NURS 6053 Week 7 Discussion Workplace Environment Assessment

How healthy is your workplace?

You may think your current organization operates seamlessly, or you may feel it has many issues. You may experience or even observe things that give you pause. Yet, much as you wouldn’t try to determine the health of a patient through mere observation, you should not attempt to gauge the health of your work environment based on observation and opinion. Often, there are issues you perceive as problems that others do not; similarly, issues may run much deeper than leadership recognizes.

There are many factors and measures that may impact organizational health. Among these is civility. While an organization can institute policies designed to promote such things as civility, how can it be sure these are managed effectively? In this Discussion, you will examine the use of tools in measuring workplace civility.

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).

Review and complete the Work Environment Assessment Template in the Resources.

By Day 3 of Week 7

Post a brief description of the results of your Work Environment Assessment. Based on the results, how civil is your workplace? Explain why your workplace is or is not civil. Then, describe a situation where you have experienced incivility in the workplace. How was this addressed? Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 7

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by sharing ideas for how shortcomings discovered in their evaluations and/or their examples of incivility could have been managed more effectively.

A healthy workplace environment is good for your company as it could lead to bringing sales for business. A healthy workplace environment improves productivity and reduces costs related to absenteeism, turnover, workers’ compensation, and medical claims.

What is a Healthy Workplace Environment

Healthy does not only constitute as needing medical attention, it could also be the outlook of the workplace and even the surroundings. There are four aspects to look into when creating a healthy workplace environment:

Workplace culture

As mentioned in one of our blog, , every company has their own corporate culture that determines its value and it usually creates a standard that employees generally follow. When you have created a positive workplace culture that is being practiced by employees as well as yourself, the environment of the workplace tends to be healthier as everyone would have nothing to be upset or unhappy about.

A great company culture can keep employees productive and even help your company retain the best employees and happy workers are also more likely to stick around.

Physical environment and occupational health & safety

A healthy workplace environment also involves the physical environment of the office or workshop and the occupational health & safety of your employees. Reduce the worry of your employees by looking into the safety of the workplace.

Simple things such as ensuring that all electric cables are covered or taped down with a cable tray to prevent employees from tripping over them are one of the issues, which your employees should not be worried about. Nobody wants to sit underneath a cracked ceiling! So, allow your employees to come to a safe workplace environment.

Health and lifestyle practice

Employees will care for the company they are working for if they know that they are being looked after. Employees are the best asset of every organisation, and putting effort into employee wellness can encourage better teamwork, increased productivity and reduce sick leave and workplace accidents.

RE: Discussion – Week 7

Workplace incivility is any rude or disruptive behavior that can negatively impact an employee’s physical and mental health, job satisfaction, productivity, and commitment to their work environment (Griffin & Clark, 2014). These negative workplace behaviors can lead to unsafe working conditions for employees and poor patient care. The recent reports of the increasing prevalence of incivility in academic and clinical settings are alarming, especially when considering the impact on patient and staff safety (Clark et al., 2011). As healthcare professionals, we hold an ethical responsibility to provide the highest quality care to our patients and ensure a safe and productive workplace.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements clearly articulate the nurse’s obligation to foster an ethical, civil workplace by requiring nurses to create a culture of kindness and respect (Clark, 2015). Colleagues and coworkers should treat others with dignity and respect while having a no-tolerance policy for any form of bullying, intimidation, or manipulation in the workplace. The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory can be used to determine the health of the workplace by individualized perception. According to the assessment, my workplace would be considered a very healthy workplace. Nurse leaders and coworkers in my workplace express mutual trust and respect for one another. Employees in my workplace are valued and viewed as assets, recognized for their achievements, and have a high level of satisfaction, engagement, and morale (Clark, 2015).

I have experienced incivility in the workplace while I was working on a travel assignment. When I arrived at the start of my shift, two employees were having a very loud and heated argument. One of the employees was also an agency nurse, and the other was a staff nurse. They were arguing because the staff nurse was dissatisfied with her assignment, as she believed the agency nurses should be responsible for all Covid patients on the unit. Their disagreement about the shift assignment was disruptive to both staff and patients and resulted in a delay in care. The nurse manager eventually deescalated the situation, and we later had a follow-up meeting to discuss the roles and responsibilities of each nurse, whether they were staff or agency. The nurse leader emphasized the importance of working as a team to provide the best care for each of our patients and maintaining a civil work environment through respectful communication.

References:

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

NURS 6053 Week 7 Discussion Workplace Environment Assessment