Equipping Students and Nurses to Recognize and Respond to Lateral and Horizontal Violence

Saturday, 18 March 2017

Patty Peebles, BSN
School of Nursing, Goshen College, Goshen, IN, USA

This poster presents a workshop for student nurses with two main emphases. The first is to create a space where compassionate presence, respectful listening, and thoughtful dialogue are demonstrated and practiced, setting a template from which to evaluate future communication and behavior. (Burke & Williams, 2011; Cangelosi, 2008; Chinn & Falk-Rafael, 2015) The second emphasis is to define, explore, and learn responses to lateral and vertical violence, both in the academic and clinical setting. (Ceravolo, Schwartz, Foltz-Ramos, & Castner, 2012; Egues & Leinung, 2014) A growing body of evidence shows that bullying is an issue that affects both individuals’ well-being, patient safety, and the health of institutions, and that the problem is evident in nursing education as well as healthcare settings. (Seibel, 2014; Spence Laschinger & Nosko, 2015; Park, Cho, & Hong, 2015) This prevalence inspires the understanding that comprehensive action is important, but that there is no one sweeping solution. This workshop addresses one aspect of the problem in attempting to equip nursing students with an understanding of the problem, opportunities for self-reflection and group learning, and hands-on exercises that allow for experimentation with viable responses to bullying in nursing education. (Lachman, 2014; Ironside, 2015; Hutchinson & Jackson, 2015; Gillespie, Brown, Grubb, Shay, & Montoya, 2015; Egues & Leinung, 2014 Bulman, Lathlean, & Gobbi, 2014) Because bullying can take such a personal and professional toll on any individuals, in settings from primary schools to corporations, the concern for changing this behavior is real. With the added consideration of caring for caregivers, priorities for excellence in education and healthcare, and a fundamental appeal in the profession of nursing to the dignity of all persons, addressing the problem in nursing is urgent. This workshop is intended to provide a space where students can be oriented to expectations of compassion and excellence in dealing with one another, not only with patients. Because evidence shows that bullying occurs in nursing education, and also that sometimes students can’t identify bullying behaviors or viable solutions, this can be one step in changing a problem that is pervasive in nursing.
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