Workplace Bullying and Emotional Exhaustion among Registered Nurses and Non-nursing, Unit-based Staff
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Date
2010-06
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Workplace bullying is a significant problem for nurses in the hospital. The purpose of this study was to: 1) describe the incidence of workplace bullying on 3 inpatient units at the Ohio State University Medical Center and 7 inpatient units at The Cleveland Clinic. 2). to determine if there is a difference in workplace bullying by age, gender, race, years of nursing experience and job title. 3). to determine the relationship between the emotional exhaustion among nursing staff and workplace bullying. Data was gathered through a cross-sectional correlational research design using a 54-item survey incorporating the Negative Acts Questionnaire, the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and some additional questions about demographic information from nursing staff (n=299). Using a checklist of bullying behaviors (NAQ), 14% of subjects met the criteria for having been bullied, although in contrast when given the definition of bullying, only 4.5% of subjects indicated that they had been bullied at least twice per week. No differences were found in the experience of bullying by length of employment, job title, gender, or race. Operating room nurses experienced a higher rate of bullying than nurses in other clinical areas (p=<.003). Thirty-one percent of subjects witnessed co-workers being bullied. The bullying score for our subjects was higher than reported in a large sample of US workers (Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2007). There was a significant moderate correlation between bullying and emotional exhaustion among subjects (p<=.000) Failure of staff to recognize they are experiencing bullying may be a function of normalization of bullying within work teams. Additionally, there is a relationship between nursing staff who feel emotionally overextended and exhausted by their work and the amount of bullying acts they experience.
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Keywords
workplace bullying, emotional exhaustion, burnout, nursing