Analyzing an Issue or Event in Wellness Through the Lenses of History and the Humanities
Introduction
Workplace bullying is a significant public problem that has been a cause of concern. It is now a center of growing attention, and it is an international issue that has been documented in several countries in different professions (Al-Ghabeesh & Qattom, 2019). Bullying against emergency department nurses is a very common and widespread type of hospital violence (). Workplace bullying affects the quality of care given by nurses. Nurse managers need to look into this problem since it is not an isolated event but a persistently directed behavior pattern towards employees. They should analyze this issue through the lenses of history and humanities to understand why workplace bullying occurs. It can help them implement solutions to solve the bullying.
Lens Connections: History
Bullying in nursing has existed for many years. During the Crimean War, conflict in the profession was about paid and unpaid nurses. Paid nurses were considered lower-class individuals who needed moral guidance (Stanley, 2019). They were the opposite of Florence Nightingale. On the other hand, Nurses who volunteered without pay had authority over the paid nurses. They had greater status and moral authority (Stanley, 2019). There was also a conflict between religious and nonreligiously motivated nurses. The volunteer nurses were there for God’s work, while the paid nurses were for wages (Stanley, 2019). Throughout the war, nurses fought over leadership, financial control, petty jealousies, and access to resources.
In the American Civil War, nurses fought over the same issues. There were conflicts between paid and volunteer nurses since the unpaid nurses viewed themselves as superior (Stanley, 2019). There was also a division between nurses who worked in the Eastern or Western theatres. Nurses in the West had fewer resources, while nurses in the East were closer to military power and could access more resources (Stanley, 2019). Racial division was also common in the American War. White Nurses in the North resented African American nurses since some were formerly enslaved (Stanley, 2019). In the South, class divisions were an issue. Wealthy women believed that their contribution was to keep within their class, and hence, they did not do manual work such as cooking (Stanley, 2019). The manual work was done with enslaved people and poor white women. These issues made nurses fight among themselves.
Lens Connections: Humanities
The humanities are the core of nursing. It is a compassionate and caring professional. Despite this, bullying still occurs. It is a systematic issue that starts before an individual enters nursing school and continues in the profession. Nursing bullying has negative effects. A large percentage of registered nurses quit their first job because of the negative behavior of their colleagues (Edmonson & Zelonka, 2019). Bullying is thus likely to worsen the growing nurse shortages. The nurse shortage is a problem that affects the profession, with high nurse turnover rates (Dewanto & Wardhani, 2018). A bullying culture in the workplace leads to a poor working environment, negatively affecting the patients, lower patient satisfaction scores, and a higher nurse turnover, costing an average hospital about 7 million USD annually (Edmonson & Zelonka, 2019). Addressing this problem thus starts with acknowledging its existence, raising awareness, mitigating the causative factors and implementing strong antibullying strategies.
Conclusion
Bullying in the nursing profession has been there for many years. Analyzing these issues through the humanities and history helps nurse managers and policy formulators to understand its origin and the reasons for a bullying culture. This can help them implement strategies to address this problem that affects patient care and nurses’ satisfaction.
References
Al-Ghabeesh, S. H., & Qattom, H. (2019). Workplace bullying and its preventive measures and productivity among emergency department nurses. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4268-x
Dewanto, A., & Wardhani, V. (2018). Nurse turnover and perceived causes and consequences: A preliminary study at private hospitals in Indonesia. BMC Nursing, 17(S2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-018-0317-8
Edmonson, C., & Zelonka, C. (2019). Our Own Worst Enemies: The Nurse Bullying Epidemic. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 43(3), 274–279. https://doi.org/10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000353
Stanley, D. (2019). A brief history of bullying in nursing: Battles and bullies. JOJ Nursing & Health Care, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.19080/
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Question
7-1 Final Project Part One Submission: Critical Analysis Portfolio
Instructions
Submit your final portfolio—an analysis of an issue or event in wellness through the four general education lenses: history, humanities, social sciences, and natural and applied sciences.
Note: Be sure to incorporate instructor feedback from your final project milestones into this final submission, particularly Milestones One, Two, and Four.
To complete this assignment, review the Final Project Part One Guidelines and Rubric PDF document.