Abstract:
The impact of lateral violence on nurses and the nursing profession contribute to the nursing shortage and has negative effects on patient care (Vessey, DeMarco, Gaffney, & Budin, 2009). According to the Center for American Nurses (CENTER, 2008), lateral violence and bullying are an everyday occurrence among health care professionals. Nurses must gain real world experiences to deliver quality, safe, and effective patient care (Benner, Surphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010). Unfortunately, there are experienced nurses who are unable or unwilling to help novice nurses transition into their new role. Impaired relationships among nurses can lead to absenteeism, medical errors, and poor work performance, including an unwillingness to ask questions for fear of humiliation or reprimand by a peer, and this, in turn has a negative impact on patient outcomes (The Joint Commission [TJC], 2012). Recognizing that incivility is associated with a lack of professionalism creates an opportunity for nursing academia and practice to forge a relationship to address this issue (Shephard, 2014). This qualitative study uses a grounded theory approach to examine the lateral violence encounters of 12 new nurse graduates and concludes with reflections on the role of nursing education in facilitating behaviors that support the creation and maintenance of healthy work environments for all nurses. Exploring the need to focus attention on affective-based practice methodologies to ease the burden of lateral violence in nursing can add to the science of nursing.
