Recently, my local news reported on the violence nurses face on the job. The news anchor’s voice had a disbelieving tone and spoke of “alleged” and “reported” incidences that nurses face during any given shift. The news report was born out of this newspaper article.

Ask any nurse, and you will certainly get a story or two that proves this “alleged” phenomenom. I encountered a few hairy situations in my first nursing job where I left with bruises, scratches, and cuts. I’ve also been yelled at and threatened. I’m not alone.

The International Council of Nurses reports that health care workers are more likely to be attacked as compared to prison guards. Nurses are the most likely victim in the health care field and perpetrators are most likely patients. This web page also has other statistics on violence against women in a more general sense.

A Canadian study reports that nurses regularly encounter not only physical violence but verbal abuse. This study also identified a problem within the problem: the majority of incidents go unreported.

I found this article the most disturbing. Student nurses are also victims of workplace abuse and not just by patients. Students reported being bullied by doctors and nurses. When students did report what they experienced there was little support. Some were even told to get used to it.

“Eating our young” is the euphemism we give to lateral violence. Disappearing John writes about the problem on his blog. Lateral violence in nursing has also made its way into the professional journals. Bullying in nursing is discussed in this article, and mentions that lateral violence is particularly common in nursing as compared to other professions. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses publication Critical Care Nurse has an editorial (in pdf) in their most current issue that addresses how we are as coworkers.

For more information on lateral violence in nursing, this book provides insight and advice that can be brought to any nursing unit.