The healthcare industry is prone to workplace violence such as discrimination, harassment, and bullying. And why wouldn’t it be? People who work providing healthcare have some of the most stressful and high-stakes jobs in the world, and research tells us that workplace violence is more likely to occur in high-stress work environments with high-stakes outcomes. People are simply not at their best when they’re stressed out.
Making matters worse, the hierarchical structures that exist within this already stressed-out industry make the potential for bullying and harassment even stronger. In 2018, more than three-quarters of medical residents indicated they had experienced workplace violence, according to a recent article published in The Conversation.
With so much working against them – not to mention the lingering COVID-19 pandemic – healthcare professionals are at high risk of continued workplace violence. Just look at the recent allegations from a hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan. .
The allegations – detailed in the aforementioned article from The Conversation – describe an environment where foreign-trained physicians were being discriminated against, harassed and bullied because of their race. Then, the complaints made by these physicians were dismissed by leadership. The fall-out was vast, and affected the entire community, including the patients in need of care.
When these kinds of situations go unaddressed, the added stress on these physicians can easily lead to burnout, which in turn leads to mistakes in providing care. And when patients’ basic healthcare needs are not being met, this inevitably tarnishes the medical institution’s reputation. But it goes even further. Trust in the healthcare system as a whole then gets put in jeopardy.
If the theory is that stress-inducing industries have higher chances of workplace violence, and that workplace violence – especially when not addressed by leadership—ends up victimizing the well-being of entire communities, then the answer must be holistic in nature.
- Prevention: Educate healthcare workers on topics such as:
- How to manage stress and emotions
- How to prevent harassment & bullying
- How to keep healthy boundaries
- Mediation: Take concerns of workplace violence seriously and address them as they arise:
- One-on-one training for individuals – gives people the tools they need for success
Resources:
Regina hospital allegations point to an epidemic of bullying and discrimination in health care
Walker, Jason (2023) (Program Director & Associate Professor; Industrial-Organizational; Applied Psychology; Adler University)
Our own worst enemies: The nurse bullying epidemic, Nursing administration quarterly, Edmonson, C., & Zelonka, C. (2019)