Workplace Environment Assessment

Workplace Environment Assessment

A workplace environment and the overall culture of the workplace are important, especially in healthcare, there is a substantial correlation between these and patient care, health care providers attitudes and behaviors, and much more (Marshall and Broome, 2017). It is the duty of the leaders in health care to impact the modeling and conservation of the culture of excellence and environment of an organization (Marshall and Broome, 2017). Culture encompasses almost all aspects of life, including values, knowledge, behaviors, beliefs, and much more (Marshall and Broome, 2017). It is imperative for the atmosphere or environment to be a healthy one for staff and their patients, allowing for quality patient care (Marshall and Broome, 2017).

Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory

Clark (2015) created a questionnaire to evaluate the health of a workplace, describing the importance of healthcare providers to be able to handle stress effectively, deal with their emotions properly, and communicate with each other respectfully in providing safe quality patient care. After completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, I was not completed surprised by the results but was vindicated in how I felt my organization had played a role in hindering their staff from working in an environment and culture of excellence (Clark, 2015). The result of the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory was less than fifty, which is identified as a very unhealthy workplace, which I believe is accurate (Clark, 2015). I have worked for this corporation for ten years and have seen a decline in staff morale, quality patient care, and healthcare providers’ well-being. Our organization used to be more involved in showing us throughout the year in differing ways, their appreciation for the work that we do, but the frequency and the quality of times when they do for us have decreased drastically.

Civility of My Workplace

The results of the workplace inventory conclude that my workplace is a very uncivil workplace. Organization leaders are charged with forming an environment in which nurses feel they are heard and emboldened to speak up, most importantly, when patient safety is a concern (Clark, 2015). Clark (2015) depicts six standards identified by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses for creating and maintaining a healthy workplace, which includes skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision-making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership. When using these standards to evaluate the civility of my current organization, my organization suffers a significant problem with civility. My organization is known to not involve nurses and many times, not even the physicians when making policy and procedure changes. I understand that staffing is a concern in many hospitals, but in our hospital, we do not staff based on acuity, we have a staffing ratio and based on the number of patients we have, we get a certain number of nurses. Since I work in an intensive care unit, many times a patient can be such high acuity that they require a nurse just for them to provide adequate patient care; however, my organization’s leaders do not take this into account when we are staffing our unit because all the focus on is the staffing matrix. This is a huge concern to my colleagues and me because we aspire to provide safe quality care to our patients and when short-staffed, we feel we are unable to provide the care our patients deserve.

Personal Incivility Experience

“Incivility in healthcare can lead to unsafe working conditions, poor patient care, and increased medical costs” (Clark, Olender, Cardoni, & Kenski, 2011, p. 324). A nurse’s work is significantly more dangerous than other professions, and nurses are faced with work-related crimes more often than other healthcare providers (Clark, Olender, Cardoni, & Kenski, 2011). Incivility and disruptive behavior are becoming commonplace in healthcare and can be excused or worsened by the organization’s culture (Clark, Olender, Cardoni, & Kenski, 2011). I had a specific situation with an assistant nurse manager who was known throughout the hospital to be a bully, not only was she verbally aggressive, but she caused harm to patients, and it was ignored by management for years.

How Incivility Was Addressed

When I finally went to management about my concerns, I started receiving reprimands and almost lost my job, but actually left it for another position in the facility. It was then that I realized that my organizational leaders will not back you if you come to them with concerns, and may actually come after you in retribution. I am still working for the same hospital, but in a different department, but overall management, I feel just wants us to do our jobs and not create any waves. I work with a great group of nurses who support each other, and this is the only reason I have stayed where I am. Our management team only seems to be concerned about the business aspect of the organization, overlooking their employees and patient safety.

Conclusion

I believe that an organization’s leaders must foster a civil work environment, creating a culture of collaboration and well-being. Leadership influences the responses of their team members in stressful situations; therefore, it is essential for them to provide a good example (Clark, Olender, Cardoni, Kenski, 2011). Management must address the uncivil behaviors, practicing effective communication, conflict negotiation, and problem-solving (Clark, 2015). It is vital for healthcare professionals to focus on a greater purpose, which is providing safe, efficient, quality patient care, understanding and practicing how to communicate with each other respectfully (Clark, 2015).

References

Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American

 

Nurse Today, 10(11), 18-23. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.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. Journal of Nursing Administration,

 

41(7/8), 324-330. Doi: 10.1097/NNA.0b013e31822509c4

 

Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert

clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.