Introduction
Nurses can undergo stressful situations when working in healthcare centers or other workplaces. Practitioners may fail to communicate in a considerate and respectful way because of the stressful nature of the work. Nevertheless, the safety of patients relies on nurses’ ability to communicate respectfully, handle their emotions and manage stress appropriately. Normally, assessing the workplace environment is fundamental because it assists in comprehending various people’s behaviors, including conditions that may impact the organizations’ performance. Indeed, for any organization to realize positive trends, the management should have a suitable working environment with evidence based startegies suitable for bolstering effective practices that suit everyone.
Results of the Work Environment Assessment
It was clear from the evaluation that several workers in my workplace are aware of the detrimental consequences of unsociable behaviors and incivility. The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory results indicated that the state of civility is moderately healthy. Based on the assessment, my workplace had an 89% rating. Previously, some areas in the Clark Healthy Workplace complained of increased workload and lack of communication. However, my organization has endeavored to offer resources, enhance employee morale and support the workers, thus assisting their employees psychologically and morally. The organization has addressed the issue of communication by creating ops managers. The workplace adopts a dialogue for resolving conflicts whenever difficulties emerge (Griffin & Clark, 2014). The organization protects its workers against uncivil acts. The organization has recognized the significance of coaching and teaching the team.
Expected and Unexpected Results
One of the surprising things from the assessment is that the range of civility in my organization’s work environment was moderately healthy. I expected the results to fall in the range of mildly healthy. Secondly, I was surprised by how employee morale, engagement, and satisfaction impact the civility of a workplace. I have always recognized civility as formal politeness in speech or behavior in the workplace. After completing the evaluation, I recognized various factors resulting in a workplace’s civility. One idea that I believed before conducting the assessment was that diversity in the workplace is fundamental to a healthy work environment. Indeed, the assessment confirmed that diversity was lacking at my organization. The results indicate that many people of color in major positions are lacking in my workplace.
The Civility of the Workplace
The assessment results indicate that the cases of incivility in my organization are very few. According to Clark’s Inventory results, the organization needs to enhance employee satisfaction, transparency, and communication. Improving these factors will promote the health of both patients and workers in the organization.
Reviewing the Literature
Concept or Theory
The concept highlighted in Clark et al. (2011) is how to foster and promote friendly behavior or civility in an organization. Notably, the article illustrates that incivility can result in adverse conditions in the healthcare workplace (Clark et al. 2011). For example, the conditions of the work environment will not be safe, and the quality of care offered by nurses will be poor. Incivility in the healthcare workplace distresses nurses, impacting their mental health and performance. Patient safety can be compromised due to incivility in the healthcare workplace. Nurses can conduct unsafe practices such as ambulating or lifting patients who are heavy without asking for aid.
Acts of civility in the healthcare workplace can result in an increased sense of autonomy and professionalism, enhanced patient education, effective communication skills, and effective costs of patient care delivery. According to Clark et al. 2011, hospitals can experience additional consequences due to cases of incivility through increased costs associated with decreased work performance, absenteeism, and nursing turnover (Clark et al. 2011). For that reason, there is a need to integrate effective strategies to enhance fundamental skills in nursing education and foster civility in the organization.
The main concept is a cognitive rehearsal to inhibit lateral violence in the nursing work environment. This technique involves memorizing responses intended to inhibit impulsive behavior. It highlights that cognitive rehearsal can assist address the issues of bullying and unsociable behaviors in the healthcare workplace (Griffin & Clark, 2014). This evidence-based approach has been reported to eliminate and minimize lateral violence in the healthcare workplace successfully. However, this strategy has been reported by several nurses to be challenging.
Theory Relationship to Assessment
The concept or theory shown in the articles is about promoting and fostering civility in an organization. The evaluation depicts that the institution promotes civility in its workplace, thus showing how incivility and civility can affect the performance of an organization in various ways. Usually, nurses can leave their profession when bullied due to unfavorable work environments and frustration. Some nurses may be disrespected by the management or their colleagues in nursing practice. For that reason, the theory presented in the articles relates to assessment results because my organization is against incivility in the workplace.
Application of Theory
Cases of incivility in the healthcare workplace can result in hazardous consequences like psychiatric effects and reduced performance, including poor health outcomes (Clark et al. 2011). The institution can promote civility by educating and training nurses about civility and cultural humility in the workplace. Notably, the institution should not assume that their workers are aware of the effects of incivility when they have not been educated. Practitioners will comprehend a range of aspects such as religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation when trained or educated. Education in the organization allows nurses to comprehend the resources available and the required nursing culture and behaviors.
In addition, the organization can apply the theory to enhance the institution’s health by enforcing effective policies, promoting policy development, and performing further research. In essence, managers can be educated about the significance of rewarding their employees and effective leadership. Also, the administrators should intervene in situations of incivility to assist in increasing the morale of workers in the work environment (Clark, 2015). Indeed, the concepts presented in the articles can be used by the organization to develop stronger work teams and enhance organizational health.
Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams
Strategies to Address Shortcomings
Acknowledging the aspect of diversity is among the strategies that can be utilized to address shortcomings in the institution. Clark et al. 2011, states that diversity may consider religious, cultural, and sexual differences. Enhancing diversity in the workplace is a good strategy because it allows workers to coordinate their work appropriately, detect existing gaps, and fix them promptly (Clark et al., 2011). Employees in the organization can interact and share ideas with practitioners from other disciplines. This practice will allow nurses to gain new skills and comprehend patient care experiences from other practitioners.
Effective communication is another strategy that can be implemented to address shortcomings. Leaders who dedicate their time and energy to effective communication usually create trust among workers, thus resulting in increased morale, productivity, and output. Managers in the healthcare organization require effective communication to carry out basic functions such as controlling, planning, leading, and organizing. Practitioners tend to be comfortable relaying any matters when communication in the organization is effective. Proper communication will allow employees to comprehend their roles in the organization. Also, every worker will be involved in the decision-making process, and it will allow them to freely express their opinions and views without any difficulties. For instance, it would be evident in the case where a manager in the workplace stresses to its workers the need to enhance relationships through effective communication. This will allow team members to enhance performance in the healthcare workplace.
Strategies to Improve Practice
Promoting proficiency in the decision-making process is one of the approaches that would bolster successful practices in the healthcare workplace. An organization can foster an environment that enhances good working conditions and adopts best practices by coaching nurses concerning support decisions and decision making. The practitioners can utilize their skills in managing meetings, exploring alternatives, and conducting the best decisions that support successful practices in the workplace (Clark, 2015). Involving practitioners in the decision-making process saves the organization money and time, thus, resulting in increased productivity. Also, it allows nurses to contribute to the success of the institution. Involving workers in the decision-making process is an effective strategy to make them feel important to the organization. The healthcare organization should present their workers with opportunities that will allow them to obtain effective skills for enhanced performance and productivity.
Another technique that would bolster successful practices in the work environment is clarifying expectations concerning the clinical practice. This is among the best practices because it promotes autonomy. Practitioners can organize and communicate their work effectively to perform proper clinical judgment in the work environment. The practitioners need to comprehend the patient care expectations for the workplace behaviors to be communicated and described appropriately (Griffin & Clark, 2014). Besides, it is beneficial for the organization to recognize allowed responses to situations often at the edge of the practitioners’ scope of practice. Healthcare organizations can implement orientation programs to demonstrate behavioral expectations in the work environment. It is also essential to establish leadership as a comprehensive approach to change in the healthcare workplace. The managers will direct team members on carrying out the provided tasks effectively. The association between personnel and managers would be improved in the workplace, and the leaders will offer needed support and resources.
Conclusion
The cases of incivility within the workplace can lead to adverse working conditions, which are not safe for both nurses and patients. For that reason, practitioners should always promote and observe civility in the work environment. Despite their differences in ethnicity, age, and religion, nurses should always respect each other. Also, the healthcare organization should ensure effective communication in the workplace to create stronger work teams and enhance organizational health. Effective communication nurtures hidden talents, increases loyalty, enhances an individual’s attitude, and results in to increase in innovation within the organization. Besides, the organization should offer resources, enhance employee morale and support its workers.
References
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.
Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. Web.
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.