Abstract
Background:Incivility among workers in the health sector is recognized as an occupational hazard. The COVID-19 outbreak brought sudden and profound changes to many health care settings, many of which have been identified as antecedents to workplace incivility. The purpose of this retrospective study was to explore the experiences of registered nurses with workplace incivility, cyber-incivility, and incivility outside of work during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:This mixed-methods study used convenience sampling. Data were collected from June to September 2020 via an online survey, which consisted of both closed- and open-ended questions. Participants were recruited from national nursing organizations and unions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis for open-ended responses.Findings:A total of 526 nurses’ responses were included in the analysis. More than one third experienced greater incivility at work during the COVID-19 outbreak than before the pandemic (37.4%), and almost half (45.7%) said they witnessed more incivility than before the pandemic. Cyber-incivility and incivility outside of work were also issues. Qualitative results indicated that respondents felt they were on edge during this period. Other themes included leadership failure, fractured co-worker relationships, heightened incivility from patients and families, and hostility and ostracism from the general publicConclusion/Application to practice:Occupational health nurses, nursing leaders, and staff nurses need to work to restore relations that were fractured by incivility during the pandemic. In the future, improved preparedness, including establishing clear channels of communication, may lessen incivility by decreasing role stress and organizational chaos.
Highlights
Incivility among workers in the health sector is recognized as an occupational hazard
We used the definition for cyber-incivility developed by Giumetti et al (2012) to create the following one-item measure of cyber-incivility: “During the COVID-19 pandemic I have experienced cyber-incivility from coworkers i.e. rude or discourteous behaviors occurring through phone conversations, email, text messaging, chat rooms, conferencing platforms, social media, or other remote means of communication.”
More than two thirds of the participants worked 25 to 40 hours per week (62.3%) and reported increased workload during the COVID-19 pandemic (67.4%) while less than half of the participants reported that they were reassigned to other units (41.3%)
Summary
Incivility among workers in the health sector is recognized as an occupational hazard. The COVID-19 outbreak brought sudden and profound changes to many health care settings, many of which have been identified as antecedents to workplace incivility. The purpose of this retrospective study was to explore the experiences of registered nurses with workplace incivility, cyber-incivility, and incivility outside of work during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis for open-ended responses. Conclusion/ Application to practice: Occupational health nurses, nursing leaders, and staff nurses need to work to restore relations that were fractured by incivility during the pandemic. In the future, improved preparedness, including establishing clear channels of communication, may lessen incivility by decreasing role stress and organizational chaos
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