I completed using the Clark’s Healthy Workspace Inventory for my workplace. The template is very elaborate in the areas that it inquires. It is very concise and covers comprehensively all the areas that could affect the working environment. The most outstanding thing about the inventory is the inquiry about self-care and wellness. This is crucial because if one has a toxic relationship with self, they will most likely project their feelings of resentment to their colleagues (Murtaza et al., 2020).
The score for my workspace was 70, which is mildly healthy. The strong points of my workplace include the existence of a shared mission and vision, the provision of competitive salaries, benefits, and rewards, and the fact that employees are highly valued. One of the weak points was the lack of sufficient opportunities for promotion and career development. Some values were somewhat true, for instance, the presence of sufficient resources for career development and growth.
Before conducting this assessment I believed that my workspace was very healthy and was surprised that it was only mildly healthy. From the inventory, I realized that there were many rich values that my workplace offers. However, some issues are ignored completely, making the score somewhat poor. I was also mesmerized by the realization that promotion and career opportunities ought to be sufficient. It is a common notion that promotion opportunities are very few, and people have to be extremely competitive to get them. This cultivates an unhealthy working environment (Sasaki et al., 2020).
The results from this assessment show that there is still a lot of effort needed to make the workplace healthier. It also pinpoints the areas that the members of the organization need to work on.
Cognitive Rehearsal as an Intervention against Incivility and Lateral Violence in Nursing
As the healthcare setting has become more physician-dominated over the years, so has lateral violence within the nursing community. There has been conceptualization of nurses as an oppressed group by patients, nurses, and other medics. Some patterns have been studied in the interactions of nurses that show the characteristic behavior of oppressed groups.
Bullying, incivility, and other forms of lateral violence have been witnessed in the nursing community. This is similar to the oppressed group dynamic whereby, members of the group become harsh to each other to assert dominance. This is due to feelings of resentment, frustration, and helplessness that have been bottled up.
Uncivil behavior displayed by nurses includes silent treatment, verbal confrontations, name-calling, eyes- rolling, taking credit where it is undue, spreading rumors, gossiping, and making fun of a nurse’s demeanor. 44% of nurses in the world have been bullied while 90% have faced a form of incivility. (“Revisiting Cognitive Rehearsal as an Intervention Against Incivility and Lateral Violence in Nursing: 10 Years Later”, 2014) recommends cognitive rehearsing as an intervention against bullying. This is an evidence-based strategy that allows potential victims of bullying to prepare for the moment when they will be bullied to be assertive enough to call out their bullies for their behavior.
This strategy is especially helpful because many victims of lateral violence do not know how to respond to their bullies at the moment. Cognitive rehearsal allows them to memorize ways that they can deal with a situation. The brain recognizes a bullying situation and recalls information on how to respond (“Medical “Brain Drain” and Health Care Worker Shortages: How Should International Training Programs Respond?”, 2016). Without cognitive rehearsal, most people panic and they usually have to tolerate the behavior.
To promote cohesion and teamwork in the working environment, nurses should have cognitive rehearsal sessions where they learn how to react in situations of horizontal violence and other instances of disrespect. This will eventually create a healthy working environment because disrespect and uncivility will be curbed. At the same time, feelings of resentment will reduce because people will not have workplace grudges against each other. After all, wrong behavior will be corrected immediately.
Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams
To encourage the expression of diverse and opposing ideas, I would recommend the cultivation of a culture that allows for civility in conversation at all organizational levels. This will help every team member to be able to express their ideas and concerns without the fear of backlash or judgment. This will boost the confidence of the team players making them better participants. Members can also detect and flag mistakes, potentially saving many people’s lives.
I would recommend the regular assessment of the organizational culture and taking measures to improve it. This is important because the organizational culture evolves with the changing issues. For instance, there are practices carried out in our organization that the relatively new members do not understand the rationale behind. Regular assessment of the culture provides a platform to explain the reason behind certain practices, if they are still relevant and whether they should be carried on or discarded. Moreover, the assessment gives the members a sense of belonging thus strengthening unity.
In my workplace, employees are viewed as assets and valued partners. To fortify this value, I would recommend the organization to recognize and publicize the achievements of the members in a fair and equitable manner. This will help the members to know that their work is recognized and that their efforts are appreciated (Murtaza et al., 2020). The organization should reward those who have achieved, to encourage the rest of the members to work hard towards achieving their common goal.
Employee wellness and self-care have become one of my workplace’s strong points in the recent past. To bolster this value, I would recommend the provision of affordable and reliable therapy for the members of staff. The healthcare setting can be overwhelming, and to avoid the deterioration of the health workers’ mental health, therapy should be easily and constantly available for them (Sasaki et al., 2020). I would also recommend proper staffing of the hospitals to avoid overworking the staff leading to fatigue and burnout. Burnout is one of the leading causes of medical errors (Sasaki et al., 2020).
References
Medical “Brain Drain” and Health Care Worker Shortages: How Should International Training Program Respond?.(2016), 18(7), 665-675. https://doi.org/10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.7.ecas1-1607
Murtaza, G., Khan, R., & Pierre Neveu, J. (2020). Workplace Incivility and Deviant Silence: The Role of Moral Attentiveness. Academy Of Management Proceedings, 2020(1), 19290. https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2020.19290abstract
Revisiting Cognitive Rehearsal as an Intervention Against Incivility and Lateral Violence in Nursing: 10 Years Later. (2014), 45(12), 543-544. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20141121-15
Sasaki, N., Kuroda, R., Tsuno, K., & Kawakami, N. (2020). The deterioration of mental health among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak: A population-based cohort study of workers in Japan. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 46(6), 639-644. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3922
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