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