Assignment Change Implementation

Running Head: Workplace Environment Assessment

Workplace Environment Assessment

Part 1: Work Environment

With a score of 80, my workplace can be classified as moderately healthy under the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory. This means that the organization is performing quite good in promoting the provisioning of quality care while addressing the needs and concerns of its employees. Notably, the organization has performed best in their communication skills, appreciating the work of employees, providing them training, valuing their employees, and awarding exemplary by all employees despite their level in the organization. This a sign of a moderately healthy workplace. Of more significant importance, however, is that the organization posted very low scores in encouraging wellness among the employees and giving them reasonable workload that is distributed evenly among all staff members. These low scores show that the organization has performed poorly in these sections and this has had a negative impact on the healthy work environment. This is probably because, given the huge number of patients, employees have had to work longer shifts thereby ignoring their personal wellness.

The two things that surprised me most about the results is that the organization values its employees and that they work towards retaining the best minds within the institution. This finally made me understand why the organization has been putting in efforts in empowering and educating their staff. For instance, individuals can be given full scholarships to further their studies or conduct research that is relevant to the institution. By valuing the employees, the organization has strived to listen and give attention to their opinions. This has built resilience among the employees, even during events when one has to handle more workload. One idea that I believed prior to conducting the assessment that was confirmed is that most employees handle huge workloads and this has definitely affected their wellbeing. This is partially due to the increasing number of patients that keep visiting the institution and need urgent medical attention. Being a recognized institution for offering quality care, handling too many patients is the order of the day.

The results of the assessment suggest that the health and civility of my workplace is above average but not excellent. This is because the organization is still lagging behind in promoting the wellbeing of its employees and distributing the workload evenly. Therefore, to achieve excellence in civility and attaining a healthy workplace, more focus should be shifted to reducing employees’ workload. This can be achieved by hiring more staff and having the employees work in flexible shifts. This way, quality care will be provided and achieved in a healthy work environment.

Part 2: Reviewing the Literature

The selected article was authored by Clark & Griffin (2014). In this article, the authors have provided a discussion on how to implement the cognitive rehearsal technique/concept as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing. Cognitive rehearsal technique refers to an evidence-based practice/technique whereby nurses and health practitioners practice to handle stressful situations that they may experience in a non-threatening environment. For instance, nurses will practice how to make decisions when faced with dilemmas or how to handle troublesome patients whose health deterioration will affect their practice or reputation in the workplace. This training also includes how to handle stressful colleagues. Cognitive rehearsal technique is important to allow nurses function well and promote civility in a healthy workplace (Razzi & Bianchi, 2019).

The concept of cognitive rehearsal technique is related to the results of my assessment in various ways. For instance, it relates to how decision-making is achieved in the organization. Without involving all the appropriate stakeholders, conflicts may arise and this will affect the quality of care being provided. It also relates to how fair the employees are being treated. Unfairness often causes conflicts to arise and this requires non-violence and civility while addressing the conflicts. The cognitive rehearsal technique is also related to the communication aspect in the organization. Often, poor or one-sided communication may cause conflicts to arise.

The cognitive rehearsal technique can be applied to my workplace to further improve the organizational health and build stronger teams. For instance, whenever there is a misunderstanding in the workplace, the cognitive rehearsal technique can be implemented effectively to ensure that the misunderstanding is addressed professionally (Kile et al., 2019). In addition, considering the views of all employees while making decisions will enhance inclusivity and the employees will feel valued. The technique can also be used to help employees express their concerns and interests in a polite manner even when the points might be conflicting. Therefore, the individuals in the workplace will learn and gradually implement the cognitive rehearsal technique.

Part 3: Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Inter-Professional Teams

The Work Environment Assessment revealed that the organization was performing poorly as workers were overworked or the workload was unevenly distributed and that the organization did not encourage its employees to take care of their personal health and wellbeing. To reduce overworking the staff and achieving an even distribution of the workload, the organization can invest in having the staff work in manageable shift hours. For instance, nurses can work an 8-hour shift then rest. This will allow every nurse ample time to rest and thus, offer quality work throughout their shift. In addition, the hospital is also advised to develop a schedule where teams handle different roles. This will be done on a rotational basis and allow the workload to be distributed evenly (Walter et al., 2017). For instance, if one team of nurses handle the maternity department this month, they will shift to the adults’ ward department the next month and thus work effectively while experiencing minimal fatigue. To encourage the employees, address their personal health and wellbeing, the hospital can provide wellness facilities in the workplace to enable the nurses exercise and remain fit. The hospital; can also provide healthy meal options for the workers to enable them achieve good health in the long-term (Rose et al., 2017).

To promote successful practices as revealed in the Work Environment Assessment, institutions need to invest in educating and empowering their staff. This will allow their employees to achieve successful practices that, in turn, will reflect positively to the said institutions. This can be achieved by offering them training and sponsoring them to further their studies. Another important aspect to implement is striving to employ and retain the best minds in the different practices. Given their years of experience, such individuals will continue to offer quality care and also offer mentorship to junior employees who would later walk in their steps. This way, successful practices will be achieved as long as the institution continues to operate.

References

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.

Kile, D., Eaton, M., deValpine, M., & Gilbert, R. (2019). The effectiveness of education and

cognitive rehearsal in managing nurse‐to‐nurse

Razzi, C. C., & Bianchi, A. L. (2019). Incivility in nursing: Implementing a quality

improvement program utilizing cognitive rehearsal training. In Nursing forum (Vol. 54, No. 4, pp. 526-536).

Ross, A., Bevans, M., Brooks, A. T., Gibbons, S., & Wallen, G. R. (2017). Nurses and

health-promoting behaviors: Knowledge may not translate into self-care. AORN journal, 105(3), 267-275.

Walter, S. R., Raban, M. Z., Dunsmuir, W. T., Douglas, H. E., & Westbrook, J. I. (2017).

Emergency doctors' strategies to manage competing workload demands in an interruptive environment: An observational workflow time study. Applied ergonomics, 58, 454-460.

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