Fostering Civility in Nursing Academia and Practice: An Exemplar of Integrating Professional Identity to Promote Healthy Work Environments.

Confirmation of a Healthy Work Environment

Achieving Excellence in Nursing Management

AimEngage faculty in conversations about their work environment to identify perceptions of their academic work environment (AWE) over a three-year period.BackgroundResearch pertaining to the clinical work environment is prevalent, however there is a paucity of research investigating the nursing AWE.MethodFifteen faculty were interviewed and involved with a participatory action research (PAR) study.ResultsFaculty identified four themes: (1) faculty need to be engaged in defining healthy work environments (HWEs); (2) faculty identified challenges in developing and maintaining a HWE; (3) “time and space” are required to focus on HWE; and (4) respect for colleagues and care of self are essential for maintaining a HWE.ConclusionsThis study identified characteristics of an AWE. It adds to the existing literature on HWE by including the academic setting. The study findings contributes to nurse educator workforce development by providing practical information for nursing educators, academic administrators, and faculty preceptors. Many future recommendations will continue to add to this body of literature.

The objective of the study was to examine effects of nurse-confirmed healthy unit work environments and multistage nurse residency programs (NRPs) on retention rates of newly licensed RNs (NLRNs). Establishing a culture of retention and healthy clinical nurse practice environments are two major challenges confronting nurse leaders today. Nurse residency programs are a major component of NLRN work environments and have been shown to be effective in abating nurse turnover. Sample for this study consisted of 5,316 new graduates in initial RN roles in 28 Magnet® hospitals. There were no differences in retention rates by education or patient population on clinical unit. NLRN retention rate was higher in community than in academic hospitals. More than half of NLRNs were placed on units with very healthy work environments. Newly licensed RNs on units with work environments needing improvement resigned at a significantly higher rate than did other NLRNs. The quality of clinical unit work environments is the most important factor in NLRN retention.

Starting Now: Implementing the Healthy Work Environment Standards Is More Important Than Ever

Background: The dynamic nature of today’s organizations, inclusive of educational institutions require employees to have self-leadership attributes. Several factors in an academic environment can affect the self-leadership necessary for the optimal performance of nurse educators. This study aims to explore nurse educators’ understanding of self-leadership and their perspectives on how this phenomenon can be promoted to create a healthy work environment in an educational setting. Methods: An exploratory, descriptive qualitative design was adopted. Data were collected through focus group interviews with nurse educators at four educational institutions in South Africa, then subjected to Tesch’s qualitative content analysis. Results: Two themes emerged, namely, Self-leadership means nurse educators being supported to take own initiatives, with its four sub-themes, and A supportive healthy academic work environment, with its four sub-themes. Conclusions: Aca-demic institutions who work collaboratively with nurse educators and support them in self-leadership practices contribute to the creation of healthy work environments.

<p>Workplace aggression, including workplace bullying and mobbing, can have tremendous impacts on both the professional and the personal well-being of the target. The experience is an immense source of distress and can lead to physical health issues such as high blood pressure and increased risk for strokes, and to mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies. The negative effects of workplace aggression go beyond those on the target. For instance potential bystanders and the overall work performance of teams and collaborations may suffer, leading to failed projects, loss of research funding and prematurely terminated careers. The latter also adds to the continued loss of a diverse workforce in the Geosciences, since historically marginalised groups are more affected by workplace discrimination than the current majority of geoscientists in senior positions. Creating healthy and safe working environments should therefore be the top priority of academic institutions, and thus also the Geosciences community. </p><p>To raise awareness and provide clarity around some terminology and dynamics, we previously shared the blog post "<em>Mind your Head - An introduction to workplace bullying in academia</em>" (1). It includes references to other resources, such as a 10-step practical guideline (2) which scientists can follow to counteract the detrimental effects of abusive academic work environments. The blog post also served as a stimulus for "Great Debate 5" (GDB5) during vEGU21, which allowed early career scientists in the Geosciences to engage in a discussion on "<em>Bullying in Academia – towards creating healthy and safe working environments</em>" (3). During GDB5, 86% of the participants confirmed to have witnessed a bullying or harassment situation at work and ~65% of the session attendees estimated that the academic community is unaware of or uninformed about bullying and harassment. GDB5 participants stated that, amongst others, they a) would like to learn how to become better allies/bystanders, b) would like to know what to do as an ally/bystander, c) want to find systematic and structural solutions on an institutional level for safe working environments, d) would like to learn how to deal with bullying and harassment on a personal level and e) would like to create more awareness about bullying and harassment. The Great Debate helped people to feel supported and trusted, become aware of the problems at an institutional level, and to connect and talk about appropriate and not-appropriate behaviour.</p><p>Following the GDB5, we created a list of bottom up, lateral and top down actions to foster safe and healthy work environments within the Geosciences, which serves as a basis for our current work to tackle workplace bullying and mobbing in the Geosciences. This includes, for instance, an in-depth survey around this topic to obtain more quantitative information and data. By creating visibility for our efforts during EGU22, we hope to broaden our initiative and receive new input from the scientific community.  </p><p> </p><p>

To describe extent to which experienced nurses in Magnet hospitals confirm healthy work environments (HWE). Differentiating differences in HWE allows managers to focus attention where changes may be needed to improve nurse and patient outcomes. The sample was 12,233 experienced nurses from 717 clinical units in 34 Magnet hospitals. Based on Essentials of Magnetism II unit level scores, units were grouped as very healthy work environments (VHWE), HWE or work environments needing improvement. VHWE or HWE was confirmed by nurses on 82% of 540 clinical units. The most significant correlates of HWE units occur within individual hospitals. More nurses prepared at the Bachelor of Science in Nursing level or above work on VHWE or HWE units and score higher on seven essential work processes. Nurses' ratings of quality of patient care directly correlate to quality of work environment. Clinical units in 34 Magnet hospitals were markedly skewed toward excellence. Visionary leadership, empowerment and collaboration have an impact on development and maintenance of HWE. Implementation of structures that promote interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary collaboration and decision-making positively affect development of HWE. Gap analysis of the steps/components of the eight work processes/relationships essential to HWE may enable achievement of HWEs on all hospital clinical units.

Seeking Civility Among Faculty

Transition to Practice: Onboarding Components for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments.

Three structures for a healthy work environment.

The Nurse Leader’s Role:: A Conduit for Professional Identity Formation and Sustainability

Highlights From the Creating Healthy Work Environments Conference

Nursing administrators and faculty have a professional and ethical responsibility to develop and maintain a caring and healthy work environment for nursing faculty. To recruit and retain quality nursing faculty in the current nursing faculty shortage, a healthy work environment is essential. This article focuses on nursing administrators' and nursing faculty members' role in promoting a healthy academic work environment. Strategies to develop and sustain this environment are discussed.

In 2001, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses made a commitment to actively promote the creation of healthy work environments that support and foster excellence in patient care wherever acute and critical care nurses practice. This commitment is based on the Association’s dedication to optimal patient care and the recognition that the deepening nurse shortage cannot be reversed without healthy work environments that support excellence in nursing practice. There is mounting evidence that unhealthy work environments contribute to medical errors, ineffective delivery of care, and conflict and stress among health professionals. Negative, demoralizing and unsafe conditions in workplaces cannot be allowed to continue. The creation of healthy work environments is imperative to ensure patient safety, enhance staff recruitment and retention, and maintain an organization’s financial viability. The Association has put forth 6 essential standards for establishing and sustaining healthy work environments. The standards uniquely identify systemic behaviors that are often discounted, despite growing evidence that they contribute to creating unsafe conditions and obstruct the ability of individuals and organizations to achieve excellence. The public repeatedly identifies nurses as the profession most trusted to act honestly and ethically. Five times since 1999 nurses have topped Gallup’s annual survey of honesty and ethics among professions. The public relies on nurses to bring about bold change that ensures safe patient care and sets a path toward excellence. These standards honor the public’s trust. “If you dare to be powerful,” AACN President Connie Barden urged association members in 2003, “if you are ready to make a promise that will make a difference, I challenge you to join me in making your promise public.” Barden signed a public statement of her personal commitment to create a new future with healthy work environments that benefit everyone. She called for nurses to do the same by promising to: • Identify the most pressing challenge in their immediate work environment. • Initiate discussions with their colleagues to find solutions to this challenge. • Remain actively involved in the solutions until they are working. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses has committed to acting boldly, deliberately, and relentlessly until issues that obstruct creation of healthy work environments are resolved. In response to Barden’s call, AACN defined 2 strategic platforms that now guide the Association’s work environment initiatives: • Work and care environments must be safe, healing and humane, and respectful of the rights, responsibilities, needs, and contributions of patients, their families, nurses, and all health professionals. • Excellence in acute and critical care nursing practice is driven by the needs of patients and their families and is achieved when nurses’ competencies are matched to those needs. These landmark standards to establish and sustain healthy work environments represent another important step in fulfilling AACN’s commitment. We challenge you to join us in creating healthy work environments by making these standards the norm. This requires the commitment of each nurse, each unit and each organization. We invite your thoughtful and decisive implementation as an individual, an organization, or an association.