b'AWARENESS GUIDE| Weaker members of the group tend to become victims. In addition, nurses have traditionally been in subordinate positions, whether with physicians or hospital administration. Bully nurses learn early on which staff members will be victims and which ones should be left alone.conduct does come to light.without fear of retaliation, and its incum- tended to and [if] highly professional norms (The American Association of Critical- bent on leadership to understand what hap- [arent] upheld, instances of bullying can Care Nurses Healthy Work Environmentpens, [and then] move in and hold peoplereadily occur.nStandards provide steps that healthcare staffaccountable.REFERENCESmembers and organizational leadership canIts worth noting, though, that the offend-take to create the type of healthy cultureing employee receive empathy and com- Joint Commission, 2018. Accessed that dissuades bullying.)passion as well, to help them gain anSeptember 24, 2020 . [https://www.Bullying needs to be looked at from theunderstanding of why it made sense for thisjointcommission.org/resources/perspective of preventing it from happeningperson to behave like they did at that time,patient-safety-topics/sentinel-event/in the first place, says Tim McDonald, MD,says McDonald.sentinel-event-alert-newsletters/senti-JD, a physician and chief patient safety andThese individuals should be approachednel-event-alert-59-physical-and-verbal-risk officer at RLDatix. with good intentions and an understand- violence-against-health-care-workers/]Through the hiring and credentialinging that people want to get better, and thatsSauer P, McCoy T. Nurse Bullying: Impact processes, there are ways to identify thosewhat healthcare workers dohelp peopleon Nurses Health. West J Nurs Res. 2017. with a predilection for bullying types ofget better. Approach these people with goodAccessed September 28, 2020.[https://behaviors, says McDonald. data, hold it up like a mirror and most ofpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27920345/]Other proactive measures include hos- them will get better.The Joint Commission, 2016. Accessed pital and healthcare system leadershipUltimately, leadership and culture it fos- September 28, 2020. [https://www.joint-explicitly going over policies in orientationters will determine how successful an orga- commission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/and when onboarding new hires, as well asnization is at addressing workplace bullying,newsletters/quick_safety_issue_24_periodic reminders about the policies for allsays Gail Gazelle, MD, MCC, a master certi- june_2016pdf.pdf]workers. Here are our rules, we do have pol- fied coach for physicians and physician lead- Occupational Safety and Health icies and we will hold you accountable wheners, and an assistant professor at HarvardAdministration, 2015. Accessed you cross that boundary.Medical School.September 28, 2020. [https://www.osha.In the event that bullying does occur,As the healthcare environment hasgov/Publications/OSHA3826.pdf]the organization must take steps to create abecome more dysfunctional, leaders are work environment in which employees feeloften scrambling to put out fires or crises,American Association of Critical-psychologically safe to report such behavior,and there is an air of franticness and nega- CareNurses,2016.Accessed adds McDonald.tivity, says Gazelle.September 30, 2020. [https://www.Nurses and other healthcare workersSadly, this is particularly true with theaacn.org/nursing-excellence/need to feel comfortable and anonymousadded pressures of the pandemic. If nothealthy-work-environments]22 AWARENESS GUIDE|2020| www.elitecme.com'