Introduction
Incivility consists of all the behaviors that are rude, disrespectful, or insolent in a workplace. Incivility may lead to emotional pain, which might threaten the working conditions. Some workers decide to be impolite to fellow employees knowingly without considering their feelings, while others may be discourteous without their conscience. Annoying, frustrating, mocking, uttering bad remarks, and causing disturbance can also be part of uncivil behavior toward one’s colleagues, even though it is not that serious (Mulder, 2020). Serious incivility includes violent behaviors, racial discrimination, physical abuse, and intimidation.
Lowered quality of services and care, insecurity among patients, and reduced satisfaction of staff are some of the consequences of being uncivil in the healthcare paradigm. Increased staff turnover may occur if the workers are not satisfied. Some health workers become uncivil to patients and colleagues as a way of revenging if their bosses are uncivil to them. Strategies should be put in place to ensure that incivility in the health metaparadigm is ridden.
Impact of Incivility on Individual Nurses to Use Level Clinical Judgment
A moral stand should be taken if incivility is detected in any health department; that is, according to the ANA Code of Ethics for health workers. Nurses should unite their efforts and fight this vise in their workplace. The ability of a caregiver to offer quality services depends on both their environment at work and the amount of labor. Physical abnormalities such as lack of sleep and headaches are consequences of reduced self-esteem and small self-worth, which arise as a result of incivility among nurses. When mental distress becomes severe, this personnel tend to become less committed to their duties, and some even decide to quit. Irritability, anxiety and depressive signs lower the clinical judgment of a clinician. These problems lead to low performance, misdiagnosis, and reduced patient follow-up, thus, placing the patient at risk. A decent working environment for nurses is a part of their career expectations being fulfilled. Professional anticipations encourage care providers to work hard to achieve certain objectives such as development opportunities and payment.
In the process of trying to attain their goals, nurses increase their job performance, thus promoting positive outcomes. The uncivil environment does not support occupational expectations, and thoughts such as wishing to quit their job might be fostered in these individuals’ thoughts, which could be extremely harmful to the organization. Moreover, emotive anxiety may lead nurses’ to be uncivil to their patients. Consequently, sensitive trauma does not allow nurses to endure their clients; in most cases, patients try to outline their ailing, and the clinicians’ attention is normally distracted. When responsiveness is preoccupied, nurses might fail to get the correct finding of a patient’s problem leading them to administer the wrong medication, which may put the patient at risk. Overall, emotional stress brought by incivility can be dangerous to the caregivers’ well-being.
Issues that occur with Clinical Site Incivility
Most care providers do not undergo training on communication skills, and that becomes the main cause of incivility in nursing. Some clinicians help doctors in operating rooms, while some do not. Nurses failing to do their jobs in theatre rooms may be a major problem in the organization. Poor skill on patients is also incivility since some personnel does not have knowledge on how to handle patients, and this creates the misinterpretation of results in tests that are taken. Lack of effective communication with patients is another act of being uncivil.
Before any tests are conducted, the sick individuals are required to give their consent, but some nurses fail to provide clients the opportunity to do so, and that is being uncivil to patients. Furthermore, some caregivers respond rudely to inquiries causing some patients to withhold from sharing some of their problems. Additionally, experienced nurses criticizing the slow nature of their newly employed colleagues is another issue. This new personnel tends to be undermined and intimidated by their counterparts due to their little experience, and the intimidation might lead to stress and anxiety.
Impact of Incivility on Communication in Hospitals
Nurses that receive uncivil treatment are less likely to engage in constructive discussions. Employees also provide ideas on how organizations can be improved. During the brainstorming sessions, staff members that receive unfriendly treatment tend to be quiet for fear of getting intimidated by their colleagues afterward. Patients that are impolitely handled by their caregivers are often unable to air their problems (Horrigan et al., 2020). This is common among clients with trust issues and those in need of counseling. When such individuals fail to open up, they miss out on proper treatment.
Moreover, nurses who are treated unfairly may develop low self-esteem. In this scenario, the affected person often refrains from pointing out any misconduct to the management, and so the issue might not be solved, leading to more severe problems. In some circumstances, some diseases have to be treated by multiple doctors, which requires proper communication and cooperation. When physicians are uncivil to one another, communication becomes an issue. Thus, the services offered might not be effective, and this may place the client’s health at risk. As a result, patients suffer delayed attendance, poor services, and misdiagnosis.
Initiatives to Reduce Incivility in Health Metaparadigm
Incivility is a major cause of harm to both health workers and patients, and so, some strategies have been put in place to ensure that the occurrence is mitigated. Minimizing the workload for care providers is one of the initiatives. Studies have shown that when the capacity is too high, healthcare workers tend to be anxious and nervous. This will lead to them being uncivil to their colleagues and patients. Nurses will be more relaxed if their work is reduced by employing more staff. Giving employees support is another way of decreasing incivility. Clinicians will complain and be unfriendly to one another if they do not get support from the managers or their colleagues. Improving workforce skills is an additional strategy to curb disrespect. Nursing is a delicate career on which human life depends, which means that high-quality skills are needed.
The American Nurses Association has initiated programs to enhance proper communications among workers. This will ensure that health staff interacts freely without feeling intimidated by their seniors. Unrestricted collaboration enhances coordination among employees, thus bringing quality services. Encouraging clinicians to complete their tasks is another way of reducing incivility. Their responsibilities include making follow-ups on patient progress and helping surgeons in theatre rooms. Failing to do so may bring doctor-nurse problems, which may reduce the quality of work. Facilitating hospital expenses is another way of curbing incivility. Stakeholders should ensure that all the equipment needed for services is available. A proper working environment will encourage career expectations which will encourage quality services.
Conclusion
Incivility is a disrespectful and impolite way of treating patients and colleagues. Emotional stress and mental problems are some of the issues caused by incivility in workplaces. New nurses with little or no experience are prevalent to oppression and pressure from their more experienced counterparts. Therefore, exploitation and mistreatment may lower self-esteem and cause headaches, as a result, one may experience a lack of sleep too. Wrong medication and misdiagnosis are some of the risks a patient may undergo due to incivility from nurses. The organization at large and the clinicians are the main people who should control incivility.
References
Horrigan, J., Siegel, C., & Tadros, M. (2020). Management of IBD patients who are unwilling or unable to receive infusion therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 26(11), e137-e137. Web.
Mulder, A. (2020). You can talk about your cat, but you can also talk about your God: Witnessing in hermeneutical-communicative worldview education. Religious Education, 116(2), 157-169. Web.