Lateral workplace violence in nursing: best practice guidelines for creating a culture of civility

Abstract

This best-practice paper explores research on the phenomenon of lateral violence in the nursing workplace. The research articles reviewed in this paper will discuss factors contributing to workplace violence and possible strategies for mitigating incivility. Articles will focus on student nurses and newly-licensed nurses who are often the primary recipients of bullying behavior. The literature review will discuss the implications of lateral workplace violence including high new nurse turnover, early burnout, inadequate patient care, and increased hospital costs. Beyond the analysis of the current literature, this paper will identify evidence-informed recommendations for best-practice protocols. A proposed implementation plan and evaluation will be applied using the innovation-decision process theory. A five-stage process will be outlined in the final chapter including the knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation of the proposed innovation.