By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter
The nursing profession is full of bullies, says an Auckland nurse who wants the problem fixed.
Julie Beck, a nurse for 20 years, is writing a thesis on bullying in nursing as part of a master's degree from Flinders University of South Australia.
She wants approval from an ethics committee to interview nurses new to the profession, to ask them about their experiences.
She says that while bullying can be found in all types of organisations, "it's particularly bad in nursing."
"Nurses have goes at each other because they don't feel that they can have a go at doctors or anyone like that [due to] that medical dominance, that old model.
"You would think that in a caring profession like nursing, the first thing that you would look after is your own but they don't. It's terrible," Ms Beck says.
Evidence she has gathered ranges from subtle bullying such as withholding certain information about patients, which is potentially dangerous, through to the nurse whose colleagues let down her car tyres and left a note saying, "We don't want you working here."
Those most at risk from bullying are new graduates, Ms Beck says.
She was subjected to it as a young nurse and when she worked at a polytechnic, where the head of department "would scream and yell."
Ms Beck says the head came from theatre nursing, one of the areas which seem to "breed bullying" because of its high stress and some surgeons' tendency to shout at nurses when things go wrong.
She says bullying is a factor in many nurses leaving the job and it contributes to a shortage of them.
Ms Beck says hospitals should take the lead from the anti-bullying programmes in schools.
South Auckland Health's nursing director, Mary Gordon, says it has anti-harassment policies.
Bullying is not a problem among her staff although what she calls "horizontal violence" - seniors expecting too much of new graduates - is widespread.
She rejects the suggestion that doctors still treat nurses badly.
"Doctors realise today that they work in a team. Nurses won't tolerate inappropriate behaviour today."
Auckland Healthcare says that under its safety-in-the-workplace policy, violent or aggressive behaviour is not tolerated.
Dr Vivienne Adair, an Auckland University education lecturer with a special interest in bullying, says it is common in workplaces but there has been little research.
She says secondary-school bullies are four times more likely than their peers to end on the wrong side of the law and to be in a destructive personal relationship. But some playground bullies become chief executives, wielding power through intimidation and manipulation.
Nurses battle bullies on wards
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