WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Sample Answer for WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053 Included After Question
How healthy is your workplace?
You may think your current organization operates seamlessly, or you may feel it has many issues. You may experience or even observe things that give you pause. Yet, much as you wouldn’t try to determine the health of a patient through mere observation, you should not attempt to gauge the health of your work environment based on observation and opinion. Often, there are issues you perceive as problems that others do not; similarly, issues may run much deeper than leadership recognizes.
There are many factors and measures that may impact organizational health. Among these is civility. While an organization can institute policies designed to promote such things as civility, how can it be sure these are managed effectively? In this Discussion, you will examine the use of tools in measuring workplace civility.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
- Review and complete the Work Environment Assessment Template in the Resources.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 7
Post a brief description of the results of your Work Environment Assessment. Based on the results, how civil is your workplace? Explain why your workplace is or is not civil. Then, describe a situation where you have experienced incivility in the workplace. How was this addressed? Be specific and provide examples.
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 7
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by sharing ideas for how shortcomings discovered in their evaluations and/or their examples of incivility could have been managed more effectively.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Title: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
My workplace can be classified as “moderately healthy workplace” with a score of 80 on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, Communication is an important skill required to foster collaboration for patient care and to ensure an environment of safety is available for patient care. According to Clark 2015, patient care is dependent on how well health care professionals cope with stress, manage emotion, interact with one another, this interaction determines their ability to perform their duties, fosters loyalty to their organization and most importantly patient safety. I would say my workplace is civil although there are areas that needs improvement, I have observed that Communication at all levels is one of the greatest strength of my workplace. Broome & Marshall, 2021 identified communication, both verbal and nonverbal as an essential skill required by all leaders as it influences how others responds to you. The leaders in my organization utilize excellent communication strategies to ensure all employee align with the organization goals and smooth conflict resolution at all levels.
Employees are knowledgeable about the mission and vision of the organization, the leadership has provided opportunities for smooth collaboration of care between all cadre of staff. There is transparency between the management, employee and even the patient. We also enjoy fair and respectful treatment among ourselves, managers, other professionals and the management of the organisation. However, my organisation needs to put in place programs that encourage personal and professional development for employees including solid mentoring programs. To promote the existing culture continuous mentoring and training is very key.
Incivility experienced in my place of work and how it was addressed.
Years back, The incivility I experienced in my place of work was from my colleagues as a new employee who was internationally hired in the hospital. For the first few months, I felt like an outsider and unwelcomed in my workplace, sometimes, even the nurse aid will forget to perform the tasks I assign to them but will diligently perform tasks the nurses they are familiar with assign to them. Despite my dedication and hard work in that facility, my colleagues will constantly look for opportunities to make me feel I do not know what I was doing. I initially reported this to my supervisor who brushed it off and said I felt that way because I was newly employed and did not yet feel comfortable with the team, Demarco et al., 2018 explained that some individuals claim not to support workplace incivility but in real sense, support it by not taking any action to prevent it, this is called pluralistic ignorance.
This went on for weeks until I finally found my voice and addressed the situation. I had a discussion with one of the nurse aid assigned to work with me about not allowing our personal differences affect the quality of patient care. I had similar conversation with my colleagues, I respectfully asked them for constructive feedback on my performance and in turn expressed my concern about how the constant disrespect from them which I believe may impact patient care. However, the incivility I experienced stopped once a new nurse was hired and this group of nurses started bullying the new hire. I eventually reported the situation to the Human resources department and resigned after working in that organization for six months. According to American Nurse (2017) trust is the currency of leadership. Competent leaders have the ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust, i did not trust the ability of the leadership of that organization to solve the issue of bullying newly hired nurses and so I left because it was an uncivil place to work,.
In conclusion, from this week resources, I have discovered strategies to utilize when engaging challenging conversation, Preparing to have this conversation about civility is as much important as the conversation itself.
REFERENCE
American Nurse (2017) Building trust in your leadership American Nurse https://www.myamericannurse.com/building-trust-in-your-leadership/Links to an external site.Links to an external site.
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, 10Links to an external site.Links to an external site.(11), 18–23. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdfLinks to an external site.
DeMarco, R. F., Fawcett, J., & Mazzawi, J. (2018). Covert incivility: Challenges as a challenge in the nursing academic workplace. Journal of Professional Nursing, 34(4), 253–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2017.10.001
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Title: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
All healthcare professionals should continually assess the treatment we deliver and the working atmosphere we create to ensure patients receive effective medical interventions. Clark (2015) shared six criteria established for establishing and supporting safe working environments by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses — professional communication, practical cooperation, efficient decision, adequate staffing, positive recognition, and genuine leadership. We must aim to follow these expectations to ensure that our patients are well-looking after in safe workplaces. It examines the findings of a work-related inventory evaluation that I have completed personally, discusses the literature on the elements that can influence my organizational environment, and provides evidence-driven solutions. That can help build inter-professional, more excellent teams in the place of work.
It will be necessary to integrate evidence-based methods to increase civility and coordination in our curriculum. Our program policies will be focused on evidence-based standards, which will provide a solid framework for all team members to adopt. It would be beneficial to implement techniques that have been proven successful in other environments to develop better the areas where our program is falling short. New tactics will help us strengthen our program’s civility and collaboration if we keep reviewing and analyzing it.
Summary of Results – Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory
I have conducted an inventory of work atmosphere assessments to ascertain the present health and civility level in my workplace. According to the Clark safe workplace inventory, my workplace climate civility score was 62 percent, a barely healthy environment (Clark, 2015). Clark (2015) said that people and families within companies could use this inventory of the workplace as an evidentiary tool to raise awareness, evaluate an institution’s perceived health, identify opportunities for improvement, and celebrate and strengthen areas of power. While my understanding of the existing degree of organizational civility may only be considering in this inventory, this method offered helpful insight into the places where our initiative is likely to be short and the areas where improvements could be introduced.
Identify Two Things That Surprised You About the Results. Also Identify One Idea That You Believed Prior To Conducting the Assessment That Was Confirmed.
The level of interpersonal conflict in my curriculum and the lack of skills I had to contribute to safe workplace statements were two items that shocked me with my inventory and evaluative performance. The detrimental effect of colleague experiences on our working atmosphere and our patients was one belief reinforced by this assessment. Before this job evaluation was completed, I thought the morale of our company became weaker. I observed a significant downturn in my co-workers’ positivity and optimism after two years of jobs. I also thought this negative was the result of the experiences we had as a team. We all knew how challenging our environment could often be because of our mental health program’s complexities. I assumed that the most unpleasant circumstances between the members of our team took place. But I could see from the inventory evaluation how a stressful working environment would affect our staff and our patients. I was not confident that it was my understanding of the situation. Clark (2015) shared that interactions between employees can impact employee capacity, the organization’s loyalty, and, above all, healthy and high-quality patient care.
What Do the Results of The Assessment Suggest About the Health and Civility of Your Workplace?
Hostility is a low-intensity activity that may involve actions, such as disrespect, disguised, impolite, and degrading, or a violation of workplace standards, Marshall and Broome (2017). They also expressed that gossip or even a failure to recognize that a co-worker needs help at work can be part of their incivility. These circumstances can happen at any level amongst team members, and they can quickly go overlooked and unsolved. To react to any uncertainty in the workplace, nurses must learn practical strategies to cooperate. Critical discussions are also difficult to conduct, so that team members are giving specific guidance on effective results using a particular theory or technology. We first need to build and maintain a safe work atmosphere to provide patients with effective patient care. The reference to published literary material will provide insight into strategies that have shown their effectiveness and effectiveness in uncivil circumstances (Makic, M. B. F., 2018).
Describe the Theory or Concept Presented in The Article You Selected.
Explain How the Theory or Concept Presented in The Article Relates to The Results of Your Work Environment Assessment.
By reading the article presented in this module, I learned about strategies to reduce occupational uncertainty and increase
organizational health. The use of (CR) cognitive rehearsal among teammates was one theory or idea that I found fascinating. Clark (2018) shared that cognitive research (CR) is an evidence-based approach whereby people operate in a non-threatening setting with a mentor or facilitator to deal with stressful circumstances. It is hard to know how we are going to react to challenging workplace circumstances. The implementation of mock scenarios enables feedback and coordination between our team and a safe place, which does not reach the patient. Often when events occur, we cannot leave our field of work and thus must respond adequately and regularly to these situations with a patient or patient present.
At our monthly professional conferences about six months ago, our organization started working on various patient situations. We rehearsed our responses to patient care’s adverse conditions that may occur to assist each other in these difficult times. I think these situations in practice helped us to develop our reactions slowly. I believe that they take away some of the lesser dissatisfaction that once prevailed among our workers and that we learn from each other.
When I passed via my workplace evaluation prototype, I found the main emphasis of my negatively chosen statement responses was always our program coordination and teamwork. Although we have started to practice our responses to possible patient scenarios, we have not directly discussed how we respond to one another if a situation happens. Sometimes, co-workers also disagree or provide patients with conflicting details, so this is a condition that needs to be discussing (Fischer, S. A., 2017).
Explain How Your Organization Could Apply the Theory Highlighted in Your selected Article to Improve Organizational Health And/or Create Stronger Work Teams. Be Specific and Provide Examples.
The use of cognitive rehearsals should be put in place to strengthen our program’s organizational health and encourage better teamwork. We hold monthly employee meetings, which all workers must attend. To better deal with occupational invasion and provide direction for future activities, we should give the cognitive rehearsal process in these sessions. While there are different models to deal with non-civil conversations at work, it is hoping that the discussions with our team members will improve the existing wellbeing and reduce the incivilization levels during our monthly meetings.
It is necessary to integrate evidence-based techniques to enhance the level of civilization and collaboration within our program. Based on facts, our program policies would have a solid framework followed by all team members. It is helpful that successful techniques in other environments can be incorporated to develop our program correctly (Fischer, S. A., 2017). New strategies will help increase our program’s civility and strengthen our teamwork through ongoing review and study.
Our team will communicate with each other using the DESC model to develop collaboration and emotional intelligence. Clark (2015) said that the DESC model is an efficient way of addressing individual incivility cases combined with cognitive rehearsals. The DESC questionnaire consists of three elements that ensure that civil circumstances in the workplace are handling correctly. (D) explaining the situation as it happens, (E) voicing your concern, (S) stating possible solutions for managing these circumstances, and (C) saying the implications. This standardized response format will allow this team to interact efficiently and improve our workplaces’ health in uncivil cases.
I was able to assemble a sense of where our strengths existed when I looked over my inventory responses. Our organizational encouragement to share complex or contradictory ideas and viewpoints, our celebration of personal and collective accomplishments, and the promotion of cooperation and collaboration were all areas I considered “somewhat real.”
Recommend At Least Two Strategies Supported in The Literature That Can Be Implemented to Address Any Shortcomings Revealed in Your Work Environment Assessment
One of the tactics is to make sure that proper communication is in place. Both employees can recognize their positions in the workplace and as members of a specific team due to good communication. They would also be active in the decision-making process, allowing them to share their views and ideas without hindrance openly. A good example would be a leader of a healthcare organization emphasizing to his or her team members the importance of improving partnerships through proper conservations. When this occurs, the teams will have a better chance of improving the organization’s success and development. Another approach is recognizing the importance of diversity in the workplace (Clark et al., 2011). Ethnicity, sexual disparities, care facility history, and religion are all examples of the variety. Team members can better organize their activities, recognize any differences, and resolve them amicably by fostering diversity in the workplace. Personnel may also spend time shadowing practitioners from other professions to understand the patient care experience better. Practitioners can learn new skills and unique knowledge from professionals from different disciplines in this manner. As a result, seeing through the eyes of others and establishing faith would be easy, enlightening, and improving personal understanding of their responsibilities.
Recommend At Least Two Strategies That Can Be Implemented to Bolster Successful Practices Revealed in Your Work Environment Assessment
Enhancing competence in the decision-making process will be one of the techniques. It would be simple to cultivate an atmosphere that adopts best practices and promotes good working conditions if nurses were coached early on in decision making and support decisions. Nurses should provide with opportunities to learn the skills they need to increase their effectiveness and efficiency. Professionals should use their abilities to investigate options, run meetings, and make informed decisions that promote nursing practice within the organization (Clark, 2015). Nurse leaders should also teach facilitation skills to improve their ability to start conversations and identify community knowledge without taking control of decision-making. Another approach, which is one of the best practices, is to explain expectations for clinical practice to increase autonomy.
Nurses should be able to communicate and coordinate their work to make sound clinical judgments. Professionals must consider the standards of patient care based on both the art and science of nursing to accurately explain and communicate occupational behaviors (Griffin & Clark, 2014). It will also be necessary to recognize appropriate approaches to situations often on the edge of the nurse’s practice field. Orientation strategies may implement to define organizational behavioral preferences. Furthermore, developing leadership and a cohesive transition plan for the company will be a significant concern. The leaders would instruct various teams on how to complete the tasks in the most efficient manner possible. The organizational platform will also improve the relationships between managers and care providers. Since they know all the employees, these administrators will have services and support.
Summary
To assess the level of health and civility in my current workplace setting, I performed an inventory survey. An analysis of comparative literature has also been undertaking to determine where beneficial improvements can be made. While the findings of my evaluation offered insight into the workplace’s adverse facts, it was helpful to identify ways to change things (Foronda, C., 2020). The first move from this assignment was to raise awareness. Teamwork and communication will help me get that knowledge to the next level. The challenging conditions noted in the results must be addressed appropriately if a safe and civil workplace is creating. I hope that the evidence-based solutions addressed in the literature will enable my team to build a healthier, more civilian working atmosphere for our team and our patients (Foronda, C., 2020).
References
Clark, C. M. (2018). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Nurse Educator. doi:10.1097/NNE.0000000000000563. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326428635_Combining_Cognitive_Rehearsal_Simulation_and_Evidence-Based_Scripting_to_Address_Incivility
Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18-23. https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdf
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. https://journals.lww.com/jonajournal/Abstract/2011/07000/Fostering_Civility_in_Nursing_Education_and.8.aspx
Fischer, S. A. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing education: making the case. Nursing science quarterly, 30(2), 124-128. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0894318417693309
Foronda, C. (2020). A theory of cultural humility. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 31(1), 7-12. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1043659619875184
Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against
incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years later. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535-542. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268793398_Revisiting_Cognitive_Rehearsal_as_an_Intervention_Against_Incivility_and_Lateral_Violence_in_Nursing_10_Years_Later
Makic, M. B. F. (2018). A culture of civility: Positively impacting practice and patient safety. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing, 33(2), 220-222. https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1089947218300042
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
A Sample Answer 3 For the Assignment: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Title: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Incivility refers to a milder form of uncivil behavior conducted with the aim of harming the target. All forms of incivility entail dysfunctional interpersonal relationships attributed to high employee turnover and low quality of care (Kisner et al., 2018). Nurses have a responsibility to establish and promote healthy interpersonal relationships with one another. They need to know how their communication and behavior or failure to act can cause incivility (Abdollahzadeh et al., 2017). This essay will analyze the results from the Work Environment Assessment, review literature on incivility, and explore evidence-based strategies to create high-performance interprofessional teams.
Results of the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory
My workplace scored 67/100 on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory. The result suggests that the workplace environment is Barely Healthy (Clark, 2015). This was an unexpected score, as I expected to have at least a score in the moderately healthy range. I was surprised that we only scored 5 points in only four items. It is somewhat surprising that our organization could only score the maximum points in only four items, which means that we have a long way to promote a healthier workplace. The four items include: Promotion of Teamwork and collaboration, Treating employees fairly and respectfully, using effective conflict-resolution skills, and Providing competitive salaries, benefits, compensations, and other rewards.
I was also surprised that my workplace scored 1 point in two items in the Clark Inventory. This was surprising because our organization belongs to a caliber that should not have very low scores on matters associated with healthy workplaces. The two items that had the lowest score were: The workload being reasonable, manageable, and fairly distributed and Organization attracting and retaining the best and the brightest.
Before completing the Clark Inventory, I assumed that unreasonable and unmanageable workload is a primary cause of failing to retain the organization’s best staff. I believed that unbearable nursing workloads and nurses shortages are interconnected, in that each leads to the other. This was confirmed by the assessment, where I established that the high unmanageable nursing workload in our workplace is the primary reason for failing to retain staff.
What the Results Suggest About the Health and Civility of My Workplace
The assessment results indicate a stressful work environment that can be attributed to an unreasonable, unmanageable, and unfairly distributed workload. A Barely Healthy workplace suggests a problem with the organization’s leadership; in that, the leaders are more goal-oriented than people-oriented. This results in the management focusing more on meeting its clients’ needs at the expense of the staff needs (Abdollahzadeh et al., 2017). The results also mean that the staff’s needs may be overlooked, and their voice is not often considered during policy-making. Furthermore, they suggest that the staff may not be adequately engaged in making decisions that affect them, and the leadership does not recognize shared governance.
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Despite the average results, the organization scored highly in items that indicate high civility in the workplace. These items include: Promotion of Teamwork and collaboration, Treatment of employees fairly and respectfully, and Use of effective conflict-resolution skills (Clark, 2015). The high scores in these items suggest that a culture of civility has been developed in the workplace. It also means that the employees have strived to create and maintain civil, healthy work environments by communicating clearly and effectively, despite the harsh working environment. Besides, it shows that the staff manages conflict in the workplace respectfully and responsibly.
Reviewing the Literature
The article by Clark (2015) presents the concept of healthy work environments. The article mentions the six standards by AACN that are vital in establishing and sustaining healthy work environments, namely, skilled communication, effective decision-making, true collaboration, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership (Clark, 2015). Clark also presents other standards from her research, crucial in promoting healthy work environments, which include: A common organizational vision, values, and team norms; Emphasis on both formal and informal leadership; Creation and sustenance of a high level of the individual, team, and organizational civility; and Civility conversations at all organizational levels.
Clark argues that when an uncivil encounter occurs, we may require to address it by having a critical conversation with the uncivil person. One needs to be well-prepared for this critical conversation, speak with confidence, and use respectful expressions (Clark, 2015). Critical conversations are often stressful. Thus, while taking a direct approach to resolving a conflict, it requires courage, know-how, and lots of practice. By having this conversation, one can end the silence that surrounds incivility. The article presents the DESC model, which can be used to address incivility in the workplace. The DESC model has four elements: D-Describe the specific situation, E-Express your concerns, S-State other alternatives; and C-Consequences stated (Clark, 2015). The critical conversations can occur more effectively when one is well-equipped with tools like this DESC model.
How the Concept Presented In the Article Relates To the Results of the Work Environment Assessment
The concept on the standards of sustaining a healthy work environment relates to the assessment results, in that ineffective decision-making, lack of appropriate staffing, and lack of authentic leadership in the organization has resulted in a less healthy environment. Lack of authentic leadership is evident in the workplace environment, which suggests that the organization’s leaders have not put much effort into ensuring the staff work in a healthy work environment. The leaders at my organization do not initiate or encourage open discussions and dialogues on promoting a healthy workplace. If they do so, they could have identified key factors that create a harsh working environment, such as inadequate staffing.
Ineffective decision-making by failing to engage the employees has contributed to a less healthy workplace. This is because the staff’s opinions on enhancing the workplace environment are not incorporated in policy-making. The low assessment results can be related to the employees’ failure to initiate a critical conversation with the management on issues that affect them. Perhaps, if we expressed their concerns to the leaders, we could be heard, and the various issues that negatively impact the workplace could be addressed. The tense relationship between the employees and the management can be attributed to the lack of conversations between the two groups, which is critical in ending the silence surrounding incivility.
How My Organization Could Apply the Concept to Improve Organizational Health
My organization can apply the identified standards to enhance organizational health by having direct and transparent communication at all organizational levels to promote respect among the staff and between the staff and the supervisors. The management can actively engage the staff by consulting or involving them in decision-making and developing organizational policies (Griffin & Clark, 2014). Additionally, the organization’s employees can apply the concept of critical conversation to discuss with the management on issues affecting them, such as inadequate staffing (Clark, 2015). Critical conversations can be started among the employees to help solve conflicts, especially between different professions, to help create strong intra- and interprofessional health teams.
Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams
Strategies That Can Be Implemented To Address Any Shortcomings
The article by Clark (2019) discusses the use of Cognitive Rehearsal to address incivility that threatens patient safety. Cognitive rehearsal (CR) is a technique employed in behavioral science whereby people work with a skilled facilitator to identify and rehearse effective methods of addressing a problem or social situation (Clark, 2019). It is intended to lessen anxiety, enhance confidence, and increase impulse control by practicing effective methods to solve potentially stressful situations. CR has been established to be an effective strategy to solve incivility in clinical practice and educational settings (Clark, 2019). A planned, rehearsed response presents a chance to convey expectations for appropriate behaviors and future interactions.
The article by Kisner et al. (2018) discusses the Mixed-intervention strategy, which effectively addresses incivility. The strategy entails the following steps: Providing personal support, education, and mediation between the perpetrator and the target. Using corrective action to discipline the perpetrator and educating the target to handle aggression (Kisner et al., 2018). The strategy also involves imposing policies and penalties to deal with aggressive behaviors. The last step is encouraging social interaction and interventions that promote collective responsibility in creating a safe and supportive culture.
Strategies That Can Be Implemented To Bolster Successful Practices
Successful practices in the workplace environment can be enhanced by holding Team-building sessions in organizations. The team-building sessions should build trust, engage staff in decision-making, clarify roles, and role-model positive interactions. Simulation can be employed in these sessions to promote better teamwork and collaboration. For instance, the simulation activity can involve a nurse role-modeling positive interactions with other nurses. The role-modeling can be useful in demonstrating to the staff the power of positivity in employees’ communication.
Organizations can develop and impose a zero-tolerance policy for incivility, which clearly outlines uncivil behaviors. The policy should be clear that incivility will not be tolerated in the organization, and if it happens, consequences will result. For instance, the policy can indicate that a staff who displays uncivil conduct will be given a verbal and written warning for each violation, and after three violations, they will be terminated. A policy is a very effective strategy as it outs employees conducting incivility on notice. Once the policy is developed, the management can conduct staff development programs for staff and managers about the zero- incivility tolerance policy. The programs can include enhancing communication skills, challenging culprits, and using silence to facilitate thinking.
References
Abdollahzadeh, F., Asghari, E., Ebrahimi, H., Rahmani, A., & Vahidi, M. (2017). How to Prevent Workplace Incivility?: Nurses’ Perspective. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 22(2), 157–163. https://doi.org/10.4103/1735-9066.205966
Clark, C. M. (2019). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Research in Nursing Education| Nurse Educator, 44(2), 64-68. http://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000563
Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18-23.
Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years later. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535-542. http://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20141122-02
Kisner, T. (2018). Workplace incivility: How do you address it?. Nursing2019, 48(6), 36-40. http://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000532746.88129.e9
A Sample Answer 4 For the Assignment: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Title: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Healthcare professionals should work in environments that support interprofessional collaboration, protect them from bullying and other uncivil behaviors, and sustain individual development. Due to their critical role in primary care, nurses require guidance, mentorship, and active engagement in decision-making. However, not all workplaces provide nurses with a healthy and safe environment to provide optimal patient care and optimize personal development. Incivility is typical in many institutions, and its magnitude depends on leadership, employee empowerment programs, and behavior management policies, among other factors. A workplace diagnosis helps assess the incivility level and interventions required to promote civility. The purpose of this paper is to describe the workplace environment assessment results, concept/theory, and strategies for creating high-performance interprofessional teams.
Work Environment Assessment
Assessments reveal the health status of an organization. They evaluate many aspects, and the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory diagnoses potential problems regarding civility in an organization. The organization scored 59 on the inventory and one’s impression. The score demonstrates low performance on critical organizational factors that promote a healthy workplace, including the organizational culture and environment. Multiple factors contribute to such a score, and the chances of interprofessional collaboration and organizational development are usually low.
The facility also lacks appropriate preceptorship plans for new workers. The lack of orientation exposes them to confusion and bullying, among other features of uncivil workplaces. Other contributing factors include the lack of mentorship for current employees’ culture evaluation programs. The situation would have been better if the organization had assessed its culture regularly and responded effectively. The institution also lacks adequate resources to promote career progression, which impedes professional development. Consequently, it is challenging to retain experienced and top nurses. The other factor to blame for the discouraging score is a leadership model that excludes employees in decision-making.
The two surprising outcomes are the organization’s ill state and its unchanged culture. Considering how the organizational environment and workplace relationships profoundly affect patient care, healthcare institutions should avoid uncivil behaviors and invest heavily in positive cultures. Among the dominant organizational perspectives, the institution does not regard employees as valuable participants in decision-making and organizational growth. After checking numerous “totally untrue boxes” scale components, the overall result confirmed the same. This implies ineffective organizational governance. The other major worry was employee appreciation, which was lacking since employees are not regarded as valuable assets. According to Flynn et al. (2021), employee appreciation helps employees feel more secure and satisfied, motivating them to continue their work. Such motivation ensures that employees are more inclined to healthy behaviors and avoid uncivil acts.
The results confirmed the need for transformative change, a view held before conducting the review. A leadership that does not revere employee participation is retrogressive and hampers civility in the workplace. From the findings, current leadership styles are ineffective, and a shift is inevitable for the organization to achieve its vision and goals. A practical way to achieve these goals is to advocate for and practice transformative leadership, whose central tenet is inspiration and working together to achieve the desired vision (Seljemo et al., 2020). The organization, through its leader, must also ensure the satisfaction of both workers and patients.
Generally, the score (59) reveals an unhealthy and uncivil workplace. Incivility hampers nurses’ mental health and reduces overall productivity (Kile et al., 2018). The situation is worse in workplaces where the leadership has not implemented robust policies for preventing incivility and promoting healthy relationships. Unhealthy and uncivil workplaces are also associated with patient safety concerns, implying low patient satisfaction. Due to such outcomes, immediate, practical interventions are necessary. The situation should be addressed before reaching unmanageable levels.
Reviewing the Literature
Nursing literature has explored workplace incivility in-depth and recommended multiple interventions for understanding and addressing the problem. Cognitive rehearsal is among the widely explored concepts. According to Griffin and Clark (2014), cognitive rehearsal is an effective behavioral strategy for addressing incivility and lateral violence in the workplace. It has three interrelated components. The first component is participating in informative instruction regarding incivility and lateral violence. Secondly, those vulnerable to workplace incivility are taught to identify and rehearse specific phrases for addressing incivility. The third component is practicing the phrases to be more familiar with their application in real-life situations.
Cognitive rehearsal empowers nurses to identify and respond effectively to uncivil behaviors. Since their probability is high, organizational management should embrace cognitive rehearsal as a behavioral intervention strategy for current and new nurses. Griffin and Clark (2014) analyzed the effectiveness of cognitive rehearsal for newly licensed nurses. They found that cognitive rehearsal enabled new nurses to stop uncivil behaviors against them completely. Kile et al. (2018) found cognitive rehearsal highly effective in improving nurses’ confidence to defend themselves against incivility. They were also better positioned to recognize workplace incivility and report related behaviors.
Regarding the relationship between the concept (cognitive rehearsal) and the work environment assessment, nurses and other healthcare workers may be trained to overcome workplace incivility through the cognitive rehearsal approach. Currently, it is challenging to achieve the desired vision and purpose without reviewing and changing the organizational culture. A crucial part of the required review is empowering nurses and healthcare workers in recognizing and reacting to distressing behaviors and remarks from leaders or colleagues. Cognitive rehearsal training should be part of the organizational policies for improving its health. The management should also continually measure employee satisfaction and engagement, purposing to empower its workforce and enhance civility.
Cognitive rehearsal can improve the overall organizational health and play a critical role in creating stronger teams. Currently, the organization does not promote a learning culture to help employees advance their careers. Healthcare organizations should consider on-the-job training to strengthen nurses’ interprofessional abilities. Cognitive rehearsal training should be among the central components of on-the-job training. Through cognitive rehearsal, nurses learn what workplace incivility entails and how to promote a civil workplace. They further learn to associate with like-minded colleagues who do not participate in uncivil behaviors. Kile et al. (2018) and Clark (2019) further recommended healthcare facilities invest in education programs that teach cognitive rehearsal to improve their health and staff collaboration. The education team should also provide continuing leadership development programs that include mental tests to assess nurses’ ability to cope with stressful situations.
Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams
An organization’s progressive growth depends on its strategies to address its shortcomings. Leading causes of incivility, as the workplace assessment revealed, include lack of employee orientation and employee appreciation programs. In response, a robust nurse orientation program is necessary. Such a program introduces new employees to the organizational policies, culture, and workforce. Nurses feel more positive about the organization when they understand its structure and people. Nurse orientation programs are a critical part of the enculturation that helps produce competent nurses ready to provide quality patient care (Church et al., 2020). Besides orientation, employee recognition and reward programs should be part of the interventions for organizational development. The work environment assessment revealed that the leaders rarely appreciate employees and do not consider them in decision-making. Employees’ appreciation is necessary to strengthen the leaders-employees bond. Appreciation also makes employees feel valued and a pivotal part of the organization. Such appreciation encourages them to collaborate and engage positively as crucial members of the healthcare team.
The organization can also implement several strategies to bolster successful practices revealed in the work environment assessment. The focus should be on nurse retention, which the leaders try, but it is not up to the expected levels. Employee recognition through rewards is among the most effective nurse retention programs. Recognition improves the nurses’ mental connection with the facility since it makes them feel more valued (Flynn et al., 2021). The other effective strategy is the leaders to ensure adequate nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. Adequate staffing prevents nurse burnout, a leading cause of nurse turnover in healthcare organizations (Kelly et al., 2021). These strategies can be used independently or interchangeably as situations prompt.
Conclusion
The healthcare staff should always be mentally, physically, and emotionally ready to provide patient care and collaborate with colleagues. A practical way of ensuring they are ready is by preventing workplace incivility. The work environment assessment revealed an unhealthy and uncivil workplace where the leaders rarely engage and appreciate employees. Due to the far-reaching effects of such workplaces on patient care, practical interventions are necessary. Cognitive rehearsal is a highly effective approach for empowering nurses to recognize and respond to workplace incivility.
References
Church, C. D., White, M., & Cosme, S. (2020). Helping students identify a healthy transition-to-practice work environment. Nurse Educator, 45(4), 174-176. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000751
Clark, C. M. (2019). Fostering a culture of civility and respect in nursing. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 10(1), 44–52. doi:10.1016/s2155-8256(19)30082-1
Flynn, W. J., Valentine, S. R., & Meglich, P. (2021). Healthcare human resource management. Cengage Learning.
Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years later. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535-542. doi:10.3928/00220124-20141122-02
Kelly, L. A., Gee, P. M., & Butler, R. J. (2021). Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover. Nursing outlook, 69(1), 96-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.06.008
Kile, D., Eaton, M., deValpine, M., & Gilbert, R. (2018). The effectiveness of education and cognitive rehearsal in managing nurse‐to‐nurse incivility: A pilot study. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(3), 543–552. doi:10.1111/jonm.12709
Seljemo, C., Viksveen, P., & Ree, E. (2020). The role of transformational leadership, job demands and job resources for patient safety culture in Norwegian nursing homes: A cross-sectional study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05671-y
A Sample Answer 5 For the Assignment: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
Title: WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT NURS 6053
The key to changing world is by listening to one another, giving each other chances to be heard can prevent chaos in the workplace and the work at large, the stress encounter in healthcare work environment could create lack of respectful way of communication. Poor communication and lack of knowledge are barrier to successful interprofessional collaboration (Broome & Marshall, 2021). our ability to cope with stress and control our emotion and talk to each other with respect hinges upon our ability to handle stress.
Description of Work Environment Assessment
My workplace scored 42 on the Clark Health Workplace Inventory, indicating that my workplace is very unhealthy. My workplace scored 4 points each under 2 statement categories “Individual and collective achievement are celebrated and publicized equitably” and “There is a comprehensible mentoring program for employees.” My workplace scored 1 point each on the statement “The workload is reasonable, manageable, and fairly distributed” and “Members of the organization use effective conflict resolution skills and address disagreements respectfully and responsibly.” My organization scored 2 points each in all other statement categories.
Members of my organization do not live by a shared vision and mission based on trust, respect, and collegiality. A shared mission and vision in an organization are critical because it helps to shed light on an organization’s direction. The actualization of shared vision hinges on its ability to form a sense of ownership among the team members in an organization. A well-embraced shared vision brings about a sense of identity that will run in the organization, and an organization that embraces a shared vision will grow.
My organization needs more trust between and among formal and other workforce members. When trust is infused in organization tasks get done with ease. Communication at all levels of the organization needs to be more transparent and direct. Effective communication is always essential to nurses (Wynn et al., 2023). Poor communication kills employee morale and engagement, resulting in poor productivity and satisfaction. Poor communication affects cooperation and collaboration among workers. In my organization, employees are not seen as assets. When a company sees employees as assets, it will nurture employee talents and help them grow. When an employee is valued, they tend to maximize their potential.
My organization needs teamwork, spirit, and collaboration. Interdisciplinary collaboration is a means of enhancing future healthcare (Broome & Marshall, 2021). There is some degree of a mentoring program for all the employees’, mentoring program is vital in the organization because it provides employees with necessary support and guidance. Mentorship promotes cohesion and collaboration in an organization. My organization does not lay emphasis on employee wellness and self-care. A good employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee results in high productivity.
My organization needs to gain the ability to continuously assess organizational culture, organization can take measures to improve organizational culture through the assessment of organizational culture. Members of my organization are not engaged in shared governance, do not engage in shared governance no joint decision-making effort or policy is being developed. At my organization workload could be more reasonable. Work needs to be fairly shared. Managing team workload is essential to prevent burnout and stress from work.
My organization has no room for free expression or opposing ideas. In my organization, there needs to be more competitive salaries and benefits. When an organization offers a competitive pay rate, it enhances overall job satisfaction and zero opportunities for promotion, although there is a certain degree of provision for career advancement. In my organization, employee turnover is very high, and my organization needs to attract or retain the best and the brightest employee. Many employees will not recommend my organization as an excellent workplace for their friends.
How Civil is My Workplace – Explanation
Civility means politeness, showing courtesy, the ability to control one’s emotions, and a respectful way of treating others. Civility at the workplace is a vital behavior an employee must exhibit in an organization; civilized behavior is interpersonal rules of engagement that dictate how people interact with each other civility is essential in the workplace. Civility is showing respect to another coworker at work. Civility at work brings about greater job satisfaction and a governable atmosphere. Civility has a relationship with improving morale and the spirit of teamwork.
When I look at my organization, there is a lack of civility and respect, resulting in a harmful environment. Lack of civility at work contributes to emotional exhaustion, sickness, burnout, and a high turnover. It causes chaos. Staffing levels and turnover negatively affect the quality of care in nursing homes (Cimarolli et al., 2022). The lack of civility at my organization serves as a basis for increased grievances. Nurses bully other nurses, causing depression and anxiety among employees. Bullying is a systematic sequence of behavior designed to erode, debase and humiliate others (Griffin & Clark, 2014). My organization cannot authoritatively say that employees are treating each other with respect, and my organization cannot say that they can effectively handle conflicts between employees. My organization cannot say they have an effective way of addressing lousy behavior among their staff.
Incivility I experienced at work
I experienced incivility when I got hired at a nursing home. Incivility among healthcare workers can create an unsafe working environment that can result in poor patient care (Clark et al., 2011). I have been bullied at work by other nurses. When I got hired, I did not know that some nurses were using the schedule/shift my organization was trying to give me as overtime. These old nurses try their best to frustrate me so that I can quit the job, and they can continue to enjoy their overtime, and the company continues to suffer high turnover and a bad image.
However, the new Director of Nursing, a transformational leader, addressed the issue and put the old nurses in order. Leadership is a position of influence, a process that takes place in a group setting, and it has to do with achieving goals that represent a shared vision (Riesch et al., 2023). In an attempt for these old nurses to sabotage my effort, they exhibited various deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to push me out of the facility. Their nefarious behavior included insulting remarks, dirty looks, and intentionally ignoring my input.
They do not want me to ask questions. However, they love querying me, telling our supervisor that they did not know my whereabouts when I just saw them a minute ago, talking to me using a condescending tone, talking about me behind me, trying to prove that they are competent at the expense of my image, accusing professional competence, displaying the silent accusation about professional competence, displaying the silent treatment. In this case, it is the old nurses that are being uncivil. Uncivil encounters in the patient environment can create uncertainty self- doubt, erode self-confidence, and affect the critical thinking ability of a nurse (Clark, 2019).
How the Incivility was Addressed
Incivility at work costs the organization plenty of resources, sometimes affecting its technical and logical problems. Bullying and incivility significantly affect employees psychologically (Alberts, 2022). At my organization, we recently had a good Director of Nursing, and she models good behavior. She did not make excuses, and she did not dismiss my concerns. She immediately agreed with my perception and believed what I said about other nurses’ attitudes. She discovered that the problem I pointed out could affect productivity and increase employee turnover. The director of Nursing held everyone accountable, and she addressed the issue. When I brought it to her notice, she called and talked to all the nurses involved without implicating me.
The director of nursing redefines acceptable conduct at work. Every time the director of nursing sees me coming to work, she always asks how I am doing and listens to my answer. The more she shows me she cares and is willing to listen to me, the more I share potential problems with her. My Director of Nursing utilizes her conflict resolution skills to address my problem. The workload at that facility was hectic, but because of the director of Nursing’s professionalism, I decide to hang on.
Conclusion
The nature of interaction among employees can influence how they discharge their responsibility and how healthcare is delivered. The code of ethic for Nurses describes vividly, the nurse’s obligation to promote safe, ethical environment and culture that encourage civility and affection, dealing with colleagues, coworkers, we encounter with civility, creating a feel free environment at work place, enables employee to speak up. Creating a civil working environment requires a shard organizational vision, values, and team norms. Developing and maintaining of high level of staff, group, and organizational civility, bring up the topic of civility at all quarters of the organization.
References
Alberts, H. L. (2022). Addressing bullying and incivility in clinical nursing education. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 17(4), 433–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2022.05.004Links to an external site.
Broome, M. E., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Cimarolli, V. R., Bryant, N. S., Falzarano, F., & Stone, R. (2022). Factors associated with nursing home direct care professionals’ turnover intent during the covid-19 pandemic. Geriatric Nursing, 48, 32–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2022.08.012Links to an external site.
Clark, C. M. (2019). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Nurse Educator, 44(2), 64–68. https://doi.org/10.1097/nne.0000000000000563Links to an external site.
Clark, C. M., Olender, L., Cardoni, C., & Kenski, D. (2011). Fostering civility in nursing education and practice. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324–330. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0b013e31822509c4Links to an external site.
Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years later. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535–542. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20141122-02Links to an external site.
Riesch, S. K., Chiappa, J., Floyd, N., & Ponce, M. (2023). The chief nursing officer shared leadership model. Nurse Leader, 21(1), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2022.09.006Links to an external site.
Wynn, S. T., Ratcliffe, C. J., & Hardin, L. (2023). Ready, set, woo: Refining nursing students’ communication skills. Teaching and Learning in Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2023.03.004Links to an external site.Links to an external site.
Hi Sunday, thank you for your informative post this week. I am sorry you had to go through incivility at your
workplace like that. It sounds like you’re a competent leader. This requires learning, implementing, enacting, and
assessing in the ever-changing workplace environment. Although a leader can construct a context in which he or she
may lead, most contemporary leaders usually face situations where they must learn to lead. Most of us inherit an
environment that must be improved and grown in (Broome & Sorenson Marshall, 2020).
The incivility you experienced at your workplace is unfortunate. However, it is great to hear that the new Director of
Nursing, a transformational leader, has addressed this issue and arranged the old nurses. Leadership is essential for
addressing workplace incivility and taking action (Broome & Sorenson Marshall, 2020).
Having a workplace policy that explicitly addresses incivility and its consequences might have been helpful. It is
essential to have a detailed policy that outlines the consequences of incivility and how to manage it. As well as
providing a method for reporting incivility, it would also allow employees to share their views (Alberts, 2022).
Respect and professionalism should also be promoted in the workplace by the organization. Training can be provided
on communication, conflict resolution, and respecting colleagues to achieve this. The organization can encourage
employees to speak out if they witness or experience incivility (Alberts, 2022).
As a result, incivility in the workplace can cause serious harm to employees and patients alike. Leadership must take
action against incivility. Implementing a clear policy, promoting a culture of respect, and providing training can all help
prevent and mitigate workplace incivility incidents (Alberts, 2022).
Grading Rubric
| Performance Category | 100% or highest level of performance
100% 16 points |
Very good or high level of performance
88% 14 points |
Acceptable level of performance
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Inadequate demonstration of expectations
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| Due Date Requirements | Demonstrated all of the following:
A minimum of one peer and one instructor responses are to be posted within the course no later than Sunday, 11:59 pm MT. |
Demonstrates one or less of the following.
A minimum of one peer and one instructor responses are to be posted within the course no later than Sunday, 11:59 pm MT. |