Lateral Violence

What does it mean to bully? Bullying is when someone uses superior strength or influences to intimidate someone, typically to force him or her to do what one wants. Unfortunately, this sometimes can arise amongst medical professionals. When this act of bullying occurs it is known as lateral violence. Many types of inappropriate behaviors can take place in the workplace settings. Some even keep silent when they face lateral violence. “As in other types of abusive relationships, the abuser is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of the lateral violence if it remains unchecked” (Rainford et. al, 2014). The best way to end it, is to speak up and report it when something happens. Lateral violence is an issue that should be discussed in every work environment. Staff should be educated on how to protect themselves from those who wants to cause them harm. When a nurse faces lateral violence, it can cause lack of nurse confidence and self-esteem. At the facility where I work, my coworkers are aware of the term workplace violence. Continuing education credits are mandatory for employees to complete on this topic. There have been meetings that were …show more content…
Safety always comes first and that is stressed by administration. An individual, if faced with this problem, first can go to their manager to try to see if the issue can be resolved between the parties involved. Going through the chain of command is usually the best resort first. In many cases, most of the time, the manager is able to resolve the situation. There is an open door policy when it comes to reporting violence in the workplace. There are no repercussion if one is supposed to report an incident that make them uneasy. Reporting injustice is not a crime and should not be hidden. There were some instances where one would report abuse for another because they could not stand to see their colleague being