Amy Rees Anderson , CONTRIBUTOR Life is short but apparently it can become a lot shorter if you spend your days dealing with a bad boss. In a recent study performed by Keas.com they found that 77% of employees experienced physical symptoms of stress from bad bosses and workers who had inconsiderate or uncommunicative managers were 60% more likely to suffer heart trauma.  An Inc. study cited that workers who have poor relationships with their bosses are 30% more likely to suffer coronary heart disease. That’s right people, your bad boss could quite literally be making you sick! https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2014/10/28/a-bad-boss-can-make-you-sick-literally/#4dc63e176818

Below survey comments, verbatim. From a varity of positions when asked for an example of harmful behavior experience or witnessed where you work. https://www.deborahanderson.website/many-example-harmful-behavior I have witnessed an MD making demeaning remarks to a nurse. If an MD does not agree with what a nurse did (or visa versa) pull that person aside and let them know, you don't need to make comments in front of other people, that is demeaning. I have also witnessed a nurse yelling at an MD, I think that is totally inappropriate, no need to raise our voices with one another to get our own way, we our grown ups, lets discuss our problems with one another as grown-ups! Towards patients - occasional blowing off or delayed med orders/requests - neglectful - no abuse I have ever witnessed. Pts or family members allowed to swear, yell or show abusive behavior toward staff. This behavior gets them what they want. A doctor yelled at a nurse from across the department. Another doctor will not speak to anyone and will not tell you anything that is pertinent to your pt's care (you practically have to beg for info from the dr. and the dr poo poos any info or updates you give him on the pt. Employees referring to pt as somali, & mexican. Pts should be called by name not by ethnic group. Does the statement "there is a white pt coming by rig" sound a little abusive? MD not communicating to care givers depending on their (MD) mood. Assumptions by MD that if they cannot immediately see or find you, that we must be on a break. MD verbally demeaning RN-calling incompetent in front of other staff The misuse of sick time by the ED staff undermines the ability of ED to deliver the quality of care that it could be delivering 100% of the time. Condescending remarks made by physician that caused RN to feel like an idiot. the most common issue I see is people not being honest with one another and not trusting one another I believe that there are people who are "under the wing" of management. They are given special privileges while not being held to the standards of performance that others are held to. It is very common place to find abusive/neglectful behavior of one sort or another. Some MD's get in "a mood" and won't communicate regarding pt concerns-- Eye rolling by staff. Frequent blaming of others. Lack of focus on work environment and professionalism with frequent discussion about life outside the ED. "Bar talk". A physician bellowed across the department to another nurse. As well as demeaning and belittling to the nurse when the nurse tried to resolve an issue. Also their is a physician who will not talk to any female nurse about the patient or he does not want the nurse to talk to him about a pt's progress or update. The Doctor rarely will approach the nurses and the charge nurses, some any way, have to hunt him down for admits after the admit MD is in the dept. Not enough staff, cut backs cut on patient care i.e.: cardiac rehab. It hurts when a certain clique is shown favoritism such as: those nurses always working charge, overlooking by management complaints of others on that cliques behavior, and not acting on concerns that have been reported over and over because there is favoritism. Poor communication + not acknowledging members of the care team I have witnessed MD throwing chart, swearing. Also I have seen some people being very busy while others are not and no help being offered. I did not have time to answer these questions at work The clique of the dozen or so nurses who socialize together outside of hospital frequently often ban together, break together, gossip in the lounge to the exclusion of others present and use work time to arrange their out of work social schedules. The clique seems to feel their opinions are more valued at the nursing unit than those of us who don't belong to the clique. It's very difficult to feel that this is a unit of solidarity when these dozen or more nurses are working and there's several on any given shift, esp. the weekends. Doctors being angry and disrespectful, demeaning, rude... of course not all of them most of them are really nice. Cliques gang up on a single employee in an attempt to make her quit her job or get fired. What makes this even more wrong is when the employees make up lies about the employee to make her look like she is incapable of doing her job. The only harmful behavior I have witnessed is management being mean to nurses and NA. Getting called in for sick time-using threatening language with people. A nurse getting called in for punching in late for work-she drove in during a blizzard!!!!!!!! She should have been THANKED Staff not speaking respectfully to one another; not acknowledging the importance of another's role/work I have witnessed MD's shaming, belittling or not listening to RN's. There is a care coordinator on our unit who has emotional outbursts at times and is mean to the staff when she is overwhelmed. Bullying seems to be primarily a day shift problem. Certain people "group together". Some MDs not open to RN questions. Gossip is "quietly shared" between employees. Ignoring, silence, avoidance I have infrequently witnessed loud verbal outbursts by physicians. I have also seen on occasion, staff being negative, complaining about other staff. Physician yelling at the desk Dr.'s talking down to nursing staff. Sometimes in person and especially on the phone yelling at staff for paging them and calling them. Attitudes of management towards the lowly employees. Hypocritical! A lot of cliques on each floor that are well known to management, and nothing is done RN has situation that requires extra person for whatever reason keeping safety in mind...RN requests "can you please help me " - NA (who is in hallway on computer and/or talking to other NA) replies "why - what is it for?" - Not all NA's but some NA's are making it harder for RN to delegate - sometimes slowing a process/or making it unsafe longer for pt.-Unwillingness to help- Several doctors negative comments and complaints about there own group at the desk for everyone to here. A NA was complaining in the presence of a patient when asked to help reposition a patient. Some housekeeping staff avoids work they do not like to do (ex. cleaning a very dirty room & cleaning a isolation room), they wait for the incoming person to do it instead of doing it right a way. Sometimes, the room stays dirty for more than 8 hrs. Another thing is some of the staff talks loud in the halls in their native language. When a physician rolls his eyes/moans and groans or is confrontational, it makes me feel intimidated to ask questions/for help. It would be so nice to ask a question and for the person you're asking to help you have a learning experience. I have heard physicians complaining to one another at the desk/in the hallways about RNs "bugging" them. That behavior does not foster good communication. As one people in the center I find that I consistently get more difficult assignments then some of the other people I work with. Especially at night, I am running the entire shift, while my co-workers are surfing the Internet. Does anyone offer to help? No. When I ask for help, they will do the minimum and then hurry back to the desk. I know when I work nights in the Heart Center; I am pretty much on my own. It is better on the day shift, but everyone is stretched so thin, they are barely keeping their own heads above water. When I began my training in the Heart Center, many people would change how they interacted with me when I told them I was not a designated HC nurse. Physically and emotionally they pulled back. No wonder so many people in the center don't like to come here. I have in the past seen a doctor and nurse yell at each other at the desk but then be told to take it to the break room. Frequent talk discounting work being done to improve Fairview. Sometimes when delegating to an Aid she does not respond in any way that she heard you are that she will complete the task as asked. Certain MDs have trouble controlling their temper and end up shouting and being disrespectful and displaying angry behaviors at the unit. A doctor being very rude to HUC and nursing staff, complaining about not able to get nuc done when the issue was iv access n fact is that patient was staying anyway for next 3 days. Physicians being rude to RN's-we have questions-FROM THE PATIENT-and there are times that we (RN) get spoken to in a not-very-nice voice because the MD was busy and did not want to be bothered with another problem. Do you really think that I will want to bring my problems to this MD in the future? Older RN's "eating their young" Inadequate staffing at 3-7pm not by grid but due to acuity, admits, discharges, ICU pts in the center Using inappropriate language Demeaning slang terms making people feel very uncomfortable and maintaining a negative, complaining, disrespectful attitude towards others and the hospital as a whole. HUC on the floors forgetting to place order from Nurses and NA, so, they blame it on us for not bringing it up on time or forgetting about the orders. I feel there is a double standard between management and the workers. Our director talks down to us like we are children. People don’t feel like they can report any problems, because nothing changes Sometime Have witnessed co-workers talking behind each others backs. The harmful behavior I have witnessed is of co-workers getting heated and yelling while trying to resolve their problems. They handle the situation wrong and get angry very fast and yell more often than not. It's happened a few times this past year, and my problem is that yelling and arguing is not very professional or acceptable in the work place. Supervisor not leading a work team. Playing favoritism daily people using the F word, some frequently. Employees have been disrespectful when they don't want to do something they are assigned to do. A member of the management team belittled and shamed an individual during a department staff meeting when said individual was attempting constructive dialogue. Favoritism yes, Talking negatively behind the back of another person Yes bullying, talking bad things about a person I have on occasion seen individuals singled out by their "peer group" and verbally ganged up on. I think it's wrong. The boss never speak Unfriendly/ Unwilling to help. Very negative attitudes. doctors belittling staff Communication: Not being kept up on department changes, than hearing them from other departments Approach with issue in a belittling fashion not listening to requests Lazy, unmotivated individuals Constant criticism disrespectful team members. not being treated as an equal. lack of supervision and accountability. supervisors have no expertise in our department. Trouble with confrontation. Constantly calling in sick, no repercussion..... supervisors/manager have ignored staff, yelled in a public setting, (Ex control desk), co-workers griping about other co-workers, instead of speaking only to the offender, causing division Talking behind co-workers backs mostly the things I see are related to motivation and work ethic. I think we have a real problem with people being held accountable for misuse of sick time and laziness! Surgeon swearing, intimidating, sarcastic When people do not know how or choose to do there job. ex.. When I witnessed a nurse drop ky on the floor and never cleaning it up only for me to almost step in it. Physicians verbally abusive behavior towards staff Yes, felt the surgeon did not take enough time to explain details of the surgery and possible outcomes Some surgeons talk to people in a demeaning way. Negativity, intimidation, gossiping, saying unkind things about co-workers. Coworkers that see another coworker struggling and don't help them but complain about them. Open room left unattended, a frustrated Dr punched a computer 3 times upsetting several people nearby. Talking behind peoples back; not following policies; Excessive sick calls by staff and policy does not appear to be followed It is very easy to secretly and falsely accuse a co-work of anything, and this is taken for granted by the management. Current environment promotes a lot of back stabbing because ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’. We get very busy and management assumes that we don’t have enough to do. Napoleon syndrome or short man syndrome Too many examples to provide just one. We have a clique of pharmacists high on the seniority list that at times use bullying and intimidation to try to get what they want. Many times they will single out one individual and spread malicious gossip about that person, especially if that individual disagrees with the clique's viewpoint on something. On another issue, the hospital pharmacy director seems indifferent to the opinions of his staff. Most new tasks assigned are dictated to us without discussion regarding whether we have time/staffing to take on additional responsibilities. Most of us feel overburdened and stressed out all of the time. We all feel underappreciated and disrespected. We also feel that he doesn't stand up for us as a department. For example, a technician was talked to about being rude to a nurse, but that nurse was extremely rude to the technician and nothing was said to the nurse. We are expected to be cheerful, helpful, etc. to all other departments in the hospital regardless of how they treat us. I will say our new pharmacy managers seem better about supporting us as a department. Yes, lack of support from our main manager adds to work load and allows our dept. to be abused by nursing. None FSH has a very hurtful clique of a few senior pharmacists that think they control everything. They are confidants to management and they form a special bond. The director listens only to those few and those few get special treatment. Example: The "clique" decides who is "in" and who is "out", In the case of a new hire, if they don't like the individual (for whatever reason) they will distance themselves from the person, do NOTHING to help their orientation, gossip behind their backs that they don't know how to do anything, write up "i-cares" about them instead of talking to them face to face, PURPOSELY OMIT helpful hints on how to do things relating to efficiencies of the job, etc. Yet they think they are the picture of professional behavior. In reality, they are purely selfish and completely self-serving. Slowly the staff is discovering this, but not fast enough. Management is very comfortable with this arrangement because they have these snitches built into the system. Some pharmacists will not do parts of required job and this puts more work on others. Some pharmacists will not check things in a timely fashion in main and has delayed therapy. Nursing being irritated with Pharmacy but have a lack of understanding for our system- nor do they accept the system for the way it is ( RNs yelling at Pharmacy techs and Rphs ) Why does Nursing control Pharmacy?? Shouldn't we work as a team ? Disrespect between Pharmacists and technicians ( Especially evening Main shift ) Pharmacists not trusting the technicians to doing a "good enough " job Favoritism in scheduling- Lower seniority receives more perks Little or no feedback from management Resistance to change - We have rules for some and not for others - and those who whine win with no accountability Someone asked a new employee, "Why would you come to work at this hell hole?" "This hospital sucks" "They" don't care about us, "They only care about the bottom dollar" Judging a person's performance with out knowing all the facts about a situation. 2) Anger expressed via a loud voice with a disgusting tone. Actually getting yelled at by another coworker because they thought I was being lazy; silent treatment; constant complaining; being called a liar by a manager There has been a fair amount of bullying by certain individuals. Most of us want to just get along and shy away from the stronger personalities. There is a great deal of backstabbing. These past few months have been unusually difficult with 2 RPH's in particular fighting change and undermining all our jobs and responsibilities. This has created a very volatile workplace. There is a lot of talking about co-workers when they are not there. Management causes dangerous and harmful working conditions by not staffing appropriately and causing too great a work load on staff and not listening to us when we have suggestions. Also, instead of helping or being supportive when issues arise, they don't help at all and only make things worse. It does no good at all to talk to them or HR since they have their ideas of what and who is right and wrong before the discussion even begins. They are sneaky and underhanded and dishonest. They make things up on reviews just so they won't ever have to give someone a perfect review. They make decisions about things that they themselves don't know about and don't have to do. They make employees do shifts and jobs that they are not able to do or not sufficiently trained or comfortable with. It is definitely a situation of "us" and "them". We are a department and are supposed to be working together to make a good working environment for everyone here and to do the best jobs that we can for our patients and customers. There are no reasons for management to do a lot of the things they do. It would be nice if they could try just once in a while to do things to try to make us employees happy instead of more stressed and upset. People frequently assume other staff are not doing their job correctly. There is also grouping of staff into "day" or evening" or "night" shift when complaining about other coworkers. Bullying behavior bringing about change that is bad for the department. Management and coworkers enabling the bullying behavior due to fear. Bullying behavior is greatly used by some individuals and is enabled by management and other staff. Staff is very "cliquey". Am very aware that I am not a member of that group. Many staff members speak a foreign language to each other in front of others who don't understand. Favored staff who can get away with a lot, even though there a policies to prevent this (constantly late, leaving early with no knowledge of it being approved by management (not on schedule). Using the job as a social hour(s) while I am doing most of the work. Verbal shouting in disagreement constant complaining undermining Complaining or venting, pressuring others to conform or agree, placing "personal agendas" above the needs of others. A pharmacist held a party and specifically excluded a select few people, but used work email to invite the department. Those excluded were told, "TOO BAD, GET OVER IT" by management. Inappropriate use of company resources and definitely harmful behavior that has been carried on for years now. Another example was a pharmacist who wrote negative comments on an antibiotic pink form regarding the actions that this pharmacist had taken in evaluating pt care. The second pharmacist chose to professional sabotage my decision, even though it was professional judgment. All persons looking at that form saw the negative comments and gossiped about it. No action taken by management when told about it. Another example was when I was a new employee, three seasoned pharmacists made negative comments about my make-up and clothes, which they gossiped about and decided they would sabotage my ability to get along with others in the department. They negatively talked about me including during clinical conferences/staff meetings, in which management did nothing to defend my character, nor told me about it, nor held them accountable for unprofessional behaviors. There are more incidences but I'd rather not hog the discussions. Job has become much more stressful with increased workload for everyone. Feeling overwhelmed is common. The need for pitching in is great and yet some people refuse to do even required duties and nothing is done about it. Intimidation by some employees to others (RPh to techs). Refusing to do work. Not communicating information relevant to others (union steward to union members). Incorrect information/conflicting info--financial situation--info from mgmt doesn't match info in the newspaper. This creates environment of distrust. There are always people talking behind each other’s backs about their perceived poor work performance. I am also guilty of this. Lunch/Dinner times are often used to vent about fellow pharmacy staff and what they did or didn't do during that shift. People who work de-centrally often think that people in main are not doing a good enough or quick enough job. People working in main often get frustrated with those working de-centrally because of the type of communication that occurs. De-central will call and ask where a medication is in the process and main staff are working on it but also five other things from all the other areas that require their attention at the moment. This culture of blame between main and de-central staff is a problem that needs to be fixed. I have worked with technicians and pharmacists who constantly complain about other technicians, pharmacists, management, and policies/decisions. This is sometimes done within hearing of nurses and doctors, which makes me feel very uncomfortable and unprofessional. It makes me feel like our pharmacy will be looked at unfavorably, yet I am unsure how to respond and still be friendly. I am amazed at how this person(s) can put a negative spin on just about everything. I often see that a few are allowed to NOT perform tasks due to some special agreement or discomfort with the task. Others are expected to pick up the pace to make up for this individual. This causes avoidable resentment. I have often experienced pharmacists unwilling to take on additional tasks or expand our clinical breadth. This keeps our department and the pharmacy profession from progressing and growing. I've been slapped on the hand by a technician.