Nurses Eat Their Young

Each year thousands of students graduate as nurses and earn their licenses in the United States. Hippeli states that a nurse will usually need 6 months up to a year of training and preparing to become effective and efficient (2009). Graduates entering the workforce will experience a somewhat difficult transition period as he or she tries to acclimate to his or her surroundings (Dondale, 2010). Kehler (2005) reasoned that new nurses are vulnerable to a "wide array of feelings" which can impact their perception of the nursing profession. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities provide preceptors to new nurses who act as mentors and help them adjust and be oriented into their own nursing culture. Other seasoned nurses may see mentoring as sole responsibility of the assigned preceptor. However, Kehler believed that every nurse is responsible for "enhancing learning opportunities", providing support, and offering encouragement to the nurse-in-training (2005).

In the healthcare setting, nurses are often seen as "second-rate citizens when compared with physicians" (Hippeli, 2009). Therefore, the everyday workload plus the stress of this ranking issue takes a toll on a lot of nurses which makes them want to release any pent up emotions. Unfortunately, the ones affected by this problem are the student nurses and the newly licensed nurses. As a result of workplace bullying, high turnover rates from negative job satisfaction occur (Simons & Mawn, 2010).

According to Pamela Stokes, a nursing instructor from Ohio, if one has to "Google horizontal violence", information about nurses will come out the first two pages (2010). Horizontal violence as defined by Weinand (2010) is a type of violence often seen in "female dominated professions" which include nursing. Many nurses are uncomfortable of these predicaments that they avoid facing them which makes the cycle worse. Consequently, nurses, most especially the newly-graduates who experience this kind of problem are less-likely to ask questions and seek help from their seniors which "can increase the likelihood of committing errors in client care" (Stokes, 2010).

Penney's (2009) article featured Nicola Finnie a registered nurse from New Zealand who was forced to quit her job as a result of what she called a "stressful and disempowering" experience. According to Nicola, the manager yelled, scoffed, and belittled her. It even reached to the point where her doctor prescribed her additional hypertensive medication to lower her blood pressure. She was also encouraged by her physician to take a stress leave and to eventually resign which she gladly did. As of today, no study has found any "valid means" of resolving the problem of violence (Yildirim, 2010). In some studies that were conducted about nurses who were victims of bullying, results show that nurses are at "a higher risk of being exposed to violence than other healthcare personnel". The prevalence of women in the nursing profession is a significant cause in this existing problem (Yildirim, 2009). Ferrinho et.al noted that women experience more violent behaviors compared to men (2003). In most facilities,