Examples Of Incivility In Nursing

Incivility

Nurses are caring by nature. Nurses care for family members while at home, community members who may be neighbors, church members or friends from school and sports with children in common; however, nurses are known to display uncaring attitudes towards each other. When nurses are discourteous and disrespectful towards one another this may be known as workplace incivility. Incivility is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “the quality of state of being uncivil and a rude or discourteous act” (n.d.). Alexander (2017) related incivility to the events of the 2016 United States election as “rude and impolite behaviors that may be manifested when people feel fear or mistrust” (p. 79). Healthcare is subject to the same negative influence through communication between healthcare providers, educators and patients.

Incivility is an issue in nursing. Our profession is of caring and as nurses we do this without second thought. It’s a cruel act of a nurse’s character to treat colleagues the opposite of the values which form why nurses are nurses. An issue of incivility exists among nursing students. According to Karatas, Ozturk, and Bektas (2017), the issue of bullying in the academic setting is well known and frequent. As a family nurse practitioner (FNP) student it is important to be aware

It is not normal nor is it okay that bullying and lateral violence against one another in this profession occurs. Marshall (2017), describes the issue of incivility as being the norm. Based on her experiences with incivility the issue gets pushed to the side, ignored or the victim takes on self-blame. Incivility can take the form of rolling eyes, being interrupted while speaking, being yelled at or inappropriately addressed, being made fun of in person or on social media, it may take on the shape or form of physical actions and Marshall’s goal of awareness is whether verbal, psychological or physical it is not normal or