Awareness and education....Teresa

Horizintal Violence In The Health Care Setting

Horizontal violence between nurses is an act of aggression that is perpetrated by one colleague towards another. It can be comprised of physical, verbal, or emotional abuse that may be subtle or overt.

Examples of Horizontal Violence

•All acts of unkindness, discourtesy, sabotage, divisiveness, infighting, lack of cohesiveness, scape-goatingand criticism constitute horizontal violence.

Examples of Horizontal Violence

-Deliberate rolling of eyes,

–Folding arms,

–Staring into space when communication is being attempted

–Disinterest, discouragement and withholding support

–Body language designed to discomfort another or others

–Ignoring or minimizing another's concerns

–Limiting right to free speech and right to have an opinion

–Behaviors which seek to control or dominate (power 'over' rather than power 'with')

–‘Freezing out‘; excluding from activities and conversation, work related and social.

Verbal abuse including

–Name calling,

–Threatening,

–Intimidating,

–Dismissing,

–Belittling,

–Undermining,

–Humorous 'put downs‘

–Sarcastic comments

–Fault finding (nitpicking)

–Slurs and jokes based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation

Gossiping

–Destructive, negative, nasty talk,

–Talking behind the back,

–Backbiting

–Deliberately providing false information

Comments that devalue:

–People's area of practice, expertise, education;

–Gender;

–Others who are different to the 'norm'.

Punishing activities by/from supervisors, faculty, students, staff, e.g.

–Lack of concern with mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of employees

–Bad performance evaluations

PREVENTING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Nothing can guarantee that an employee will not become a victim of workplace violence. However, several steps can help reduce the risk: Learn how to recognize, avoid, or diffuse potentially violent situations by attending personal safety training programs. Alert supervisors to any concerns about safety or security and report all incidents immediately in writing. Be familiar with laws and regulations regarding workplace violence and your facility’s violence prevention program

Consciousness raising in regard to the situation of oppression and the acts of horizontal violence is the first step in addressing the issue

Recommendation: Educate all of the nurses about lateral violence

Do something. Do not ignore it.

Adopt “zero tolerance” stance