The Importance of Civility in the Nursing Profession

Task:

Write a summary of what you learned from this discussion board.  Of course, feel free to have longer and more involved discussions. Total minimal posts over a discussion board for each student is four posts. All discussion board responses should be substantial, and further the scholarly conversation. For example, responding to a classmate with, “Great post.  I totally agree,” would not qualify and substantial, and would not receive credit.

Discussion board activity is intended to spark active conversation, synthesis, and reflection.  It is a scholarly forum, and thus requires a scholarly tone and appropriate citations in APA format.

Civility, politeness, courtesy, or acting in civilized conduct, as described by Merriam Webster Dictionary is expected of nurses, anything short of that is incivility. The community expects good manners from nurse and nurse practitioners, but unfortunately, that is not always the case. The stress from work could be a factor; pressures from patients and family members, colleagues, and management in addition to regular daily stressors from home and other life activities could be factors for uncivil behaviors. The culminating effects of stress and pressures could result in nurses acting in rude manners, disrespecting one another, consciously or unconsciously. But disrespectful behavior could also be results of poor upbringing or product of a dysfunctional home. Incivility could also result from the differences in cultural backgrounds the nurses come from, the difference in opinions and approaches, and it could be from patient to staff or vice-versa.

The concept of civility is an integral part of our profession; we must incorporate work ethics into our practice. Clark, 2010, “since education and practice are inextricably linked, all members of the nursing community share responsibility for creating cultures of civility” (Clark, 2010). Lane and McCourt in their response to Benson’s “The Rhetoric of Civility” states, “Benson also contends that “our shared concern with civility as a communicative practice also carries with it an implicit sense that talk has consequences and that uncivil speech is not merely rude but that it has effects.’” (Lane, & McCourt, 2013). The effect of uncivil speech is low morale, and it could result in altercation, anger, retaliation, bitterness, hostile work environment, poor performance and many more.

An example of uncivil behavior to the African American nurses in my place of work is that of frequent racial slurs from patients and from a colleague that intentionally ignores the African American staff when she is asked job-related questions. Clark, 2017 in the first chapter of her book Creating & sustaining civility in nursing education, she explained her experiences of incivility from “Professor Sour,” so much that she was almost quitting the nursing profession (Clark, 2017). Incivility continues to be a cycle of acting in an uncivil manner in response to our disrespectful experience from others if leaders are aware and do not address the issue.

What is incivility:

As nurse practitioners, we can create and sustain civility at our workplaces. Clark, 2017, suggests eight steps of transformational changes that can bring about civility at the workplace: raise awareness, form a civility team, assess organizational cultures and civility at all levels, make policy to the effect, implement, evaluate effectiveness, reward civility and expand civility initiatives (Clark, 2017). Civility starts with listening to one another and determination to be courteous and respectful to one another. If each Nurse practitioner acts politely and courteously, it will most likely go-round as the norm of that workplace. It can be sustained by reporting any improper conduct and speech to the management. A pleasant work environment reduces absenteeism and poor job performance but results in increased productivity.

What is incivility: Incivility is one term used to describe rude, disruptive, intimidating, and undesirable behaviors that are directed toward another person (Bar-David, 2018). Incivility is any action that is offensive, intimidating, or hostile that interferes with the learning or practice environment. Although incivility has always been around, incivility seems to be an increasing problem for organizations and is getting worse. Incivility often results in psychological or physiological distress for the people involved. If incivility is left unaddressed, it may progress into more threatening situations or behaviors. Victims of incivility may experience symptoms such as stress, anxiety, exhaustion, sleeplessness, depression, anger, and embarrassment. Incivility is a common issue among nursing staff in health care setting (Bar-David, 2018).  Any rude or disruptive behavior directed toward another nurse or co-worker is considered an act of incivility.

Consequences of incivility

Incivility among nursing staff not only affects workplace morale but also patient safety and care outcomes. Higher burnout rates have been linked to incivility and are frequently caused by the direct effect of inappropriate behavior from patients, patients’ families, doctors or supervisors. Incivility can also result in reduced workplace commitment among nursing staff. Incivility among nurses in health care settings can cause an increase in patient adverse events and overall patient safety risk

An example of an uncivil behavior I was exposed to

Below is a communication between my colleague Carol and myself, as I was trying to find out information regarding a patient.

Me: “Carol when I asked you a question about the patient in RM 902 this morning you responded by rolling your eyes and said I should try keeping better track of what’s going on with my patients.’ I told her that her comment and her tone of voice sounded very critical of me and that I felt disrespected. However, she never apologized I managed to found a way to walk with her for the safety of my patients.

Workable Solution that decrease incivility is by sustaining civility:

A nurse practitioner can cultivate, and sustain civility by assuming the best of people, by not been too quickly to misinterpret, or judge people. By being a role model of civil communication in what they say, their body language, and how they listen. By avoiding absolutist thinking that often turns reasonable ideas into unreasonable dogmas. By thinking about the potential impact of what they want to communicate and how they want to communicate it before they act and never engage in name-calling and personal attacks. Nurse practitioners should stay away from social media for difficult conversations, they should understand the emotional hot buttons of their staff and patients, what makes them angry and avoid it. NPs can reduce incivility by being self-aware, they can better manage how to respond to their patients and staff so as not to get into an attack and defense spiral’ of communication (Abdollahzadeh et al, 2017). As a nurse practitioner dealing with staffs and patients it is paramount that we rely on facts rather than assumptions, and always stand up for what is right.