BACKGROUND: The prevalence of bullying experienced by nursing students continues to be a substantial concern for the profession, especially for nurse educators. It is also an issue in other health care professional programs.
OBJECTIVES: To explore how educational institutions address bullying experienced by nursing and other health care professional students, with the goal of creating a set of procedures for reporting bullying if students witness or experience it during their education.
DESIGN: Qualitative Description. Our central question was "What processes and resources do faculty members use when students disclose an experience related to bullying?"
SETTINGS: Educational institutions in Western Canada.
PARTICIPANTS: Nine faculty members and one staff member with a student service role from nursing and other health care profession programs.
METHODS: Semi-structured interviews.
RESULTS: We found significant variation in interviewees' conceptions of bullying and the policies, processes, and resources for addressing bullying within programs. We adopted an existing definition of bullying; designed a set of procedures focused on reporting mechanisms; and developed a guiding framework entitled Addressing Bullying in Nursing Education: An Ethical and Relational Action Framework.
CONCLUSIONS: Nursing and other health care professional programs should ensure they have 1) clear and transparent procedures to report bullying 2) education about bullying for students and faculty.