Discussion Week 7 - Replies

Instructions:

Respond to your colleague by sharing ideas for how shortcomings discovered in their evaluations and/or their examples of incivility could have been managed more effectively.

**minimum of three (3) scholarly references are required for each reply cited within the body of the reply & at the end**

Paula Shuster 

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Post a brief description of the results of your Work Environment Assessment.

My score was in the 90-100 range; most were 5 points –

Based on the results, how civil is your workplace? Explain why your workplace is or is not civil.

I currently work for a plastic surgeon in the OR and working here has been an absolute pleasure compared to some of the previous experiences I’ve had as a travel nurse. In my current work place, I have been the newest addition to the OR team for the past three years. The rest of the OR team has been together for the past 20 years, which says a great deal about their compatibility. The members of the team like each other and treat each other civilly. Something I hear quite often from patients is that “everyone here is so happy and always so positive.”

Our teamwork and communication are impeccable; ours is a group effort. Everyone from the front desk to the OR team plays their part, making the entire process fluid.  Should there be an interruption in the work flow, it is addressed and constructive criticism is provided in a respectful and understandable manner. For example, a new member of the front desk once told a post-surgical patient who was experiencing some difficulties that she was not sure if what the patient was experiencing was normal and advised the patient just to come in for her follow up appointment in 2 days. After overhearing this, I explained to the receptionist that she should have had the patient speak with a medical staff member, because what the patient was experiencing could be a complication of surgery which could warrant immediate attention. 

The physician I work for is aware that I train physicians, nurses, and PA’s from across the country on how to perform cosmetic injectables, such as Botox and fillers. This past year, my physician asked if I would be interested in doing this at his practice and that he would compensate me accordingly. 

Describe a situation where you have experienced incivility in the workplace. How was this addressed? Be specific and provide examples

My current situation is wonderful. Unfortunately, I have experienced workplace incivility in other settings, and I know how damaging it can be. It often makes nurses feel like punching bags (Shin, Hur, & Kang, 2021). Everyone – patients, supervisors, doctors, and other nurses - takes their anger and frustration out on them. It is a vicious cycle. Abuse leads to emotional exhaustion which reduces a nurse’s effectiveness and efficiency, which leads to further abuse by patients and co-workers.

Unlike the incivility caused by patients, incivility by co-workers is often very subtle and might go completely undetected by outsiders. It has been described as “low-intensity deviant behavior in violation of the norms of mutual respect with ambiguous intent to harm the target” (Viotti, Guglielmetti, Gilardi, & Guidetti, 2021). Low-intensity and ambiguity are its key characteristics. They prevent co-worker incivility from being perceived as out-and-out aggression.

My worst experiences with incivility have been as a travel nurse on the unit. Once, for example, I received a report from a fellow travel nurse that all of my patients appeared to be a high-acuity patients requiring a lot of care. To make matters worse, none of their rooms were in close proximity to each other. The unit had simply dumped all of their undesirable cases on me. I saw the assignment as unfair and immediately brought it to the attention of the charge nurse. The charge nurse was unsympathetic and told me, “Yeah, that’s your assignment as travel nurse. You get paid more than us, so your assignment is heavier.” I was appalled and gave ger a piece of my mind, which the charge nurse did not like, but which caused her to change the assignment, because I had made her aware of how extremely unsafe it was for my patients and that I was prepared to take my concerns to the supervising nurse manager of the hospital. My new assignment included only two of my original patients and the others were dispersed among the staff. I also made the unit manager aware of what had happened so that she could address that with her staff.  And she did, because she knew that incivility hurts productivity and lost productivity costs money. One study found that the financial cost of incivility resulting from lost productivity was roughly $12,000 per nurse, and could go even higher if lawyers had to get involved (Griffin & Clark, 2014). 

References

CLARK HEALTHY WORKPLACE INVENTORY

https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Clark-Healthy-Workplace-Inventory.pdf

Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting Cognitive Rehearsal as an Intervention Against

Incivility and Lateral Violence in Nursing: 10 Years Later. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535–542.

Shin, Y., Hur, W.-M., & Kang, S. (2021). Mistreatment from Multiple Sources: Interaction

Effects of Abusive Supervision, Coworker Incivility, and Customer Incivility on Work

Outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10).  https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.3390/ijerph18105377

Viotti, S., Guglielmetti, C., Gilardi, S., & Guidetti, G. (2021). The role of colleague incivility in

linking work-related stressors and job burnout. A cross-sectional study in a sample of faculty administrative employees. La Medicina Del Lavoro, 112(3), 209–218. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.23749/mdl.v112i3.10732

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