Abstract

Session presented on Saturday, March 18, 2017:

Lateral violence, also known as horizontal violence and workplace bullying, is extremely prevalent in nursing as it has been noted to impact up to 90% of nurses at some point in their career (Smith et al., 2010). Both novice and experienced nurses have reported being impacted by these behaviors which can be both overt and covert in nature. These behaviors can lead to 'a decreased sense of well-being, physical health complaints, and depressive symptoms' (Dehue et al., 2012). The psychological and physical complaints range from sleep disturbance, anxiety symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and suicidal ideation to new onset cardiovascular disease symptoms (Christie & Jones, 2014). The outcomes of this type of abuse include loss of confidence and a lack of trust in coworkers as well as resignation and even the victims becoming the perpetrators of the behaviors (Stanton, 2015). Because of the multiple impacts this violence can have, the American Nurses Association (ANA) issued a 'zero tolerance' policy for lateral violence and recommends that employers have resources available for nurses to learn to combat this type of violence (ANA, 2015). The lateral violence toolkit is a compilation of resources including a presentation utilizing the most current research on the subject. These resources include a description of lateral violence with identified behaviors delineated in order to enable nurses to identify instances of violence in their own workplaces. Additionally, links to existing resources will be provided to allow for ease of access to identified communication techniques and training. Communication techniques to address lateral violence in the workplace will be briefly presented and further explicated in a linked presentation with videos demonstrating those techniques for modeling behavior. Finally, a presentation discussing effective techniques to decrease lateral violence is attached to inform nurse managers of how to incorporate the lateral violence toolkit into their unit. Learning Objectives: 1. The learner will be able to identify the American Nurses Association definition of lateral violence. 2. The learner will be able to identify common characteristics of lateral violence in nursing. 3. The learner will be able to translate interventions to decrease lateral violence to their own workplace environment.

Author Details

Sara C. Germann, RN, ANP; Shannon Moore, RN

Sigma Membership

Lambda Epsilon

Lead Author Affiliation

University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Type

Poster

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Lateral Violence, Communication, Safety

Conference Name

Creating Healthy Work Environments 2017

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Conference Year

2017

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Review Type

Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

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A toolbox to diminish lateral violence in the workplace

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Session presented on Saturday, March 18, 2017:

Lateral violence, also known as horizontal violence and workplace bullying, is extremely prevalent in nursing as it has been noted to impact up to 90% of nurses at some point in their career (Smith et al., 2010). Both novice and experienced nurses have reported being impacted by these behaviors which can be both overt and covert in nature. These behaviors can lead to 'a decreased sense of well-being, physical health complaints, and depressive symptoms' (Dehue et al., 2012). The psychological and physical complaints range from sleep disturbance, anxiety symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and suicidal ideation to new onset cardiovascular disease symptoms (Christie & Jones, 2014). The outcomes of this type of abuse include loss of confidence and a lack of trust in coworkers as well as resignation and even the victims becoming the perpetrators of the behaviors (Stanton, 2015). Because of the multiple impacts this violence can have, the American Nurses Association (ANA) issued a 'zero tolerance' policy for lateral violence and recommends that employers have resources available for nurses to learn to combat this type of violence (ANA, 2015). The lateral violence toolkit is a compilation of resources including a presentation utilizing the most current research on the subject. These resources include a description of lateral violence with identified behaviors delineated in order to enable nurses to identify instances of violence in their own workplaces. Additionally, links to existing resources will be provided to allow for ease of access to identified communication techniques and training. Communication techniques to address lateral violence in the workplace will be briefly presented and further explicated in a linked presentation with videos demonstrating those techniques for modeling behavior. Finally, a presentation discussing effective techniques to decrease lateral violence is attached to inform nurse managers of how to incorporate the lateral violence toolkit into their unit. Learning Objectives: 1. The learner will be able to identify the American Nurses Association definition of lateral violence. 2. The learner will be able to identify common characteristics of lateral violence in nursing. 3. The learner will be able to translate interventions to decrease lateral violence to their own workplace environment.