Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management ✓ Solved

Bullying is a common issue in the nursing practice and it negatively impacts the profession and the performance of nurses. Both nurse leaders and managers use different approaches to address this issue. This paper describes the different approaches used by nurse leaders and managers as they attempt to address the issue of bullying. Bullying is a problem that is systematic and pervasive in nature. The problem starts well even before enrolling in the nursing school and continues throughout the career of a nurse (Longo & Hain, 2014). The nurses who are more likely to experience bullying acts are those working in the emergency department (Longo & Hain, 2014). This is due a lot job stressors and demands.

Research shows that many nurses quit their first job due to acts of bullying. Bullying results in several negative outcomes (Castronovo, Pullizzi & Evans, 2016). Firstly, bullying creates an unfavorable working environment. Secondly, bullying leads to a rise in the number of risks exposed to patients. Thirdly, bullying lowers the level of satisfaction of patients. This is as per scores of hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems (HCAHPS). Finally, bullying leads to higher rate of nurse turnover. Nurse turnover costs an average hospital in the US between $5 and $8 million yearly (Castronovo, Pullizzi & Evans, 2016). Bullying negatively impacts both the quality of care and patient safety. The acts of bullying inhibit teamwork, obstructs communication, and delays implementation of new evidence-based practices (Houck & Colbert, 2017).

The acts of bullying are also negatively affects the nurse’s ability to focus on a patient and think critically and clearly. This is due to the fact that bullying causes depression, anxiety, and fatigue among nurses. This is likely to result in increased incidences of medical errors that will compromise patient safety. Additionally, bullying lowers both the morale and self-esteem of nurses hence increasing absenteeism cases and nurse turnover of qualified nursing personnel. The result will be significant reduction in the performance and productivity of nurses hence lowering the quality of care (Al Omar, Salam & Al-Surimi, 2019; Schoville & Aebersold, 2020).

Professional nursing practice standards should be demonstrated in this situation to help rectify the issue (bullying). The professional standards of nursing practice stipulate how nurses should conduct themselves in the line of duty. According to the professional standards of nursing practice, nurses should always act professionally. By doing so, they will avoid engaging in unprofessional acts such as bullying. The professional standards of nursing practice, therefore, discourages unprofessional conduct that results in nursing staff engaging in acts of bullying.

Nurses who do not adhere to the laid down professional standards of nursing practice by engaging in acts of bullying usually face full consequences such as being fired, license being revoked, suspension, fines, etc. The issue of bullying can thus be rectified by strictly adhering to the laid down professional standards of nursing practice. The roles of nursing leaders and nursing managers might differ when addressing bullying. However, both nurse managers and nurse leaders have a common objective of preventing and reducing the acts of bullying. Nurse leaders and nurse managers, therefore, take different approaches to address the problem of bullying and enhance patient safety and quality care.

For nurse managers, they should address the problem of bullying by acknowledging the existence of the problem. By doing so, they will raise awareness and come up with effective measures to prevent acts of bullying. For instance, nurse managers might consider imposing heavy fines and penalties on nurses who engage in acts of bullying. Nurse managers should also carry out a root cause analysis of the issue. By doing so, nurse managers identify the root causes of the issue (bullying). After identifying the root causes of bullying, nurse managers come up with ways of preventing bullying acts, for instance, enforcing strong anti-bullying policies.

Nurse managers should also develop a robust incidents reporting system that can be used to report bullying incidents. This is meant to ensure that all bullying incidents are reported. The first approach taken by nurse leaders to address bullying is formulating anti-bullying policies and ensuring that they are successfully implemented. The second approach taken by nurse leaders is developing training programs for nurses. The training programs should cover several areas that include anger management, conflict management, and communication skills.

Nurse leaders can also opt to engage in advocacy campaigns. They should advocate for passing of legislation that criminalizes acts of bullying. Finally, nurse leaders should be at the forefront in establishing a bullying-free environment. Professionalism is one of the core values of the nursing profession. Professionalism will help address bullying. Bullying acts are an indication of unprofessional conduct and behavior. There are many other additional aspects that nurse managers and nurse leaders would need to initiate to ensure professionalism while at the same time effectively addressing bullying.

Firstly, they should lay emphasis on the significance of upholding professionalism at all times. Secondly, they should ensure that they include a clause about professionalism in employment contracts of employees. This will keep employees on their toes since they will conduct themselves professionally at all times to avoid breaching the terms of their contracts. Thirdly, both nurse leaders and managers should be role models by conducting themselves professionally all the time. Nurses should be held accountable for their acts. Unprofessional conduct and behavior should not be tolerated. Finally, nurse leaders and managers should provide each nurse with a nursing profession handbook. The handbook describes the accepted code of conduct and behavior of all nurses.

Servant leadership is the best leadership style to address bullying. This particular leadership style could, therefore, be successful in this setting. A servant leader knows how to approach bullying in a very articulate way. For instance, servant leaders usually humble themselves hence able to handle the issue very well. The results of various empirical studies have established a strong correlation between servant leadership style and reduced incidents of bullying among the healthcare staff. Most of the nurse leaders who have been able to successfully address bullying have always exhibited the characteristics of servant leadership style. Nurse leaders should, therefore, adopt a servant leadership style when addressing the problem of bullying.

Conclusion: Bullying has adverse and detrimental effects on the nursing profession. Bullying results in low quality of care and increased patient risks. Nurses should act professionally at all times when on duty. This will reduce the incidents of bullying at the workplace. Despite the different approaches taken by nurse leaders and nurse managers to address bullying, they have a common objective of preventing and eliminating bullying. Both nurse leaders and nurse managers should, therefore, work together hand in hand to establish a bullying-free environment. The combination of education, legislation, practical support and institutional policy can help create a bullying-free environment. A reduction in the incidents of bullying is likely to result in improved quality of care and enhanced patient safety. Servant leadership style is of great essence when solving the issue of bullying. This is because it has been found out that servant leaders have been able to successfully address bullying in their healthcare organizations.

References

• Al Omar, M., Salam, M., & Al-Surimi, K. (2019). Workplace bullying and its impact on the quality of healthcare and patient safety. Human Resources for Health, 17(1), 89.
• Castronovo, M. A., Pullizzi, A., & Evans, S. (2016). Nurse bullying: A review and a proposed solution. Nursing Outlook, 64(3).
• Edmonson, C., & Zelonka, C. (2019). Our own worst enemies: the nurse bullying epidemic. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 43(3), 274.
• Houck, N. M., & Colbert, A. M. (2017). Patient safety and workplace bullying: An integrative review. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 32(2).
• Longo, J., & Hain, D. (2014). Bullying: a hidden threat to patient safety. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(2).
• Schoville, R., & Aebersold, M. (2020). How Workplace Bullying and Incivility Impacts Patient Safety: A Qualitative Simulation Study Using BSN Students. Clinical Simulation in Nursing.