Practice Tip of the Week | National Bullying Prevention Month

By Dr. Laura Kincheloe, Ed.D., MSN, RN, NE-BC

October is National Bullying Prevention Month in the U.S. Recognized since 2006, National Bullying Prevention Month puts the focus on educating the public about the impact of bullying. While this awareness effort has primarily been focused on children and teenagers, it has evolved to include an emphasis on cyber bullying and bullying in the workplace.

Workplace violence is one of the top reasons nurses plan to leave the workplace (McKinsey, 2023). Workplace safety entails more than physical safety. It includes emotional and psychological safety. For many years the saying “nurses eat their young” has echoed around the halls of healthcare workplaces. This environment can lead to dissatisfaction, intent to leave, medication and treatment errors, delayed care, and even patient harm (Clark, 2020).

What can we incorporate into our practice to prevent bullying and incivility in our profession? Here are a few suggestions to increase a more positive work environment:

1. Listen to experts talk through real examples of bullying and incivility and hear strategies to prevent and address these issues.
2. Be a trusted leader by supporting victims of workplace bullying and ensure adequate policy and procedures around zero tolerance of behaviors.
3. Consider becoming a Caritas coach and be an expert in nursing caring sciences.
4. Implement internal and anonymous reporting processes to report workplace bullying.

Bullying starts in schools and many awareness resources are available to school nurses who are working on prevention with children. There are resources available to help support those efforts to educate the public about how begin the discussion with children and young people. It starts with awareness and a commitment to stand up against bullying.

Regardless of the area of practice you serve, we all have a duty to stand up against all types of violence happening around us. Whether you are a school nurse focused on bullying prevention or an acute care nurse advocating for a healthier workplace, we all can take small steps to make a difference.

REFERENCES

Berlin, G., & Murphy, M. (2023). Nursing in 2023: How hospitals are confronting shortages. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/nursing-in-2023#/

Clark, C. (2020). An upstanding approach to address bullying in nursing. American Nurse Journal, 15(9), 31–34.

King, C., Rossetti, J., Smith, T. J., Smyth, S., Moscatel, S., Raison, M., Gorman, R., Gallegos, D., & Watson, J. (2021). Workplace Incivility and Nursing Staff: An Analysis Through the Lens of Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring. International Journal for Human Caring, 25(4), 283–291. https://doi-org.kumc.idm.oclc.org/10.20467/HumanCaring-D-20-00050

Thompson, R. (2022). 10 best bullying and incivility strategies from 2022. Health Workforce Institute. https://healthyworkforceinstitute.com/10-best-bullying-and-incivility-strategies-from-2022/