Workplace Bullying of Urology Residents: Implications for the Patient and Provider

To elucidate whether urology residents in the United States feel bullied by nurses, how respected they feel at work, and whether this impacts personal and patient care.

We distributed an Institutional Review Board-approved online, validated, revised Negative Acts Questionnaire to US urology residents in their first year or above. We evaluated bullying through scoring work (total range 5-25), person (total range 9-45), and physical intimidation (total range 3-15) related bullying domains. We also solicited how respected residents feel by different staff on a Likert scale and the perceived personal and professional impact of bullying. Bullying domains were assessed with descriptive statistics and mean total bullying scores (MTBS) and demographics compared.

We received 102 responses (82% MD, 18% DO). One resident reported never experiencing bullying. Overall average MTBS was 28.9 ± 0.9 (17-68). 98.0%, 82.4%, and 77.5% of residents reported at least 1 incident of work, person, and physical intimidation-related bullying, respectively. DO residents reported higher MTBS than MD residents (33.7 ± 2.2vs 27.8 ± 1.0, P = .015). Higher MTBS scores were seen in residents who feared retaliation and considered transferring programs, while lower scores were seen where the resident-nurse relationship was nurtured.

Ninety percent of residents perceived some degree of bullying and report a negative impact on personal performance and patient outcomes.