Examples Of Incivility In Nursing

Unlike many other professions, nursing is a career that requires vast amounts of communication skills with patients and fellow care providers. Communicating with many people is a large responsibility of the nurse, especially due to the obligation to maintain a professional standing within the workplace. In the modern health care profession there is a great amount of both civility and incivility that occurs amongst those who provide care for those in need. The acts of incivility that occur within those who work in these environments can lead to tension between the workers and an overall unsuccessful workday. Incivility is a negative act that needs to be addressed within each individual that is a part of today’s society.
The definition of civility …show more content…
When a group or team is put together, it is each individual’s duty to put an effort into upholding these traits. But, when if even one individual promotes incivility or exhibits negative behaviors, it prevents the entire group of further achieving a goal. Without the full cooperation of each individual the group will be unable to strive further or become successful at the task at hand. An example of negative actions of one person affecting an entire group can be how nurses often treat each other those of experience towards those who are new to the career. This is expressed in the photo to the left where a more experienced nurse is mocking a new nurse and pointing out how they aren’t smart enough to realize they made a mistake. This is uncivil behavior that needs to be changed in order to maintain a healthy work environment. This is described in Stopping the Culture of Workplace Incivility in Nursing when the author states, “Nurses will have to work together to ensure that communication between veteran nurses, new graduates or novice nurses, and other members of the healthcare team is collegial, respectful, and helpful” (Khadjehturian, 2012, p. 639). This illustrates how without the respect and civil behavior occurring throughout all members of the healthcare team, that proper patient care is unable to be performed. Although the actions of one individual seem to be …show more content…
One way in which to address a fellow health care professional who is acting with incivility is to go into private. By leaving the working floor and going into a conference room, there is reduced amount of distraction with what is occurring around you. This reduces the amount of side conversations and the amount of people present for the conversation. Another important aspect to communicating with someone who is being uncivil is to remain at the same eye level and not allow for either person to be talking down to the other. Along with being at the same level, eye contact is also important in order to maintain the communication and to ensure that both people are listening. These behaviors can be seen in the nurses to the left that are sitting together and working as a team in order to discuss what is occurring in their workplace. Along with these communication strategies there are other phrases that can be said that redirect the conversation from being uncivil to being more respectful. For instance if a nurse were to being to yell at a coworker and say that they did something wrong, it would be important to go into another room and discuss what was done. Also by saying a phrase such as, “I did not know that I had made an error, is there any way we can address this issue together to find a solution,” opens up a discussion that includes both people and allows for a