Why do Nurses Eat Their Young - Term Paper Example

Why Do Nurses Eat Their Young? Introduction The nursing profession, like other professions, is made up of a wide age range of practitioners. The age gaps between nurses often impact on their practice with these gaps representing varying styles in practice. These styles often create tension within the profession – especially between the age generations. Nurses who are older and who have more experience have the reputation on shunning the younger nurses away, making life difficult for them, in other words ‘eating’ them. For which reason, the younger nurses often experience great difficulty in starting their practice. Some of them often even end up leaving the profession altogether. This paper shall discuss and resolve issues on the question: why do nurses eat their young? This question is being answered in the hope of establishing a comprehensive and academic answer to this query and in the hope of improving the transition for younger nurses into the practice. Review of literature Various studies have been carried out on nurses eating their young. For purposes of this discussion, this practice shall also be referred to as horizontal violence among nurses. In a paper by Woelfe and McCaffrey (2007), the authors set out to evaluate if horizontal violence in the workplace is present in nursing and if it is, its relationship to patient care. This study was carried out as a literature review of articles published from 2003 and 2004 from nursing research databases. This study revealed that horizontal violence does exist in nursing today (Woelfe and McCaffrey, 2007). The study revealed that horizontal violence exists in the current context and it affects most areas of the nursing practice. In instances when tension is elevated in patient care areas, the nursing staff is often not likely to be at their best performance and the quality of their patient care is compromised. In a similar study by Oztunc (2007), the author set out to evaluate the incidents of verbal abuse encountered by nurses in the workplace. Data was gathered in about 290 hospital nurses in Turkey. The study soon established that most nurses faced verbal abuse. It also confirmed that there is a need to implement urgent and continuous plans in addressing verbal abuse in the workplace and in the adoption of zero tolerance (Oztunc, 2007). In effect, this study highlighted the alarming increase in violence between nurses which mostly registers as verbal abuse and bullying in the workplace. In a paper by Johnson (2009), the authors evaluated the nursing literature on workplace bullying in order to establish a better understanding of these incidents in the workplace. The CINAHL, PubMed, Pro Quest, and EBSCO databases were searched. This study revealed that workplace bullying is not just a simple contract between two individuals. This is also a complicated incident which can be understood by evaluating social and organizational factors (Johnson, 2009). Bullying has been known to affect the physical and psychological issues of victims, including their work performance. It also impacts on organizations due to their decreased productivity, increased sick time, and reduced quality of work (Johnson, 2009). The incidence of workplace violence and bullying in the nursing profession was also discussed by Hutchinson, et.al. (2006), the authors discussed that workplace bullying is a significant issue in the nursing profession. It is often described in terms of oppressed group behavior. The oppressed group theory has set forth only minimal understanding of this phenomenon in nursing. This theory is said to place too much of an emphasis on bullying as a phenomenon in nursing, not one which is common in other professions as well (Hutchinson, et.al., 2006). Alternative methods of understanding this phenomenon have instead been suggested by other theorists in order to understand nursing workplace bullying. Saunders, et.al., (2007) discussed that various attempts at defining workplace bullying were conceptualized by different nursing practitioners. As a result, different definitions of this phenomenon are being used in different parts of the globe. Practical and legal definitions have been compared in their research. Results revealed that the occurrence of harmful and negative workplace behaviors was cited by practitioners as important components of workplace bullying (Saunders, et.al., 2007). Moreover, fairness and respect were also elements which laid the groundwork for workplace bullying. These themes have important effects in organizations who are attempting to prevent workplace bullying (Saunders, et.al., 2007). The authors also note that efforts to reduce workplace bullying are often severely compromised by the lack of laws and policies on bullying. Analysis Horizontal violence which is recognized within the nursing culture is the manifestation of negative behavior of one nurse against another. It often manifests in the demoralization of the newer and younger nursing staff members through practices of criticism, sarcasm, cruelty, and gossiping (McKenna, et.al., 2002). Various explanations for nursing workplace bullying stem from feelings of insecurity and self-esteem. From a psychological perspective bullying often indicates one’s need to exert his superiority on another person. There is an element of power play which exists in workplace bullying with one person abusing the perks of his perceived power. These “powerful” individuals seem to gain much satisfaction in intimidating their younger and less experienced colleagues. This trend is often carried out from previous generations of nurses; and it is a cycle which seems to be repeated with each generation of nurses (Sabouni, 2009). As each nurse transitions into the more experienced level, she would sometimes manifest the same bullying behavior she experienced when she was starting her practice. And on the cycle goes. Horizontal violence in the nursing workplace can sometimes be credited to dissatisfaction with life and work circumstances (Sabouni, 2009). Issues which a nurse is going through in her family or social life often manifest as negative behavior in the workplace. For some nurses, they often find it hard to place their lives into separate compartments – and not to bring their family issues to their workplace and vice versa. In the end, they sometimes end up lashing out at their co-workers at the slightest mistake (Sabouni, 2009). If they cannot seem to get what they want in their home life, they try to overcompensate in the workplace by getting things the way they want. If they argue with their partners or are having issues with their children, they often end up arguing with their colleagues and being extra difficult to work with. Some practitioners may note that workplace bullying may be a simple fallacy – one which is credited to oversensitivity. However, as was manifested in the review of literature, workplace bullying in the nursing profession is more than just a fallacy, it is an unfortunate reality. In order to understand workplace bullying in nursing, self-esteem is one of the major considerations because low self-esteem may sometimes lead to bullying and other cruel behavior (Sabouni, 2009). Family issues and oppression are also possible causes of bullying (Woelfe, et.al., 2007). Oppression may not be conceived as a cause of bullying behavior but based on various studies, but it is also a cause of bullying. However, this cause is attributed more to the feeling that nurses have of being classified as second class health care workers, as mere hand-maidens of doctors and other health care workers (Sabouni, 2009). This oppression they feel is making some of them lash out and fight back against other health professionals, including their nursing colleagues. This culture of oppression also seems to come from oppressive acts from the management and from the medical profession (Inch, 2007). To some analysts, they may not understand why such oppression would cause tension within the nursing profession. In arriving at a basic understanding of this tension, assessing the hierarchical structure may help in understanding the issue. Evidence seems to indicate that individuals occupying positions of superiority may seek out those who are not only young and vulnerable, but also those who threaten their authority (Hodson, Roscigno, and Lopez, 2006). Studies also seem to indicate that age-related bullying is a strong reality in the practice with nurses under the age of 30 more likely to be bullied as compared to those over the age of 30 (Sabouni, 2009). Other studies also seem to indicate that the cycle of bullying is being perpetrated in order to keep young nurses in their place (Curtis, Bowen, and Reid, 2007). As a result, bullying seems to be more than a cycle, it is a culture in the nursing profession. Conclusion The discussion above brings a sharper focus and understanding of the question: why do nurses eat their young? The cycle of workplace bullying and horizontal violence has shown a dramatic increase over the years. In a profession which is suffering from a major shortage, this is an unfortunate circumstance. Nevertheless, workplace bullying seems to be a dominant trend in the nursing profession with older and more experienced nurses inflicting cruel acts on their younger and lesser experienced counterparts. Low self-esteem is one of the more dominant causes of this phenomenon. Personal issues also impact on nurse’s behavior at work, triggering cruel behavior from one nurse to another. All in all, these causes of workplace bullying are regular dominant trends within the nursing profession and without the proper remedies, this cycle will persist and will continue to compromise the delivery of quality nursing care. Works Cited Curtis, J, Bowen, I, and Reid, A (2007). You have no credibility: Nursing students’ experiences of horizontal violence. Nurse Education in Practice, volume 7, pp. 156-163. Hodson, R, Roscigno, V.J, and Lopez, S.H. (2006). Chaos and the Abuse of Power: Workplace Bullying in Organizational and Interactional Context. Work and Occupations, volume 33, pp. 381-416. Hutchinson, M., Vickers, M., Jackson, D., & Wilkes, L. (2006). Workplace bullying in nursing: towards a more critical organisational perspective. Nursing Inquiry, volume 13(2), pp. 118–126 Inch, J (2007). Horizontal Violence: The Silent Destructive Force. British Journal of Anaesthetic & Recovery Nursing, volume 8(2), pp. 20-21. Johnson, S. (2009). International perspectives on workplace bullying among nurses: a review. International Nursing Review, volume 56(1), pp. 34–40. McKenna, B.G, Smith, N.A, Poole,S.J, and Coverdale, J.H. (2002). Horizontal violence: experiences of Registered Nurses in their first year of practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, volume 42(1), pp. 90-96. Oztunc, G. (2006). Examination of Incidents of Workplace Verbal Abuse Against Nurses. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, volume 21(4), pp. 360-365 Sabouni, S. (2009). Nurses eat their young. Tropicalm. Retrieved 11 April 2011 from www.tropicalm.net/lib/plug-in/download.php?filename=practice...pdf Saunders, P., Huynh, A., Goodman-Delahunty, J. (2007). Defining workplace bullying behaviour professional lay definitions of workplace bullying. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, volume 30(4), pp. 340-354 Woelfe, C. & McCaffrey, R. (2007). Nurse on Nurse. Nursing Forum, volume 42(1), pp. 123– 131 Read More