpora, C.,<br />

Simons, S. and Taylor, R. (2021, July). Registered<br />

<strong>Nurse</strong>s’ Experiences with Incivility During the<br />

Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a<br />

Multi-State Survey. Workplace Health & Safety.<br />

doi:10.1177/21650799211024867<br />

Kusy, M. (2017). Why I don’t work here anymore:<br />

A leader’s guide to offset the financial and emotional<br />

cost of toxic employees. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press<br />

Bio:<br />

As an international speaker and consultant, Dr.<br />

Renee Thompson tackles the challenges facing<br />

healthcare leaders today. With 30 years as a nurse,<br />

Renee is an expert on creating healthy workforces<br />

by eradicating bullying & incivility. She is in demand<br />

as a keynote speaker and has authored several<br />

books on bullying.<br />

HOUSE OF DELEGATES<br />

MEETING<br />

Official Call to the Delegates To Attend a Meeting of the ONA House of Delegates<br />

Hyatt Regency, Tulsa, <strong>Oklahoma</strong> | Wednesday, September 28, <strong>2022</strong>, 3:00 - 5:00 pm<br />

From— Michele Bradshaw, MSN, RN, ONA Secretary/Treasurer<br />

This notice constitutes the official call to meeting of the Meeting of the ONA House of<br />

Delegates. <strong>The</strong> House session will be held Wednesday, September 28, <strong>2022</strong>. <strong>The</strong> House of<br />

Delegates will convene at 3:00 p.m. adjourning at 5:00 p.m. Credentialing closes at 2:45<br />

p.m. so that we may start promptly at 3:00 p.m.<br />

Prior to the House we will have a session focused on issues facing nurses and nursing<br />

practice related to the work of the association. For more details regarding the agenda<br />

for the Annual Convention, please see the <strong>2022</strong> Convention schedule. <strong>The</strong> Agenda, 2021<br />

Minutes, and Registration for the ONA Convention are posted on the ONA website,<br />

oklahomanurses.org.<br />

Members of the ONA House of Delegates have a crucial role in providing direction and<br />

support for the work of the state organization. <strong>The</strong> House of Delegates also provides a<br />

courtesy seat to all Past ONA Presidents and one registered nurse participant from each<br />

organizational affiliate. <strong>The</strong>se delegates come to the House to work towards the growth<br />

and improvement of ONA and its constituencies. This requires a professional commitment<br />

to the preservation and creative growth of the professional society at all levels of the<br />

organization. Such a commitment will benefit the individual delegate, the Association<br />

and the nursing profession. <strong>The</strong> representation for each Regional <strong>Nurse</strong>s Association<br />

established for the <strong>2022</strong> House is below.<br />

Each delegate must study the issues thoroughly and is encouraged to participate in<br />

Region sponsored meetings prior to the ONA Annual Convention and the Issue Forum<br />

held prior to the House so that they may engage in open-minded debate, practice active<br />

listening and use the extensive resources and collective knowledge made available<br />

throughout these meetings to assist them in making informed decisions.<br />

If you are interested in having an issue considered by the ONA House, please submit a<br />

reference to be heard using the reference guidelines posted on the ONA website. Please<br />

refer to the Policies and Procedures posted on the website for guidance.<br />

Region #01....................................................43<br />

Region #02...................................................34<br />

Region #03...................................................35<br />

Region #04...................................................22<br />

Region #05...................................................20<br />

Region #06...................................................21<br />

ONA Board of Directors...........................16<br />

ONA Affiliates...............................................6<br />

Past ONA Presidents

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