Complexity, Bullying, and Stress: Analyzing and Mitigating a Challenging Work Environment for Nurses

LIKE many workplace environments, the healthcare work setting can be a positive or negative one for its frontline staff, depending on circumstances. These circumstances may include physical comfort, relationships with coworkers, work-induced stresses, and many other factors. The everyday pressures that can be found in any workplace, however, are magnified in the healthcare workplace, a fast-paced environment with higher stakes than most. The setting in which care is provided to patients can determine the quality and safety of that care1; thus, it does not overstate matters to declare that an orderly, a cohesive, and a supportive work environment for clinicians, including nurses, is a critical quality and patient safety issue. Unfortunately, it is rare that the healthcare work setting is described as orderly, cohesive, and supportive. So much happens and so quickly. Life-and-death decisions need to be made at the point of care, often without the benefit of a full slate of all the necessary data or evidence to inform them. The envi-