Week 7 Discussion Workplace Environment and Safety Sample Approach

A healthy nurse workplace refers to a safe, satisfying and empowering environment. Building and consistently keeping a healthy work environment is critical for patients’ safety, nurse satisfaction, workforce retention, and care quality, all of which are critical to the financial survival of healthcare organizations. The six key factors that enable employers to foster a sustainable healthy workplace culture are – true collaboration, skilled communication, effective decision-making, meaningful recognition, appropriate staffing, and authentic leadership.

 True collaboration is a synergistic relationship formed when two or more entities work together to achieve something far better than the sum of their separate powers and efforts. Regarding authentic leadership, the leader models and encourages others to emulate a good work environment (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Skilled communication is an open, engaging, and productive conversation among nurses that enhances team collaboration, a faster adaptation of new nurses, and fosters civility (Clark, 2019). Meaningful recognition acknowledges personnel behavior and skill influencing the patient’s nursing care.

Recognition, promotion, and incentives increase nurses’ loyalty to the job. A workplace health assessment is a process of obtaining information on the variables that support or hinder employee health at a specific company or hospital and finding potential possibilities to improve or address those problems. According to the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory tool, personnel are not only motivated by a healthy work environment but also have a high degree of civility (Clark et al., 2011). The paper reflects on an assessment of my workplace based on Clark’s tool, a snapshot of my work environment, and encounters with incivility cases.

Workplace Civility Measurement

The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory revealed that my workplace is moderately healthy after documenting a score of 80/100. Top-rated features in the assessment were transparency, team collaboration, skilled communication, wellness, and effective leadership. The attributes fall mainly under personal motivation factors and are critical for a healthy environment. Low-rated attributes were meaningful recognition and effective decision-making making. The low scores centered on traits with organizational responsibility. The scores could pose an issue with the organization’s structure and practices for employee welfare. The workplace is civil, as evidenced by high scores on “discernible level of trust,” “transparent and respectful communication,” and “fair and respectful treatment of employees.”

Workplace Incivility Case Scenario

Workplace incivility refers to low-intensity social behavior typically regarded as unacceptable in the workplace and can be used to harm, belittle, or undermine another person or group (Clark, 2015). An example of a case witnessed during my attachment is a fresh graduate nurse in his late thirties who shifted from a successful job in the corporate world to nursing. Years of professional expertise, valuable parental insights, and a calm attitude disposition were all assets brought to the table by this nurse. This nurse was enthusiastic about understanding the unit’s norms, highly motivated, and quick to develop tactile skills.

However, he made enemies with one of the most outspoken departmental nurses who had a position in day-to-day operations. The nurse snubbed his questions and concerns. Furthermore, he was unfairly assigned responsibilities and given fewer days off despite being a family man. Being fully aware of his rights, the nurse raised awareness to a more superior leader. The work schedules were enough to measure the incivility besides the colleagues witnessing it. The Nursing Director dug into the matter and formed an interim investigative committee. Finally, the two nurses were summoned, had a conflict mediation process, and were allocated to different departments. Later the hospital developed automated shift scheduling to curb such issues.

Conclusion

Incivility in the nursing workplace causes physical and emotional anguish to victims and affects the quality of patient care. Interventions to improve the situation include raising awareness about workplace incivility, training on effective communication methods to combat workplace incivility, and drills to practice the newly learned communication techniques. Facilities and organizations should establis