Creating a Nurse Mentoring Program to Stop Workplace Bullying

Introduction: The Problem of Nurses Eating Their Young

One of the most common problems on nursing units is the tendency of nurses to "eat their young" — that is, to be highly critical of younger and less experienced colleagues. Given the urgent need to recruit and retain new nurses in order to address the deficit left by retiring staff, and to ensure that currently employed nurses are not overburdened or overworked, addressing this phenomenon is particularly pressing. The proposed change is to institute a mentoring program to facilitate dialogue between new hires and existing staff. This will increase goodwill, improve training and communication, and reduce errors, thereby helping to eliminate the culture of nurses "eating their young."

Proposed Change: Implementing a Mentoring Program

To remedy the problem, it is necessary to address its root cause. "In most cases, nurse bullying is the result of ineffective communication and coping skills in a high-stakes environment" (Katz, 2014, par. 8). According to the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) (2012), mentoring has been found to be an extremely effective way of creating workplace cohesion and sharing skills between different generations of nurses. "Mentoring is a reciprocal and collaborative learning relationship between two — sometimes more — individuals with mutual goals and shared accountability for the outcomes and success of the relationship" ("Introduction to Mentoring," 2012, par. 1).

Instituting such a program within the hospital will communicate the unacceptable nature of workplace bullying and underscore the need to support new nurses as they are integrated into the organization. One of the critical foundations at the heart of mentoring, according to the AMSN (2012), is honoring the need to support the nurse's progress from novice to expert. Mentoring allows nurses to gradually gain expertise under supervision so they can accumulate the lived experiences that make responding to patient needs feel more instinctual than forced. This prevents some of the frustration that more experienced nurses feel when working alongside younger colleagues who may have strong textbook knowledge but limited practical experience.

Mentoring is grounded in adult learning theory, which ensures that the adult learner has meaningful control over her experience and can tailor the mentoring relationship to practical, hands-on situations that will be directly useful in later practice.

Alignment with Mission, Vision, and Values

Ultimately, the mission of every healthcare institution is to assist patients and promote health. But this mission also requires showing respect for employees. Without a culture of respect for nurses and a reasonable foundation for continuing education, patient care will inevitably suffer. A workplace where bullying occurs is not a healthy environment for either nurses or patients. That is why it is so vital to create a mentoring program that is simultaneously effective and engaging.

Mentoring programs are also aligned with the teaching vision of the hospital — to educate both patients and staff. Such a program is consistent with the institutional values of health promotion, collaboration, and teamwork, all of which are essential to ensuring that high-quality healthcare is delivered to every patient.

Change Model: Lewin's Three-Step Framework

Many models of organizational change currently exist, but virtually all of them are fundamentally grounded in the Lewin Change Model, which conceptualizes change as a three-stage process: unfreezing, change, and refreezing. The Lewin Model is valued for its simplicity and for emphasizing the need to get key organizational actors on board before any meaningful change can begin. "To prepare the organization successfully, you need to start at its core — you need to challenge the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that currently define it" ("Lewin's Change Model," 2017, par. 9). Without genuine motivation and organizational will, sabotage is likely — through unwillingness to participate, bad-mouthing the change effort, or outright refusal to support the cultural shift needed to better welcome incoming nurses.

Enacting the first step — unfreezing — means formally and informally communicating to employees the urgency of the needed change. Nurses must be persuaded that bullying and staff attrition are serious problems at the hospital. Beyond appealing to organizational values, it should be highlighted that attrition hurts all nurses. When units are short-staffed, the risk of medical errors increases because nurses become overtired and overburdened, and are more likely to be required to work back-to-back shifts. Organizational values such as kindness and civility in the workplace should be invoked. There is also a legal dimension: when nurses are harassed, they may appeal to HR or pursue formal legal redress, creating institutional liability.

Conclusion

Once the mentorship program is in place, both mentors and mentees must be monitored to ensure that both groups are participating and honoring their obligations to one another. Possible components of the program to track include whether mentors follow up with new nurses, whether they use respectful language, and whether they make active efforts to supervise and teach. Both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews can be used to assess the program and address any issues that emerge. Periodic unfreezing and refreezing may be necessary to refine the program and sustain its positive impact on nursing culture, staff retention, and ultimately patient care.

References

Introduction to mentoring. (2012). AMSN. Retrieved from

Katz, K. (2014). Bullying in nursing: Why nurses 'eat their young' and what to do about it. Rasmussen Nursing. Retrieved from http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/blog/bullying-in-nursing-nurses-eat-their-young/

Lewin's change model. (2017). Changing Minds. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm