WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT

Workplace Environment Assessment

According to Clark (2019), a healthy work environment is one where employees and the leadership continually collaborate to enhance the safety and wellbeing of employees. Clark (2015) noted that a healthy work environment in the health care setting improves the productivity of nurses, fosters clinical collaborations, and promotes positive patient outcomes. Hossny and Sabra (2021) found out that even though incivility frequently occurs in nursing, it is underreported. This analysis will present a description of the results of the Clark work assessment, assess the civility of my workplace, and provide the personal encounter of incivility in my organization. 

Clark Work Assessment

My current organization scored 76 on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, which is considered a mildly healthy working environment (Clark, 2015). The facility had higher scores for having comprehensive mentoring programs, promoting teamwork and collaboration, utilizing effective conflict solving skills, and providing competitive salaries and benefits. In comparison, the facility had lower scores in having reasonable workload, emphasis on employee's wellness, and active involvement of employees in the decision-making process.

Civility or Incivility of My Workplace

Based on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory results, my facility is a mildly civil working environment. Even though the organization has implemented a code of conduct that guides clinical interactions, the failure to address the heavy workload experienced by nurses could escalate the cases of incivility. Hossny and Sabra (2021) found a positive correlation between high workload, burnout, and incivility. This demonstrates the need for the organization to improve on the areas that had lower scores in the assessment in order to create a healthy working environment for nurses. 

 

Organizational Experience of Incivility

As a nurse working in the emergency department, I have encountered cases of incivility on many occasions. For instance, when I joined the organization, I witnessed incidences where senior nurses would yell at new graduate nurses for committing mistakes. Many graduate nurses would quit within the first six months, citing frustrations as the reason, which caught the management's attention. The management responded to the increased cases of incivility by providing civility training sessions to all employees. Clark (2015) noted that some nurses might not realize how their actions affect others and lack awareness of how their behaviors may contribute to incivility in the workplace, demonstrating the need to create awareness on civility through training. According to Clark et al. (2018), training nurses on civility improves their communication skills and enhances their conflict resolution skills. The training sessions have significantly changed the attitude of senior nurses towards new graduate nurses. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, high levels of incivility can negatively impact health care outcomes. Several studies have demonstrated that nurses working in healthy working environments have higher job satisfaction levels. Hence, health care leaders have a legal and ethical responsibility to establish safe work environments for health care employees to improve the safety and quality of patient care.

 

 

References

Clark, C. (2015). Conversations to Inspire and Promote a More Civil Workplace.  American

            Nurse Today,10(11) 18-23.

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

Clark, C. M., Sattler, V. P., & Barbosa-Leiker, C. (2018). Development and Psychometric

Testing of the Workplace Civility Index: A Reliable Tool for Measuring Civility in the Workplace.  The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing,  49(9), 400-406. doi:10.3928/00220124-20180813-05

Hossny, E. K., & Sabra, H. E. (2021). Effect of Nurses’ Perception to Workplace Civility

Climate on Nurse–Physician Collaboration.  Nursing Open,  8(2), 620-627. doi:10.1002/nop2.666