#DrexelXperts: Recognizing Bullying in the Health Care Workplace

To recognize National Bullying Prevention Month, Drexel Xpert Paul Thomas Clements, PhD, APRN-BC, CGS, DF-IAFN, Associate Clinical Professor and Coordinator of Drexel’s Forensic Trends and Issues in Forensic Healthcare Certificate Online, offers some tactics that can be used to identify, and ultimately reduce, bullying in any workplace environment.    

Take notice that bullying comes in many forms.

While bullying is often recognizable in its direct forms—threats, insults, etc.—it can also be manifested in more indirect behavior. For example, victims of bullying are often subjected to intentional and malicious isolation, rumor spreading or retaliation that can interfere with job performance. Technology, along with all its advances, has allowed for a new method with which assailants can inflict harassment. Cyber-bullying can occur via email, text messages, social media and other forms of technology.

Recognize common situational examples of work place bullying: 

• A never-satisfied supervisor, who remains displeased even if an employee is giving their all and producing quality work.
• A colleague interfering with an employee’s job performance by continually undermining and tormenting them.
• Frequently-spread rumors or negative comments about an employee’s personal appearance, beliefs, or performance with patients.
• An organizational leader who is unsympathetic to an employee’s requests for help, telling them to simply “toughen up” or “work out your differences

Familiarize yourself with your organization’s policy on workplace violence and bullying.

Seeking out and understanding your institution’s policy will increase your ability to identify when bullying is occurring. Talk to a representative from the Human Resources department to get clarification if the policy is unclear. 

Bullying is a significant issue in the contemporary era of health care and can be a great detriment to individual employees and organizations as a whole. For more information on recognizing, documenting, preventing and intervening, join Dr. Clements for a free webinar on November 5 at noon EST, entitled “Lateral Violence and Bullying in the Health Care Setting: Do You Know What to Do?” Register here: http://bit.ly/1hTsoQY

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