Work Environment and Workplace Bullying among Korean Intensive Care Unit Nurses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived work environment and workplace bullying among Korean intensive care units (ICU) nurses. Methods This is a descriptive survey research, with 134 ICU nurses from five hospitals in Korea. The work environment was measured by the Korean Nursing Work Environment Scale. Workplace bullying was measured with the Korean version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised. Results ICU nurses reported moderate satisfaction with their work environment, with perception of the basic work system receiving the highest scores. A total of 94.0% of ICU nurses have experienced at least one negative act within the past 6 months, and the prevalence of bullying was 17.2% according to operational bullying criteria. The ICU nurses reported that they experienced more work-related bullying than other types of bullying. Significant negative correlations between the nursing work environment and workplace bullying were found. Conclusion These findings indicate that the better the nursing work environment, the less workplace bullying nurses will experience. Further research needs to be done to identify factors that influence bullying in the nurses and to develop an intervention that prevents workplace bullying.