Building Respect and Reducing Incivility in the Workplace: Professional Standards and Recommendations to Improve the Work Environment for Nurses

The past 20 years have seen significant changes in nurses’ work environment, including an increase in instances of violent situations. Disrespectful behavior can no longer be tolerated because of the impact it has on patient safety and nurse retention. We can no longer watch as our colleagues are verbally or physically harmed. Numerous national initiatives, position statements, and white papers are available to assist nurses in improving their work environment to deal with this problem, but everyone needs to do their part to stop this behavior. Many resources are out there for hospitals to use to help prepare for or avoid violent situations; some of these tools may be beneficial for you to implement at your organization. A few of these initiatives are discussed in this column. Four programs or resources will be focused on here: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare...