A cross-hospital exploration of nurses' experiences with horizontal violence

To explore nurses' experiences of horizontal violence (HV) in three diverse non-affiliated organisations within a single city in the USA.

Horizontal violence, also called workplace bullying or lateral violence, is a long-standing nursing issue.

Content analysis was used to analyse open-format textual responses from 126 registered nurses.

A powerful collective story emerged from nurses' shared experiences with HV, describing the characters and the setting in which HV and its consequences exist. Nurses' depictions of HV were consistent despite the different organisational structures of their workplaces suggesting that hospital type is not the explanation for HV, rather the culture of acute care nursing. Nurses want change and asked for tactics to resolve HV within their institutions; some provided specific solutions.

Nurse managers must continue to address HV by using a variety of known tactics, as well as adopting new evidence-based interventions as they are identified. The anti-bullying message should be disseminated through professional nursing organisations as well as in local health-care establishments.

Nurse managers need to be the culture champions who hold individuals accountable for HV and foster professionalism through their leadership.