Perhaps you have heard the phrase “nurses eat their young.” This is a well-used phrase in nursing that describes lateral violence. Behaviors associated with lateral violence include excessive criticism, intimidation, blaming, fighting, withholding assistance, backstabbing, public humiliation or isolating. One researcher recently described a unit’s practice of displaying names of nurses who missed documentation opportunities as an example of public humiliation. The leaders of the unit hoped to increase patient safety and inadvertently caused staff humiliation (Murray, 2018).

Withholding assistance could be as simple as not providing a new nurse with access to a medication room or storeroom until her badge allows access. Withholding assistance might also be inequitable assignments. Experienced charge nurses could give new nurses overly demanding assignments stating “they need to learn nursing is hard. I paid my dues; now it’s their turn” (Germann & Moore, 2019). Outcomes associated with incivility or bullying are detrimental to patients as well as staff. Increased stress levels for staff and medical or mental health problems can occur when staff are bullied. Nurses may leave the profession if they experience lateral violence. Such actions would worsen the current nursing shortage. If nurse shortages continue, patients experience a greater risk of safety issues (King et al., 2021). Strategies to stop lateral violence include creating and maintaining healthy workplace environments; zero tolerance policies for bullying behaviors; and empowering and encouraging nursing staff to improve communication through listening skills, appropriate body language, and collaboration (Green,2021; King et al., 2021). Use these resources from the American Nurses Association to help stop lateral violence in your unit.