Yesterday’s New York Times article, The Bullying Culture of Medical School, should shake up everyone involved in the struggle to curb bullying. 13 years ago UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine incorporated policies and prevention techniques to curb bullying. Surveys in the 90s showed that 85% of third year medical students believed they were being mistreated. UCLA’s effort to stop and prevent bullying was broad and encompassing. Continue reading
I met Beth through our warm and supportive Facebook Group which encourages targets, past and present, to share information and resources with each other. Beth is publicly sharing her powerful story, printed below, to help raise awareness about the devastating impact of abusive workplaces. She did reach out to the EEOC but says they couldn’t help because her employer was able to make the case that her termination was based on business protocol. The same hurdle is required in the pending legislation she is lobbying for. So, from that perspective, we ask what might have helped her? Some states compensate for the mental duress like Beth experienced and even include back pay/front pay. Currently that depends on what state you live in and many advocates are fighting to have current laws strengthened and expanded on a national level. Our warmest thanks to Beth for sharing her story – for more stories or to share your own go to our sister site NoJobIsWorthThis.com .
My StoryThis is “My Story” about being bullied by the Practice Manager of a Doctors office. She had been there about three years. I was there over fifteen. Looking back and trying to put the pieces of my life back together. I now know what was the begining of her attempt to control me and the start of the bullying. I was blind Continue reading
It’s not unusual for me to get emails with attached documentation from victims/targets suffering abusive work environments. Sometimes they hold up and sometimes the evidence suggests the real bully is the one reaching out to me – angry that they can’t dictate what management should be doing. No doubt mainstream journalists have had access to these stories for years and ethical concerns about printing subjective information that can destroy careers and businesses kill story after story. But, as bullying has become a popular topic among readers it’s now far more common to see allegations of abuse hit the headlines. The latest example out of Minnesota is featured in today’s Star Tribune: Continue reading
We’re getting ready to build a specific resource here on this site for nurses that is just about workplace bullying. This morning an article was published that reviews the new book, When Nurses Hurt Nurses: Recognizing and Overcoming The Cycles of Bullying. Some of what the author, Cheryl Dellasega, PhD, CRNP, found is shocking for those of us who only meet medical professionals in the examining room.
…73 percent of adult women found workplace bullying to be common or very common. The same women reported that weekly, they are, on average, a bully 1.5 times, a victim of bullying 1.8 times and a bystander to bullying nearly seven times. Dellasega said bullying is often unintentional.
I posted the article to our Facebook discussion group and one of the members said she felt nurses are so focused on caregiving that they don’t fully understand their rights in the work environment. In the article, Dellasega explains how she sees that play out.
“A lot of what I see is due to these long hours,” she said. “That’s just exhausting. By the end of the day, you’re irritable, you’re frustrated, you’re trying to keep your energy up.”
Dellasega said the whole context of the work environment can be part of a dynamic where somebody starts giving you a hard time or doesn’t have the best communication skills or management skills.
“You’re at the end of your energy and tolerance and the situation just sort of explodes,” she said.
Still, much of the bullying, she said, is aimed at new graduates.
“The group of new nurses may get harassed or picked on or aggressed against, but it’s not like that old dynamic of ‘this is part of the hazing initiative that goes on,'” she said
Send emails, post a comment, or join the Facebook discussion to let me know what you’d like to know more about. There’s a wealth of research, surveys, and national articles on this topic. But, most important, we always need personal stories that help those of us outside of your profession understand and give you back some TLC.
The full article by Linda Friedel about Dellasega’s book published on August 9,2011 is available online thru kccommunitynews.com [The Kansas City Nursing News]
Today’s Washington Post summed up the Internet’s fascination with the Jet Blue flight attendant who grabbed a beer and slid the escape chute to…? Well at the moment he’s reportedly facing possible jail time. Continue reading
OUR BULLY PULPIT 