Medical workplace harassment is seen as discrete or indirectly aggressive and uncomfortable behaviors that are directed at an individual intentionally by fellow staff or patients that can become persistent and dangerous (Malik, 2014).
Different levels of harassment, whether at home, on the streets or at work being both physical or mental in nature, take place throughout the world every day and in many cases brushed of as just a compliment or overly friendly behaviour. In the health professional field we are exposed to close contact interactions every day with multiple patient as well as coworkers, so chance of it happening are higher (Frigborg, 2017).
Studies have shown workplace harassment plays a large role in decreased job satisfaction, long-term sickness absence, and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or even PTSD (Malik, 2014). Majority of the studies seem to also focus on physical or verbal harassment from coworkers, supervisors or higher up heads of department, with minimal focusing on that coming from clients and patients (Frigborg, 2017). It is strange considering that on average most reports of harassment in hospitals and clinics are from clients or patients harassing female healthcare workers.
It is suggested that this behaviour from those in our care (patients) has been normalized and the acts neglected of any seriousness. Why is that? Why do acts of a similar nature from those above us in the so called workplace hierarchy receive serious responses and consequences, not in all cases, while offhanded comments or touches from patients are considered none threatening or brushed off as he/she is just being friendly? A study done in 2013 showed that 52% of people within a medical job profession have experienced some form of harassment while at work, either verbal, physical or sexual, with forms of bullying by coworkers being four times more prevalent than sexual harassment form coworkers or patients (Ariza-Montes, 2013). Statistics as as theses may indicate why the focus is placed so heavily on other coworkers and not patients being the perpetrators. It has been perceived that we as the health professional have some type of power over those in our care and our higher-ups have power over us, so harassment must follow that idea too.
Often in health professions assumptions are also made based on medical diagnosis or conditions such as client dementia, cognitive impairment due to head injury, disease or medication, therefore concluding that the harassment is unintended and thus not harmful (Frigborg, 2017). Often when there is alternations to the brain due to the above mentioned, personalities do get affected and people act out of their ordinary more composed selves. This in no way justifies their behaviour or invalidates the way the person on the receiving end feels, just complicates the situation. Many health workers report that this behaviour form patients is inevitable in this environment so they just learn to ignore it as no harm has been done (Nielsen, 2017). It is almost as though a blindfold has been placed over their eyes and they no longer see harassment for what it truly is or could become.
Upon speaking with classmates an obvious trend stood out. With both males and females they felt that compliments such as ” you look nice or beautiful today” or “you look like you workout so you can definitely catch me if i fall” and actions such as a hand on the arm or lower back for example when talking felt weird or uncomfortable when coming from older men or middle aged coworkers and patients, while when it came from younger patients, elderly women or female coworkers it didn’t affect them or they were flattered by the compliments but didn’t have an answer to why. Is it possibly due to how we perceive threats based on the thoughts and perceptions our society places in our minds of who is dangerous or usually targets.
During one of my placements I was assigned to an all male multi-trauma ward where gunshot and stab wounds sustained during gang fights to the head where very common. In my mind I was aware that such trauma can affect ones overall mental state, so I thought I was prepared for various degrees of interactions. On many occasions while walking 2 of my younger patients, they would spontaneously throw their arms around my shoulders and tell the other staff members that I was their new girlfriend. A kiss to the cheek was even attempted in a hazed state from one of them. Everyone would laugh it off and call it cute to play along. It was not, as it was uncomfortable and made my job of preparing them for discharge more challenging as the focus was on me and not the treatment plans. After brushing it off the first time and saying to them that it was inappropriate, one eventually became upset and no longer wanted physiotherapy from me. My clinician gladly took over until discharge.
Was I physically harmed? No, but at that moment I did feel extremely uncomfortable and in a way outnumbered by people around me who didn’t understand why I was feeling the way I did. If I ignored it and played along I might still have a patient and a good laugh about it, but who is to say it would have stayed friendly and safe for me in that situation. In my gut I knew to say something as it felt wrong to me at that level of contact, and that level may differ from person to person.
With so many health professionals scared to speak up against bosses due to the threat of losing a job or are programmed to brush it of as nothing with patients, the overall rates of long term mental health issues are increasing and job satisfaction and concentration are decreasing (Malik, 2014). Where does that leave the overall quality of care being put out into the world? It seems we are expected to work under such conditions where some feel unsafe and low on self-esteem but still need put out quality medical care. Changes need to be made and voices heard.
References
Friborg, M. K., Hansen, J. V., & Aldrich, P. T. (2017). Workplace sexual harassment and depressive symptoms: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis comparing harassment from clients or customers to harassment from other employees amongst 7603 Danish employees from 1041 organizations. BMC Public Health, BMC series, 1-12.
Malik, S., & Farooqi, Y. N. (2014). General and Sexual Harassment as Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Female Health Professionals. World Journal of Medical Sciences 10, 43-49.
Nielsen, M. B., Kjær, S., & Aldrich, P. T. (2017). Sexual harassment in care work – Dilemmas and consequences: A qualitative investigation. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 122-130.
Ariza-Montes, A., Muniz, N.,& Montero-Simo, M. (2013). Workplace Bullying amoung Healthcare Workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 10, 3121-3139
Art Work by John Cassaday
4 thoughts on “Are you sure that was harassment? – Harassment in the workplace”
Hi Carla,
Thanks for sharing your writing. I am going to give feedback following the rubric so its easy to follow and has some structure.
Substance/Content: I think your post is not yet complete, you have made an in-depth contribution to the topic but I think you can still provide more substantial and essential information, both new information/ideas on the topic as well as build on your mentioned views. I think you have drawn effectively on evidence to support your views but this can be improved, I like the two points you make about the medical hierarchy and the patient conditions affecting harassment claims- BUILD ON THIS. I also like that you address one claim/idea per topic, this makes it clear and easy to read. To better your piece, I suggest reading articles on the topic and looking at reference lists of these articles to find more information (legal information, experiences and views). I think your topic is relevant to our class topics (I picked up sexual harassment and human rights). I think it is original as you have described a personal experience of this in your clinical practice. I would include your personal experience at the start of the piece to give some personal insight to the reader as to why you chose this topic, it would also flow better as opposed to being in the middle or towards the end. Use the experience as an introduction.
Synthesis of content/discussion/reflection/critical thought: I think you demonstrate an understanding of the topic and the awareness of the main issues. Perhaps you can draw on some points that other students in the class have made about this topic as well? I think you make claims in the piece but not all of them are explained sufficiently and/or justified completely. I think your writing is slightly predictable, although those two points I mentioned above were unique to me, otherwise you stay on topic and provide ‘usual’ claims. With more reading I think you can delve into more unique claims and views.
Engagement: I think this section is more about how you engage with other students and feedback but in terms of this piece, you have raised good questions in your writing but these can be built on as I mentioned above. Overall I think you have engaged with the topic and think the final piece will be very intriguing.
Writing Style: There are one or two spelling or grammatical errors in the one paragraph, I will correct these below. The post is easy to read and follow. You have a strong writing style but I think after reading more into this topic you can develop more critical analysis, develop and build more satisfactory views and conclusions.
Spelling correction to paragraph: Different levels of harassment, whether at home, on the streets or at work and/or both physical and mental, take place throughout the world every day and in many cases are brushed of as just a compliment or overly friendly behaviour. In the health professional field, we are exposed to close contact interactions every day with multiple patients as well as coworkers of different social contexts so the chance of harassment happening is higher (Frigborg, 2017).
References: you have included references and these are correctly referenced. As I said before, I think you can build on this reference list to make more concrete and new views. The definition in the beginning, if these are the exact words from the reference then I suggest putting quotation marks in, otherwise leave it as is (with in-text citation only) if you have altered some words.
Time/length: i think the length of the piece is appropriate, perhaps it could be a little longer if you added more to your paragraphs and a more substantial conclusion.
Information literacy: perhaps you can add a picture or video or something to stimulate the reader regarding your idea/topic. Add this as a featured image.
Well done!
I look forward to reading the updated version.
Jemma
Hi Carla.
first off great piece, I think that this is a very relatable and well fitted topic to clinical practice.
I really like the way that you have obviously done your research, and have included many references in order to substantiate your argument. So well done on that front. Your spelling and grammar is also very good (apart from one or two small ones, which I think were already corrected in Jemmas comment), and the post has a nice easy read and flow to it which helps the reader stay interested in the piece. It also emotionally touches the reader as you draw on your own personal experiences, and are open enough to put them into the writing piece. Maybe if you try do some research and find other examples of this “harmless” harassment where other staff members have watched and then laughed it off when actually the person on the receiving end did not feel comfortable with the interaction, as this could add some more power to your piece.
I also think if you find some literature on the amount of sexual harassment and even sexual assaults that happen to female healthcare practitioners within south africa or just a general number of cases per year, I think that this might give the reader a shock, and spark an emotional response to your writing, which can be very powerful.
Why not add more to the paragraph about people being afraid of their bosses or afraid to speak up and explore why this is the case especially inside of the medical field. This could be a very interesting topic. Also maybe try an add one other peoples experiences, be that students from our class, other universities and other professions within the hospital or CHC as that could be very effective n your piece.
Otherwise well done, I think that you’ve chosen a fantastic topic, and with a few tweaks here and there it will be a very good final piece.
hi Carla
substance: good
the required post was completed, it had effective use of resources. this piece is relateable however it is not the most original topic
synthesis of content: excellent
post demonstrates the issues that we have to deal with in the work place. this piece also illustrates how people never understand what you go through unless they experience it themselves. sexual harrassment is present in the hospital environment and needs to be addressed.
engagement : good
Participates in the group fairly on a reasonably deep level but offers little that is new.
writing style:
there are just a few grammatical errors but the piece is good. the writing is style is good and the piece really engages the reader
references: excellent
student uses outside evidence to emphasize the issue that is being raised
time: excellent
the piece was submitted on time
information literacy: poor
maybe add a picture or a video to kind of draw the reader.
i loved reading the piece, great work.
Hi Carla.
This is truly an amazing piece that tackles an often shoved under the tables issue of abuse in the clinical environment, thanks for sharing your unfortunate experience with us to enlighten us about detrimental repercussions this issue.
Substance; Good to Excellent, your post is complete,with somewhat in-depth information provided. you do make a substantial contribution to the topic by adding your experience and feeling which essential gives your piece a “heartbeat”. you used examples to illustrate a point and you included essential information. Overall your contribution is original and very clear with a logical sequence.
Synthesis of content ;Good to Excellent, even though we haven’t covered this topic much in class, you still demonstrated awareness of the main idea. you highlighted weak areas and you showed some critical thinking by analyzing, synthesizing, evaluates and applying knowledge into explaining them even though you could done more with a broader substantiation.
Engagement; Good, you participates in the group fairly on a reasonably deep level but you do offer little that is new or innovative. you are very respectful and polite and you follows group norms. you tend to explains concepts and shares ideas / makes connections.
Writing style; good, you shows a good command of English, I had no difficulty reading the post, minimal spelling and grammatical errors. you also display an above average ability to write. There is a clear beginning, middle and end to the post. and as Jemma indicated above about the only grammar error you made.
References; good, Some references to additional resources provided. The references are consistently formatted. fairly good honestly
Time / length ; Excellent, The assignment is handed in on time and the length of the work is appropriate to the level of the project or guidance provided by the lecturer. so everything is good here.
Information literacy ; your piece of writing is literally a light expose the dark side that nobody is talking about.
overall, great piece of work , it really broadened and enlightened me and it also justifies why as health workers we need to also have our #metoo campaign as well.
cheers.