Exploring Workplace Bullying and Turnover Intention among Registered Nurses in Tertiary Hospitals, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Workplace bullying is common all over the world. However, the medical field is one suchfield where bullying is more frequent than any other field. Specifically, nurses in the hospitals are identifiedto be more exposed to workplace intimidation as compare to other health members, yet underreported.Workplace bullying is one of the principal factors following turnover intention among nurses.Purpose: This survey aims to explore the prevalence of workplace bullying and its association with theintent to leave the job among registered nurses.Methods: A Cross-Sectional survey was conducted from September 2019 to April 2020. A conveniencesample of 242 nurses employed in two public and two private teaching hospitals of Lahore had been selectedfor the study. Data analysis was done using the latest version of SPSS 25. Descriptive statistics mean,median and standard deviation were used for the description of data.Results: The prevalence of workplace bullying was 8.02% among nurses. A significant relationship wasfound between workplace bullying and nurses’ turnover intention. The study found diploma nurses with lessage experienced more workplace bullying.Conclusions: It is suggested that workplace bullying is highly rampant in our health care system and issignificantly associated with the nurse’s turnover intention. There is an immense need to establish newpolicies that can control bullying and upsurge nurses’ retention. Further education plays a role in workplacebullying.