"I just got off the phone with the lawyer for the union of a workplace that is being sued. The woman is suing for constructive dismissal. I learned that the employer did not see fit to defend the numerous employees named in the suit, and were forced to hire legal counsel of their own. This is very sad, although I am certainly not on the side of the specific employees. One would think an employer would be more supportive in circumstances such as this one. In the meantime, my client ends up in hospital for the second time in as many months for suicidal depression as a result of the hurt spewing out of that workplace. It is also sad that it is occasionally difficult to find a lawyer willing to fight these cases."

"I think, once we have "caused trouble", we are marked for a long time and it won't matter how well we play along. Bullying types aren't capable of showing respect to those who are nice to them or who have hurt them in the past. If you roll over and play dead for them, they will be nice, but not out of respect. If you challenge them, they will not forget it. They tend to think like pack dogs. On the other hand, I do believe that there is no point in making a big deal out of everything. I don't think most of us here were complaining about tolerable conditions in the first place. I am continuing to turn the other cheek as much as possible and correct easier things that they screwed up in my absence without making a lot of noise about it, but I am still standing up for my rights that were violated in the first place. My point to them is that I want to be a team player, but they have to play fair with me as well. I'm hoping things will blow over in a year or two, but I have heard that I may be hoping against hope. Many have found that their employers never stop harassing them after they "caused trouble". I hate to say it, but at some point, we will all probably leave our current jobs."

On Nursing in America

In the last few months I have been spit at, kicked, pinched, punched and solidly cursed. Of those.... spitting is the scariest. I have the potential to be exposed to infectious diseases.

I get blamed for not having the right treatment, the right kind of medicine, not being able to immediately treat someone's symptoms etc. ad nauseum. I am right there on the front line trying to act as a liaison between the patient and the physician as well as doing my own job. My own job is "supposed" to involve careful observation and interpretation of data as well as communicating that clearly to an MD. This is what I do with 36 to 60 hours of each workweek. I do it in one of two different areas. Both are high stress, high liability areas.

It's literally a zoo. If your interested in reading a better explanation follow the link.
http://www.nurseweek.com/features/99-8/violence.html

Then there is the issue of staffing. These administrators are interested in the bottom line. The live in a world of FTE (full time equivalents), HPPD (Hours per patient day), supply cost per patient day, cost per adjusted discharge and many other nebulous terms. Of these, the administrators routinely go after reduction in HPPD. Simply put, HPPD is the number of hours that patient X requires a nurse to be in direct care of him or her. For a telemetry floor the HPPD is steadily decreasing. Averages around 6 to 7 hours. These are very sick patients who are one step away from being admitted to an ICU. Ten years ago most of them would have been admitted to an ICU. The system places a lot of pressure on decreasing cost and the burden has been shifted directly on the staff nurse's shoulders.

Mix bullying in with the systemic stresses and it becomes a damn difficult environment. The following link contains a beautifully written story which contains a description of behaviors that I have experienced and witnessed over the last decade.

What I find interesting is this is applicable across the board for inpatient services. I read this with my jaw hanging down because it is right on target. Most workgroups are like this. Fortunately it doesn't lead to such drastic results most of the time. Just stress related illnesses & a lack of hope.

http://www.acegraphics.com.au/resource/papers/hastie01.html

A noble profession my A--.

As I discuss my particular difficulties in dealing with bullying, mobbing or just general issues of harassment I would like those of you who respond to keep in mind what kind of system it is that I work in. If you have followed these links I think you'll get a good overview of what it's like doing the job and what some of the people who work in the job say about it. It's important to me to have feedback that is based on some knowledge of the system that I work in.

From L.G.

I am remembering a lot of bad stuff. I had to do journaling tonight. I came back from the office, with a deep pit in my stomach. I was not sure what it was, but when I was with my two staff, I was crying. I felt better when I went outside. I felt short of breath all day, but I cried, and I feel a little less short of breath now. I am remembering a lot of stuff. I put most of it on Bullyrecovery, for those on that list, as it is limited. I can remember how much I hate these people, that 1998 spring/summer, the worst in recent life. Natalie Merchant. Her music opened the Pandora's Box, the stuff I wasn't supposed to remember, and now I am fucked. I can't sleep. I might as well just get into some work or something; Natalie Merchant made me remember this little part of me inside of me, something I had way before they did this to me, now I am lost. I want to go home.