Standing up against workplace bullying behavior: Recommendations from newly licensed nurses

Objective: Workplace bullying exists in today’s healthcare system and often targets newly licensed nurses. Experiences of workplace bullying behavior may negatively affect the nurses’ physical and psychological health and impact job satisfaction and staff turnover rates at an organizational level. The purpose of this study was to explore strategies suggested by newly licensed nurses to prevent and intervene during incidents of workplace bullying behavior.Methods: An exploratory qualitative design guided this study. Three open-ended questions asked included: What do you think could be done to prevent a future, similar incident of workplace bullying? If you or someone else attempted to the stop the bullying incident, please describe the actions taken. If you or someone else did not attempt to stop the bullying incident, please state what would need to happen for you to intervene on behalf of yourself or someone else. Surveys were distributed electronically to newly licensed nurses from three baccalaureate nursing programs who had participated in a workplace bullying education intervention study as students. A total of 79 responses were received. Responses to three open-ended questions about recent incidents of workplace bullying behavior were coded and analyzed. Then the Social-Ecological Model was used to organize results into individual, relationship, and organizational level strategies.Results: Most respondents reported experiencing workplace bullying behaviors in the previous six months. Three domains of strategies were identified: Preventing Future Bullying Behavior, Stopping Incidents of Bullying Behavior, and Promoting Others to Act.Conclusions: Results indicated newly licensed nurses desire to be supported by their peers and organization as well as strategies to intervene when bullying behaviors occur. Implications for clinical practice and education are presented.

Using Information Practices of Nurses to Reform Information Literacy Instruction in Baccalaureate Nursing Programs

Objective - Seeking information is a key element of evidence based practice and successful healthcare delivery. Significant literature exists on both the information seeking behaviour of professional nurses and information literacy teaching methods, but scarce evidence connects nurses’ information behaviour and environments with their education. This study sought to use data from nursing alumni to answer the following research questions: What are the current information practices of professional bachelor’s-prepared nurses? How do recently-graduated nurses suggest that their education could have better prepared them to find and evaluate information in the workplace? Methods - The researchers conducted a descriptive study using a 59-item survey instrument with a variety of question formats including short-answer, multiple choice, Likert, and open response. The researchers distributed the survey to baccalaureate nursing alumni who graduated in 2012-2017 from four universities in the state of Utah in the United States. Results - Nurses seek practical information primarily to provide informed patient care, while also clarifying medical situations and expanding their health care knowledge. They frequently consult nursing colleagues and physicians when seeking information. The majority of nurses consult electronic health records daily. Respondents described time as the biggest barrier to accessing information. They requested authentic, clinically-focused scenarios, training on freely-accessible resources, and more explicit teaching of lifelong learning skills, such as critical thinking. Conclusion - Information literacy education should prepare student nurses for the fast-paced information environment they will face in the workplace. This means incorporating more patient-focused scenarios, freely available quality resources, and time-based activities in their education. The researchers suggest areas to prepare nurses for information seeking, including problem-based clinical scenarios, building guides with databases accessible for free or little cost, and added emphasis on critical thinking and self-motivated learning.