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How Nurses Can Fight Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment of nurses can be as simple as a patient’s unwanted flirtatious winks or as elaborate as a male hospital physician’s systematic assaults on female employees.

And nurses are likely to encounter this occupational hazard. In a University of Missouri study, 21 of 29 nurses surveyed said patients had sexually harassed them. A 2001 NurseWeek/American Organization of Nurse Executives study revealed that 19 percent of nurses surveyed reported being sexually harassed in the previous year. Of male nurses in the NurseWeek study, 32 percent said they had been targets of physician sexual harassment.

One high-profile example: In 2003, Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn agreed to pay nearly $5.5 million to settle a sexual harassment case involving more than 50 women, including nurses, who were allegedly touched inappropriately or otherwise harassed by a physician as he performed pre-employment medical exams.

Culture and Stereotypes Set the Stage for Harassment

Nurses Underreport Incidents

Sexual Harassment Training Yields Limited Results

Liability and Retention Issues May Spur Employers to Act

What to Do If You’re Harassed

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