The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital (55 page)

“Structural bullying” . . . problem in the field.
S. Simons and B. Mawn, “Bullying in the Workplace—A Qualitative Study of Newly Licensed Registered Nurses,”
American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Journal
(July 2010).

more than one-third of nurse respondents . . .
Brian G. McKenna.

Nurses report that charge nurses . . . sick days.
See, for example, S. Simons and B. Mawn, “Bullying in the Workplace;” ANA’s “Bullying in the Workplace: Reversing a Culture.”

“During my first pregnancy . . .”
S. Simons and B. Mawn.

Virginia nurse called in sick . . . “they’re going to.”
Interview.

“core values”
Interview.

a nurse was sent . . . policies on physicians.
Interview.

“nurses create a kind of hierarchy . . .”
“‘Thick Divide’ Still Exists Between Many ED Staffs,”
Hospital Access Management
, February 1, 2007.

“Real Nurse”
Interviews.

LPNs
See, for example,
http://www.nursinglicensure.org/articles/lpn-versus-rn.html

rivalries among specialties
Interviews.

psychiatric nurses “eccentric.”
Interviews.

because her specialty is known
Interview.

“They think we don’t work”
Interview.

“People think I put Band-Aids”
Interview.

“I think the public generally”
Interview, Carolyn Duff.

“I will absolutely admit”
Interview.

Reason they prefer . . . “dump and run”
Interviews.

“We don’t like taking patients”
Interview.

For approximately half
Interviews.

“We don’t just take vitals.”
Interview.

“It’s not safe to leave . . .”
Interview.

Horizontal violence may be directed . . .
See, for example, S. Simons and B. Mawn.

nurses have been targets because of their accents
See, for example, Denise Cullen, “Nursing Initiative Pays Off,”
Weekend Australian
, January 15, 2011.

or ethnicity . . . per diem nurse
See, for example, S. Simons and B. Mawn.

because they received . . . undeserved.
See, for example, Cheryl A. Dellasega.

puts them at a disadvantage . . .
Interview.

male doctors treat male nurses . . .
Susan Strauss, “A Study on Physician Bullying as Gender Harassment to Female and Male Operating Room Nurses in Minnesota (Part I),”
Minnesota Nursing Accent
(September–October 2008).

“I think I have better relationships . . .”
Interview.

he is disproportionately assigned . . .
Interview.

“I’m not really involved . . .”
Interview.

comes from cliques . . .
See, for example, C. Rocker, “Addressing Nurse-to-Nurse Bullying to Promote Nurse Retention,”
OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing
, August 29, 2008; Malcolm A. Lewis, “Will the Real Bully Please Stand Up,”
Personnel Today,
May 1, 2004.

“Misuse of power . . . vulnerability of both.”
ANA’s “Bullying in the Workplace: Reversing a Culture.”

nurses have higher job
See, for example, Shellie Simons, “Workplace Bullying Experienced . . .”; Michelle Rowe and H. Sherlock.

“Some places have . . .”
Interview.

nurse was tormented . . .
Interview.

“something straight out of
Mean Girls
. . .”
Interview.

“subjected to a despotic set . . . comes out strong”
“The Hospital Tyrants and Their Victims, the Nurses: What Doctors Say of the Oppression of Young Women in These Institutions,”
The New York Times
, August 22, 1909.

“the abominable outrages . . .”
Ibid.

“with statements like, ‘This is typical’”
E. Duffy.

In 1970, Brazilian philosopher . . .
See, for example, Linda Kay Matheson and Kathleen Bobay, “Validation of Oppressed Group Behaviors in Nursing,”
Journal of Professional Nursing
(July–August 2007).

As group members are made
Shellie Simons, “Workplace Bullying Experienced . . . ”

Because the oppressed group . . .“oppressed group behavior.”
See, for example, Linda Kay Matheson and Kathleen Bobay.

because of a history of submissiveness . . . an oppressed group.
See, for example, Linda Kay Matheson and Kathleen Bobay; Woelfle, Y. Cheryl; Janice E. Hurley.

“The culture of the healthcare setting . . .”
Center for American Nurses (part of ANA). Lateral Violence and Bullying in the Workplace. Approved February 2008.

“Unfortunately, many nurses . . .”
Michelle Rowe and H. Sherlock.

Venting to doctors . . .
See, for example, “Workplace Violence: Assessing Occupational Hazards . . .”; Dianne M. Felblinger.

when nurses are empowered . . .
See, for example, H.K.S. Laschinger et al., “New Graduate Nurses’ Experiences of Bullying and Burnout in Hospital Settings,”
Journal of Advanced Nursing
66 (December 2010).

does not empower employees . . .
Penny Sauer.

keeps nurses short-staffed—nurse bullying increases
Laurie Scudder, “Mean Nurses: Verbal Abuse of Early-Career Colleagues,”
Disclosures
, July 22, 2013.

environments with volatile workloads . . . workplace bullying.
Penny Sauer.

become hostile toward . . .
Diana Reiss-Koncar, “The War Against Nurses,”
Salon
, July 27, 2001.

“are more likely to vent . . .”
Michelle Rowe and H. Sherlock.

If nurses are rarely afforded . . .
See, for example, Laura A. Stokowski.

physically and emotionally worn out . . .
G. L. Vonfrolio, “End Horizontal Violence,”
RN,
February 2005.

Nurses who are too drained . . .
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center clinical nurse specialist Cynda Hylton Rushton has made this observation.

much higher levels of burnout . . .
See, for example, H.K.S. Laschinger et al.; S. Einarsen, S. B. Matthiesen, and A. Skogstad, “Bullying, Burnout and Well-Being Among Assistant Nurses,”
Journal of Occupational Health and Safety—Australia and New Zealand
(1998); Luis Sa and Manuela Fleming.

“There is a sort of test . . .”
Interview.

“Due to the broad base . . .”
Interview.

“the fact that a new nurse . . .”
Interview.

“Nurses put their own on steep . . .”
Interview.

“sorority initiation”
Interview.

OR’s tradition of initiating . . .
Interview.

“a type of initiation . . .”
The ANA’s “Bullying in the Workplace: Reversing a Culture.”

“ . . . the many challenges they will face”
Interview.

“ . . . I wasn’t at that hospital . . .”
Interview.

“ . . . My experience was awful.”
Interview.

“Here, a select group . . .”
Interview.

“Tolerance for some forms . . .’”
Martha Griffin; see also Judith Vessey.

“are usually themselves past . . .”
Janette Curtis et al.

“Why do we tear . . .”
Interview.

“new nurses to prove themselves.”
Interview.

“we’ve coddled these new young nurses . . .”
Interview.

“Nurses take an immense . . .”
Interview.

“. . . for the sake of the patients.”
Interview.

a small number of nurse bullying
Brian G. McKenna, “Experience Before . . . ”

“One nurse was so intimidating . . .”
Interview.

nurses tend to keep quiet . . .
See, for example, Brian McKenna; G. A. Farrell.

. . . don’t realize that it is unacceptable
. See, for example, Shellie Simons, “Workplace Bullying Experienced. . .”; Martha Griffin.

when nurses confronted their aggressors . . .
Martha Griffin.

“. . .explain it to her at that moment.”
Interview.

“It all depends on where my head . . .”
Interview.

A nurse in Singapore said . . .
Wee Li Hong, “Nurses’ Day: Rookie’s Less Laudatory View,”
The Straits Times
(Singapore), August 6, 2008.

“We work hard . . .”
Interview.

Younger nurses, new to the field . . .
Malcolm A. Lewis, “Will the Real Bully Please Stand Up,”
Personnel Today,
May 1, 2004.

expected to take on massive responsibility
See, for example, Sally Nicol, “Nursing in a State of Confusion,”
The Courier Mail
(Queensland, Australia), November 14, 2005.

pressured to work on critical patients
Pauline C. Beecroft et al., “Outcomes of a One-Year Pilot Program,”
The Journal of Nursing Administration
(December 2001).

average nurse is forty-seven . . .
See, for example, “Nursing Shortage,” American Association of Colleges of Nursing (updated April 24, 2014).

many nurses are delaying retirement
David Auerbach, Peter Buerhaus, and Douglas Staiger, “Registered Nurses Are Delaying Retirement, a Shift That Has Contributed to Recent Growth in the Nurse Workforce,”
Health Affairs,
(August 2014).

“The younger nurses have good skills . . .”
Interview.

“Today, baccalaureate degree nurses . . .”
Author correspondence with Donna Yates-Adelman.

“New nurses are lumped . . .”
Interview.

“older, diploma-prepared . . .”
Linda Kay Matheson and Kathleen Bobay, citing I. Daiski, “Issues and Innovations in Nursing Practice: Changing Nurses’ Dis-empowering Relationship Patterns,”
Journal of Advanced Nursing
48, no. 1 (2004). See also Judith Vessey.

“were those with university . . .”
Cheryl Woelfle.

“I hate nursing students . . .”
Interview.

just as psychologically damaging
See, for example, “Workplace Violence: Assessing Occupational Hazards . . .”

Nurse victims can suffer
See, for example, Brian G. McKenna, “Experience Before . . .”

shame
See, for example, Dianne M. Felblinger, “Incivility and Bullying in the Workplace and Nurses ‘Shame’ Responses,”
Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing
37 (2008) (A CE course on bullying); “Workplace Violence: Assessing Occupational Hazards . . .”

self-blame, guilt
See, for example, “Workplace Violence: Assessing Occupational Hazards. . .”

post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ibid.; Rebecca Catalanello, “Bullying at Work Can Make You Sick, but Remedies Are Few,”
St. Petersburg Times
, July 26, 2009.

eroded self-esteem.
Michelle Rowe and H. Sherlock, “Stress and Verbal Abuse . . .” (2005); Janette Curtis et al.

substantial economic consequences
See, for example, Mika Kivimaki et al.; Pauline C. Beecroft, Lucy Kunzman, and Charles Krozek, “Internship: Outcomes of a One-Year Pilot Program,”
Journal of Nursing Administration
(December 2001); Martha Griffin; Brian G. McKenna, “Experiences Before . . .”

higher rates of workplace . . . thousands of dollars.
See, for example, Pauline C. Beecroftet et al., “Internship . . .”; Martha Griffin and Brian G. McKenna, “Horizontal violence . . .”

between $40,000 and $100,000 per nurse
See Lois Berry and Paul Curry.

cause increased medical errors . . .
See, for example, Michelle Rowe and H. Sherlock; G. A. Farrell, “Aggression in Clinical Settings: Nurses Views,”
Journal of Advanced Nursing
25, no. 3, (1997); Cheryl Woelfle.

“lateral violence stops” . . . provide safe care.
Martha Griffin.

“secret club”
Interview.

advocates for patients . . . each other.
Cheryl Woelfle,

their transition to practice.
Penny Sauer.

“We may be fat, old . . .”
Interview.

“are the foundation of hospital care . . .”
Interview. One such description: “To explain congestive heart failure, she told us that the heart is like stretched-out underwear and, without the elasticity, cannot function properly and pump the blood throughout the body.”

“ . . . It’s just the way it is with nurses.”
Interview.

“The nurse owes the same . . .”
The American Nurses Association,
Code of Ethics For Nurses
,
http://nursingworld.org
.

“I go home sometimes . . .”
Interview.

“I love the free entertainment . . .”
Interview.

Elena Uhls . . . . . . “it’s better that way.”
Interview. This is not her real name.

nurses’ top health and safety concern . . .
American Nurses Association,
Nursing World 2011 Health and Safety Survey
, LCWA Research Group, August 2011.

approximately 1.8 tons
A. Nelson, A. Baptiste, “Evidence-Based Practices for Safe Patient Handling and Movement,”
Online Journal of Issues in Nursing,
September 30, 2004.

More nurses are concerned . . . “accident after a shift.” ANA Nursing World 2011 Health and Safety Survey
.

The number of nurses reporting . . . “a frequent occurrence.”
Ibid.

Other common nurse injuries . . .
See, for example, Karyn Buxman, “Humor in the OR: A Stitch in Time,”
AORN Journal
(July 2008).

“Most women’s health nurses . . .”
Interview.

“not only for the patient . . .”
Interviews.

“If you can’t deal with it, you leave.”
Interview.