Civility Tool-kit: Resources to Empower Healthcare Leaders
to Identify, Intervene, and Prevent Workplace Bullying
RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows Project Team 2012-2015
The PACERS: Passionate About Creating Environments of Respect and CivilitieS
Rita Adeniran, Beth Bolick, Ric Cuming, Cole Edmonson, Bern Khan, Linda Lawson, & Deb Wilson
Workplace incivility and bullying is any negative behavior that demonstrates a lack of regard for others.
Bullying exists, call it what it is, it can lead to a loss of valuable human capital and medical errors.
The Conversation is Changing
Our Challenge
• “Bullying has long existed in health
care; it was the ugly secret that no
one wanted to talk about. However,
the culture of acceptance and silence
that accompanied it is finally being
broken. The conversation is changing
to focus on creating civil cultures
that embrace collegiality and
respect.” - Edmonson & Bolick
• We all must learn the skill to address
incivility in the workplace; it needs to
be built into every curriculum and
every orientation
Socio-ecological Phenomenon
• Bullying occurs not only because of the individual
bully characteristics, but also the actions of
peers, bystanders, leaders, acceptable norms in
the environment, culture, community, and/or
society that either serve to reinforce acts of
bullying behaviors or eradicate
Mandate
American Nurses Association Position Statement on
• Incivility, Bullying, and Workplace Violence
“All RNs and employers in all settings, including practice, academia, and
research, must collaborate to create a culture of respect that is free of
incivility, bullying, and workplace violence.”
Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/DocumentVault/Position-Statements/Practice/Position-Statement-on-Incivility-Bullying-and-WorkplaceViolence.pdf
The Joint Commission Statement on
• Behaviors that Undermine a Culture of Safety
“To assure quality and to promote a culture of safety, health care organizations
must address the problem of behaviors that threaten the performance of the
health care team.” Retrieved from http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/SEA_40.PDF
Process for Change
Actively engage frontline staff,
patients, and organizational leaders in
environmental assessment, policy
development, implementation, and
ongoing monitoring
• Build system awareness of the impact
of the issue in healthcare
• Use multi-prong approaches
available in the tool-kit to include
prevention and intervention
• Integrate bullying prevention and
minimization education to curriculum,
system orientation, and ongoing
training at all levels
 Develop a language of collaboration
 Determine code words
 Provide a gracious practice
environment in which students,
staff, and organizational leaders can
all learn to be more respectful –
many behaviors are difficult to
unlearn. It takes commitment
and practice to change!
•
The Plan: BE AWARE and Care
• Bullying
• Exists
•
•
•
•
•
•
Acknowledge it
Watch for it
Act on it
Reflect on the action
Empower staff to address it
and Care, because it matters!
Adeniran, R., Bolick, B., Cuming, R., Edmonson, C., Khan, B., Lawson, L., & Wilson, D. (2015). Civility tool-kit: Resources to identify, intervene, and prevent workplace bullying. Retrieved from www.stopbullyingtoolkit.org.
RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows Program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by the Center for Creative Leadership and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Nursing.
www.stopbullyingtoolkit.org