Horizontal violence or lateral violence among nurses is a critical social issue given its global prevalence and frequency. In this study, we examined the effects of lateral violence on nurses’ burnout and empathy with patients by examining the moderating effect of communication in each relationship.

This was a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional descriptive study, including a total of 211 registered nurses who had worked for more than six months at a medical institution in Seoul, South Korea. The data were collected between March 20, 2019 and June 1, 2019 using self-administered online surveys. Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were calculated, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed. To test the moderating effect of communication, an interaction term was added to each model.

Communication negatively moderated the relationship between lateral violence and burnout. On the other hand, there was no significant moderating effect of communication on the relationship between lateral violence and empathy with patients.

From these findings, we revealed the effect of communications between lateral violence and burnout. The higher the communication ability, the less the effect of lateral violence on burnout. Our findings highlight the importance of communication when developing interventions to reduce burnout in the presence of lateral violence.