The role of dominance and subordination in the disruptive behaviors of nurses working at military hospitals: a qualitative content analysis

The existence of disruptive behaviors in medical centers is a long term problem that has very negative consequences for nurses, organizations, and patients. Since the disruptive behaviors are a complex, multi-dimensional, interactive, and social phenomenon, and they are depended on the culture and religion of each community; therefore, this study aimed to explore perceptions of nurses on disruptive behaviors in the Iranian medical centers.

This qualitative study was conducted with the participation of 15 nurses working in six military hospitals in Tehran, Iran in 2016. The targeted sampling method was used during semi-structured interviews to collect data. Data analysis was performed by contractual content analysis and was conducted continuously and simultaneously with the data collection.

Two main categories and five subcategories were recognized, including: 1) domination in nursing (bullying and violence, abuse of power); and 2) subordination in nursing (lack of power over physicians, silence and passive compromise, hatred of organization and reduced self-confidence).

One of the most important reasons for nurses’ disruptive behaviors is the phenomenon of oppression, dominance subordination in nursing, and power hierarchy in Iranian medical centers. Therefore, in order to solve this problem and improve professional behaviors, the concept of empowering nurses to deal with dominance subordination in nursing should be emphasized.