Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper

Nurses can pave the charge in transforming wellness and health services for all, but in order to do so, they must work in a healthy, inspiring, and fulfilling setting. Employers have a basic obligation of caring to their staff, which is to maintain a safe work atmosphere for them, much as health care professionals have an obligation of care for the patients. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes a healthy environment as an environment of mental, social, and physical well-being, ensuring good health and wellness. It is not only about guaranteeing health care environments are free of any risks to healthcare providers’ physical welfare. This paper shows the results of the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory I completed on my organization, applying the results to the literature. This paper offers a discussion of the results of the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory I took of my organization, connecting the results with the literature  Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper

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Part 1: Work Environment Assessment

The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory is a 20-question test used to measure an organizational workplace’s overall health (Clark, 2015). My Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory score was 53, indicating that my workplace is very unhealthy. A healthy work setting is one in which mental, social, and social physical welfare are engendered, not one in which there are no actual or potential risks to health (Clark, 2015). As a framework for a healthy work atmosphere, Clark (2015) identified multiple requirements, namely employee involvement in policy decisions, trust among employees and management, effective communication, and creating a common vision.

Statements regarding fair and balanced tasks, job satisfaction, commitment, and productivity, and the company drawing the brightest and smartest were among those I identified as “untrue.” In several areas of medical services, my workplace is facing a severe staffing crisis.

Sadly, there is no retention program initiative for seasoned employees, while graduate nurses may receive a signing incentive. In the area, there are around eight nursing institutions, and fresh grads are usually recruited with a signing incentive. After completing a two-year contract with the organization, the majority of the nurses resign. The organization invests a lot of resources in training fresh graduate nurses instead of engaging in reward schemes or maintaining experienced or beginner nurse practitioners Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper.

In my organization, the staffing crisis has resulted in a diversion challenge. There are more than enough available beds to admit clients to; however, there are no nurses to care for them. This resulted in a congested Emergency Room with patients anticipating admission and they may have to wait up to 48 hours or more for a hospital bed sometimes. As a result, the triage area and waiting room became congested. Every year, my employer’s organization’s nurse workload increases. Two COVID-19 individuals vulnerable and hooked to a ventilator are not rare for ICU nurses. Instead of knowing what is going on in the hospital departments, the administration invests the majority of their time in workshops. Working with my current organization is not anything I can recommend.

Two of the results astounded me. The first is that I presumed my organization has sufficient opportunities for professional advancement and progress. There is a digital library on the premises, as well as a comprehensive web-based learning database, various training programs, supporting the nursing profession path. It also amazed me that I responded “neutral” to the question of whether collaboration and teamwork are facilitated and noticeable. With the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on society, the medical units have begun to assist one another. Whenever we run out of transporters, floor nurses come to the emergency room to move admit clients, and nurses take up additional shifts on days when the organization is severely understaffed. Numerous thoughts I had previously possessed were confirmed by the Clark Workplace Inventory. The concept of a transparent and perceptible level of trust within and within structured leaders and other workplace employees startled me the most. Sad to say, I have had the impression for several years that there is a decline in leadership confidence. This, along with many of the other things, has resulted in a workplace devoid of civility.

Part 2: Reviewing the Literature

The article “Fostering Civility in Nursing Education and Practice” by Clark et al. (2011) focuses on improving a civil environment in nursing clinical and academic contexts. Qualitative research was undertaken to collect the perspectives of practice-based nursing practitioners on issues that relate to poor employee relations (Clark et al., 2011). A questionnaire of few open-ended questions was circulated at a nursing convention. Stress was shown to be the most significant contributor to nursing clinical and educational incivility (Clark et al., 2011). The idea of stress leading to occupational incivility correlates with the outcomes of my workplace assessment. The most obvious triggers of stress are excessive work overload. When communication between personnel and management is not direct, respectful, or open stress is experienced. Increased levels of stress lead to lower productivity and lower work satisfaction, thus leading to incivility and poorer health effects.

According to Clark et al. (2011), one of the most important goals for establishing a civil atmosphere is to enact techniques to minimize sources of stress. To overcome these sources of stress, proper communication, cooperation, and partnership are also essential (Clark et al., 2011). I feel my workplace should implement these techniques to enhance a healthy workplace. Leaders must set a precedent for others to follow. Periodic personnel meetings could be conducted where issues may be discussed openly and frankly without fear of retaliation. Nurses will get to practice self-care by having a daily short lunch break aside from care delivery. Nurses would be able to relax and unwind or take some time to themselves if they had access to quietness, relaxation, or meditation space Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper.

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

In the field of healthcare, incivility is a recurring issue. Fortunately, there is research that proves the techniques that can be applied to fix flaws in the workplace. Marshall and Broome (2017) advocate informing staff of corporate practices and promoting employee engagement in policy formation to promote a safe work atmosphere. The corporation will help offer empowerment and have workers feel valued by encouraging them to participate actively in policy reform.

Keeping nurses inspired is another strategy that ought to be introduced to solve workplace issues. The conservation of resources theory proposes that interpersonal interaction, the volume of work, and the setting drain nurses’ energy resources and that the risk of losing those resources motivates nurses to pursue additional resources (Prapanjaroensin, Patrician & Vance, 2017) . As a result, clinical workplace reinforcement could be necessary to alleviate the effect of job stress on emotional and physical needs while still fostering a sense of motivation and increased nurse commitment (Šantrić et al., 2019).

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A solid base for quality of services, support from employers and colleagues, and ample resources will also contribute to building a motivating atmosphere for nursing staff. There are a number of areas that a healthcare institution can aid in the implementation of effective workplace practices. Healthcare institutions should offer opportunities for involvement in organizational task forces to get active in the co-establishment of workplace civility codes (Marshall and Broome, 2017). My workplace provides a nursing profession roadmap that has cash rewards for involvement in taskforces, learning new skills, and volunteering in the community. Another technique is to help alleviate stress and exhaustion by making sure the work tasks are evenly dispersed realistic, and achievable (Clark, 2015). Stringent workforce levels, compliance with lunch breaks free from medical services, and compensated days off benefits are all ways that health care facilities can achieve this Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper.

Conclusion

The world of healthcare is developing faster than ever as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Incivility and exhaustion was demonstrated in the workplace as a result of the elevated stress levels. These are the moments that several physicians and nurses have made the decision to withdraw from nursing career. Organizations in the healthcare industry have a tremendous duty to foster workplaces that allow their workers to continue promoting quality patient care. It is unfortunate that many healthcare personnel are working in unhealthy conditions; nevertheless, there are a variety of hypotheses, principles, and techniques that organizations may use to enhance healthy workplaces.

References

Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18-23. https://www.myamericannurse.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. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324-330. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0b013e31822509c4

Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). Springer. https://dl.uswr.ac.ir/bitstream/Hannan/138756/1/9780826105288.pdf

Prapanjaroensin, A., Patrician, P. A., & Vance, D. E. (2017). Conservation of resources theory in nurse burnout and patient safety. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 73(11), 2558-2565. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13348

Šantrić Milićević, M., Gačević, M., Milić, N., Filipović, J., Todorovic, J., & Terzic-Supic, Z. (2019). Work-pressure, job-satisfaction and turnover intentions among health managers in Serbia. European Journal of Public Health, 29(Supplement_4). https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.081

My discussion post

RE: Discussion – Week 7

COLLAPSE

Top of Form

As healthcare providers, it is very important to be able to work together as a team to provide patients with quality care. Kevin F. Smith, in this weeks’ video resources, states “teamwork has an end goal that is not only good for the patient population but the entire team as a whole” (Laureate2009). How can a team work together without being civil to one another in a healthy workplace environment? The definition of civil is having effective communication, collaboration, respect of others, being dependable, timely and having a good work ethic which shows respect for your coworkers and fosters a more harmonious environment (Clark, Olender, Cardoni, Kenski 2011) Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper.

I work at the Memphis VA in Ambulatory surgery. I completed the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory and my workplace scored a 53 which is unhealthy. The American Association of Critical-care Nurses state 6 standards which most be in place to establish a healthy work environment such as communication, true collaboration, decision-making, appropriate staffing, recognition and leadership (Clark 2015).  On the surface it appears as if my area is civil but there seems to be an underlying tension in the air that is rarely spoken of. The unrest stems mainly from our manager and the fact that she seems to favor some nurses over others. This inequality of treatment causes animosity among the staff.

On one occurrence, during the middle of the pandemic the nurses in our unit were required to take turns doing a 2 week rotation on the Covid ward. Normally, all rotations are done according to seniority but in this case the manager wanted to hand pick nurses to go first. Earlier in the week a nurse on the unit was overheard saying, “all of us won’t have to go because we are the managers’ favorite.” This caused a type of incivility as nurses with more seniority were indeed asked to go before the “favorites”.  It was handled by the senior nurses on the unit reaching out to higher management and insisting that the protocol of seniority be honored.

As leaders, we have to be held accountable for our work areas. We have to acknowledge that many of the standards for establishing a healthy work environment is the leadership’s responsibility Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper.

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. (2019). Combining Cognitive Rehearsal, Simulation, and Evidence-Based Scripting to Address Incivility. Nurse Educator. 64(2). https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000563

 -Laureate Education (Producer). (2009a). Working with Groups and Teams [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author

Reply #1

Favoritism and a lack equality can really strain working relationships amongst coworkers. The example you gave is a perfect illustration of how favoritism from a manager increases the stress in a work environment and then how that can be exacerbated by employees when they knowingly take advantage of that unwritten policy. This is an extremely difficult problem to combat because there is a lack of resources available. Depending on the situation it can be difficult to justify going to your bosses boss in order to address the problem. The senior nurses in your department did the right thing by addressing the issue the way that they did.

Equality in the work place is more than just making sure the work load is spread evenly. It is equality with reward and punishment. It is even equality was managerial time and effort. Based on your example it appears that the manager was failing on all fronts. I hope that after the issue was address her pattern of behavior changed and then hopefully the environment followed Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper

References

-Clark, C. M. (2019). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Nurse Educator, 44(2), 64–68. https://doi.org/10.1097/nne.0000000000000563

-Renger, D., Renger, S., Miché, M., & Simon, B. (2017). A social recognition approach to autonomy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(4), 479–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167216688212

Reply #2

 I wholeheartedly agree with your post and the examples that you included regarding incivility and favoritism.  My hospital also scored poorly on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory as an unhealthy environment.  Many issues contribute to this, but as you mentioned, your manager shows favoritism, and my current manager shows it as well.  Managers who show bias contribute to an unhealthy and negative environment because this behavior is usually shown in some way that makes others feel uncomfortable.  Favoritism is described as applying personal preferences to a specific person or group, disregarding others who are more deserving of recognition, which is an issue that is common in many healthcare organizations (De los Santos et al., 2020).  According to De los Santos et al. (2020), lack of trust can result in withdrawals, especially if favoritism comes from upper management, with employees feeling resentment against the organization, causing job dissatisfaction, high turnover intention, and absenteeism Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper.

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It is critical for leaders of healthcare organizations to constantly work to achieve a level and culture of trust among all members of the organizational team (Broome & Marshall, 2021).  As you mentioned, your manager showing favoritism causes bitterness and mistrust among staff members who work together daily.  The pandemic already has employees in a state of high anxiety and stress, and it seems your manager has been adding to these issues.  Your manager could manage more effectively by following rules and protocols set by the hospital, as this will assist with showing favoritism among nurses.  Showing signs of favoritism and becoming friends with staff members often creates an environment where employees do not trust or respect management.  If this happens, it is difficult to establish a healthy working atmosphere where everyone is treated equally.  Both of our managers seem to need direction when it comes to specific management skills.  In the future, I hope they will both see repercussions if this aspect of their managerial skills continues as it is not conducive to positive teamwork and trust Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper

References

Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

De los Santos, J. A., Rosales, R. A., Falguera, C. C., Firmo, C. N., Tsaras, K., & Labrague, L. J. (2020). Impact of organizational silence and favoritism on nurse’s work outcomes and psychological well‐being. Nursing Forum, 55(4), 782-792. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12496

Reply #3

 Thank you for sharing a great post. Many of us see what’s happening in the workplace today as symptomatic of what’s happening in society at large. But dealing with a societal change can be overwhelming, whereas addressing civility on your own unit is manageable. (American Nurse, 2012). If you work full time, you may spend more time at work than you do at home, so it’s worth the effort to make your workplace more civil. Poor communication can negatively impact every aspect of a business, including customer service, employee retention, productivity & your team’s ability to meet deadlines and even affect your bottom line. As such, it’s crucial to think about how you and your employees communicate when creating a positive work environment. Consider how you speak to each other and leaders’ communication styles. According to Health Stream, (2018), healthcare workers who embrace civility are less likely to quit or job hop and are less likely to burnout, bully, or ‘eat their young because they are building relationships built on courtesy, respect, consideration and the golden rule, and that’s a win-win situation for everyone Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper

References

-American Nurse (2012). Civility starts with you. Retrieved from https://www.myamericannurse.com/civility-starts-with-you/#:~:text=Because%20civility%20can%20be%20the,to%20lateral%20or%20horizontal%20violence.

-Health Stream, (2018). Civility in healthcare workplace. Retrieved from https://www.healthstream.com/resources/blog/blog/2018/07/05/ten-ways-to-embrace-civility-in-the-healthcare-workplace

Clearly, diagnosis is a critical aspect of healthcare. However, the ultimate purpose of a diagnosis is the development and application of a series of treatments or protocols. Isolated recognition of a health issue does little to resolve it.

In this module’s Discussion, you applied the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory to diagnose potential problems with the civility of your organization. In this Portfolio Assignment, you will continue to analyze the results and apply published research to the development of a proposed treatment for any issues uncovered by the assessment.

To Prepare:

  • Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
  • Reflect on the output of your Discussion post regarding your evaluation of workplace civility and the feedback received from colleagues.
  • Select and review one or more of the following articles found in the Resources:
    • Clark, Olender, Cardoni, and Kenski (2011)
    • Clark (2015)
    • Griffin and Clark (2014)

The Assignment (3-6 pages total): Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper

Part 1: Work Environment Assessment (1-2 pages)

  • Describe the results of the Work Environment Assessment you completed on your workplace.
  • Identify two things that surprised you about the results and one idea you believed prior to conducting the Assessment that was confirmed.
  • Explain what the results of the Assessment suggest about the health and civility of your workplace.

Part 2: Reviewing the Literature (1-2 pages)

  • Briefly describe the theory or concept presented in the article(s) you selected.
  • Explain how the theory or concept presented in the article(s) relates to the results of your Work Environment Assessment.
  • Explain how your organization could apply the theory highlighted in your selected article(s) to improve organizational health and/or create stronger work teams. Be specific and provide examples.

Part 3: Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams (1–2 pages)

  • Recommend at least two strategies, supported in the literature, that can be implemented to address any shortcomings revealed in your Work Environment Assessment.
  • Recommend at least two strategies that can be implemented to bolster successful practices revealed in your Work Environment Assessment Workplace Environment Assessment Discussion Paper