Are your selection factors controlled at the form level?  So if the process was setup to move them through the form, I would get rid of the view that allows for bulk edits - otherwise it sounds like they are simply bypassing the controls you put in place.  Also educate them on the correct process to follow and explain why they should not do it the other way.  If this isn't the case, let me know!

Hey Mark. Yes it is intended to be controlled through a Nintex form. Unfortunately, there are so many to work in a day, the only way to accomplish it is to do mass completions via bulk edit.

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare    Well, you could always use the workflow to launch on item modification, and build your controls into the workflow itself.  Each item that is modified would then launch a workflow once that modification is complete.   Alternatively you could have a site workflow come along every so often on a schedule and sweep over the ones that should be considered complete for processing.   I'm not sure the exact problem you are trying to solve, but either approach should help get you there.