Workplace Bullying and Incivility: An Educational Tool for Nursing Staff

The purpose of this DNP project is to educate nurses in healthcare settings about workplace bullying and incivility to improve healthcare outcomes. Incivility and bullying in the healthcare setting is a well-documented issue, however, little overall improvement in decreasing these; destructive and uncivil behaviors has occurred. A quality improvement project was developed using an online educational module with emphasis on increasing nursing knowledge about the covert behaviors and consequences of incivility in the healthcare industry. Pre- and post-testing was conducted to assess nursing knowledge both prior to and following the educational module. Qualitative feedback was solicited to determine areas for future research and focus. Results indicate that there is a gap in nursing staff knowledge about the consequences of incivility as well as a lack of understanding about the specific behaviors and actions that constitute bullying in the workplace. This study offers preliminary evidence to support ongoing efforts that will provide enhanced education to nurses, as well as other healthcare providers, about incivility and bullying in the workplace.