Peer answers Workplace Environment Assessment
Respond to two of your colleagues by sharing ideas for how shortcomings discovered in their evaluations and/or their examples of incivility could have been managed more effectively.
APA Format
Min 2-3 resources
WORK ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT 4
Post 1
Melissa Jackson
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Work Environment Assessment Results
The results of the Work Environment Assessment show that the workplace I evaluated could use some improvement. This determination is based on a Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory score of 72, which is mildly healthy. I rated 12 questions in the “somewhat true” category and 8 in the “neutral” category. The workplace sits somewhere right in the middle based on the fact that I have had or witnessed, some negative interactions, but overall people are happy and satisfied with their jobs. I don’t believe patient care is impacted negatively, however with more advocacy for civility based on the assessment there is room for improvement. Clark (2019) stated, “disrespectful and uncivil behaviors in healthcare settings can have detrimental effects on individuals, teams, organizations, and patient safety—including life-threatening mistakes, preventable complications, or harm to a patient” (para. 1). We know from studies and assessments, like the Clark Inventory, that the changes made to improve civility in the workplace also improving patient outcomes. I believe my workplace is mostly civil. There are always a few things in any environment or situation that can have a negative impact. Sometimes it’s a person, other times it’s a schedule, policy, or procedure. My workplace makes a good effort to correct any incivility that arises, but more can always be done. Based on the inventory they could improve in areas like promoting employee wellness and self-care, offering mentoring programs, and implementing joint-decision making.
Incivility in the workplace
The American Nurses Association defined incivility as “one or more rude, discourteous, or disrespectful actions that may or may not have a negative intent behind them” (Violence, Incivility, & Bullying, 2017, para. 2). Based on that description I recall a time when an ER physician screamed at me and insulted me in front of my peers and within earshot of patient and their families. It was not something I had done wrong and she later apologized stating she was “just having a bad day.” The charge nurse also pulled her aside and told her if she was going to treat her nurses like that there would be a formal complaint filed against her. It made for a very uncomfortable shift. As much as I tried to forget the incident, the damage was done to our working relationship. I never let it affect patient care, but all respect that I once had for her was gone. I am a firm believer in “praise in public, punish in private.” Had she just pulled me aside and asked about the situation she would have realized her error, instead she lost her cool and chose to berate me in front of peers and patients. Not only did she build a barrier with me, but she also lost the respect of many of my peers, and probably a few patients. All it took was one incidence of her losing her composure to change how everyone working that shift perceived her. She ended up quitting a few months later due to personal issues. The work environment changed dramatically for the better after that. Hossny & Sabra (2020) stated “civility climate is very important for healthy collaborative relationship between nurses and physicians; when nurses and physicians have increased chance to work in civility climate, combined with response to incivility and low intolerance for it, they will be more collaborated” (p. 626). In an interview for the National Institute of Health, Dr. Christine Porath discussed the high cost of incivility in the workplace. She stated “instead of focusing on work, those who experience the behavior are far less motivated and are worried about future incidents. A few even leave their jobs. Some companies estimate that negative behavior costs millions of dollars in lost productivity” (Workplace Civility Increases Productivity, 2019, para 5). Incivility is costing organizations big time. It seems like the proposed “fixes” are common sense, yet organizations are doing little to make the changes. More focus needs to be put on the issue to improve job satisfaction, cut costs, and improve patient outcomes.
References
Clark, C. M. (2019, April). Fostering a Culture of Civility and Respect in Nursing. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 10(1), 44–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2155-8256(19)30082-1
Hossny, E. K., & Sabra, H. E. (2020, November 4). Effect of nurses’ perception to workplace civility climate on nurse–physician collaboration. Nursing Open, 8(2), 620–627. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.666
Violence, Incivility, & Bullying. (2017, October 14). ANA. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/violence-incivility-bullying/
Workplace Civility Increases Productivity. (2019, March 26). NIH Record. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2018/08/10/workplace-civility-increases-productivity
Post 2
Luis Arencibia
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Workplace Environment Assessment
A healthy work environment can be described as a safe, satisfying, and empowering workplace. This requires a shared organizational vision and mission, a good communication system, teamwork, and high levels of civility across all levels of the organization (Clark, 2015). Broome & Marshall (2021) recognize that a healthy work environment is crucial in achieving optimal levels of quality care for patients. Moreover, a healthy work environment has been associated with minimal workplace violence and improved nurse satisfaction, reducing nurse turnover in a healthcare organization (Wei et al., 2018).
My workplace assessment using the twenty questions from “Clark Healthy workplace inventory” gave me a final score of 82, which indicates a moderately healthy workplace environment (Clark, 2015). From the assessment, I could easily pick out which made me feel that I work in a very healthy environment, i.e., I have always felt the management of the organization highly values the employees and give reasonable remuneration. Also, the organization supports employees’ professional growth and excellence by providing on-job training opportunities for nurses and other healthcare personnel. However, from the assessment, I also picked out areas that contributed to the less-than-optimal score for the workplace environment. Some of these areas included poor communication across different levels of management, which often interferes with ease of operations and work overload. If these areas could be improved, I believe my workplace will attain a healthy environment.
Generally, I consider my workplace civil because the organization is respectful of the staff, and the staff is also respectful to each other. Also, healthcare personnel are committed and always work in collaboration to ensure the best outcomes for our patients. However, like any other organization, we also had several incivility cases at our workplace. The most notable one that I have personally experienced is work overload. This happened at one point when my unit was experiencing a shortage of nursing staff, and the nurse in charge was forced to give us extra hours and shifts to cover the shortage. The experience left us with burnout and dissatisfaction, which affected our work efficiency. Luckily, we complained to the management through our nurse in charge, and they responded by deploying some of the nurses from less busy units to our unit.
In conclusion, a healthy and civil work environment is the key to optimal service provisions in healthcare organizations. According to Clark et al. (2011), nursing exposes one to a dangerous environment to work in, and incidents of incivility increase the risk and cause a feeling of dissatisfaction. Healthcare organizations should therefore strive to ensure they create a healthy workplace and be ready to listen and address all cases of workplace incivility.
References
Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18-23.
Clark, C. M., Olender, L., Cardoni, C., & Kenski, D. (2011). Fostering civility in nursing education and practice: Nurse leader perspectives. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324-330.
Wei, H., Sewell, K. A., Woody, G., & Rose, M. A. (2018). The state of the science of nurse work environments in the United States: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 5(3), 287-300.
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