Breaking the Cycle of Horizontal Violence

Abstract

Horizontal violence (HV) in healthcare has been extensively documented and has negative outcomes for registered nurses, their patients, and health care employers. Individual impact includes emotional aspects, such as anger, decreased self-esteem and lack of motivation. Patient safety is at risk by interfering with teamwork, communication, and collaboration. Organization impact includes decreased productivity, high turnover rates, and decreased morale. This session will define terms and outline the extent of the problem. Various organizational position statements will be reviewed. Negative behaviors exhibited with HV will be discussed and a variety of individual and organizational evidence-based strategies to deal with it will be described. Education and increased awareness is the key to dealing with HV and NPD practitioners will be provided specific strategies to assist learners identify and cope with HV. Being aware of HV symptoms can help clinicians learn not to internalize potential negative behaviors and actions they may experience from their peers and co-workers. Through instructional assertiveness, learners can become acquainted with adaptive resolution techniques aiding in the development of abilities to successfully manage HV. A case study will be discussed to demonstrate how techniques to cope with HV can be incorporated into a variety of onboarding and other educational programs. Participants will describe successful strategies they have used in small groups, which will be shared with the session participants.