Horizontal violence

Rather than dealing with a boss for a bully, what about a co-worker who is a bully? That is pretty much the concept of horizontal violence. It seems fairly ironic that it is rampant in nurses. Nurses? Aren’t they supposed to be rather caring and nurturing people? Huh?

In one tale I read, an inexperienced nurse was having a difficult time separating her emotions from her patients. Other nurses belittled her, instead of trying to give her tips on how to handle. In my last job, I think about a quarter to half of the people I worked with had been health care professionals of some sort – nurses, technicians, pharmacists. And I do have agree that it was the nurses I heard the most tell their war stories and talk about all the idiots they worked with. One former nurse was so awful to me, I had to call in 4 other co-workers just to help me deal with her at a meeting. I remember someone saying to me after the meeting “Just because she got dumped on by doctors doesn’t mean she should do it to you…”

Although you never know the full story. It made me think of times where there have been co-workers struggling and I have been not so helpful myself. I don’t think I have ever called someone names or used very critically aggressive tactics that the aforementioned nurse used on me, but I know one person I lost all patience with. Why? They never followed through on any of their commitments, would be very passive aggressive to you when you confronted them, could not have been depended on for anything and caused extra work for everyone in the department. This person drove everyone nuts and it was pretty clear that he didn't enjoy his job and wasn't a good fit. We really all wanted him to quit and maybe that nurse struggling with her emotions was cut out for the job int he first place. The funny thing he was a nice guy – just completely inept at his job. Is that horizontal violence? I have rarely encountered situations where someone who was doing their job well was gossiped about or belittled. I should not use this as a justification, but if someone is getting treated poorly by their peers, there’s usually a reason, other than people being mean…