Improving workplace attitude for nurses at Peace Arch Hospitals ACE unit

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Improving workplace attitude for nurses at Peace
Arch Hospitals ACE unit

• By Kara E. Hatt

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Introduction
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Introduction

• Would you like to know how to improve nurses
  attitude at the ACE unit? Have you ever wondered
  how to feel better about yourself while on the
  job? A change plan will demonstrate that when
  nurses do not receive the positive feedback from
  management which they feel they deserve, their
  attitude about work is negatively affected.

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Introduction

• This is serious because it could have an impact
  on patients. Appreciative Inquiry is the answer
  to the question of how to feel better on the job.
  It can highlight the positive aspects of the ACE
  environment and build from there to teach nurses
  that if they adjust their expectations of
  feedback and trust within themselves that they
  are performing well, then they will learn to be
  content knowing that their best is good enough.
  As a result, workplace attitude will improve.

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Organizational Culture

• Organizational culture involves the attitudes,
  experiences, beliefs, and values of an
  organization and is relevant because nurses
  negative attitudes affect ACEs organizational
  culture. In the academy culture at the ACE unit,
  employees are highly skilled and tend to stay
  in the organization while working their way up
  the ranks. The organization provides a stable
  environment in which employees can develop and
  exercise their skills (www.managementhelp.org/org
  _thry/culture/culture.htm). While the
  environment is relatively stable, it could stand
  to be more positive.

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Appreciative Inquiry

• Appreciative Inquiry (AI) can be used to improve
  the organizational culture of the ACE unit. It
  is a change model, founded on the heliotropic
  principle which notes that plants and people
  grow towards their source of light. So people
  are, drawn towards positive images of the
  future and positive actions, based on the
  affirming, energizing moments of their past and
  present (Michael, 2005).

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How does AI work?

• AI seeks to identify the best in situations and
  people so that it may be understood what
  motivates others. There are four stages to AI
  1) Discovery 2) Dream 3) Design 4) Destiny.
  To progress through the stages means to highlight
  what is already positive, and nurses envision
  something better together and then take action to
  produce a better organization. Also, staff
  co-create together and just let go of the
  negative. Through this process, nurses can value
  their inherent worth more and will not depend on
  managerial feedback for validation. Hence a more
  positive working environment is created.

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Discovery

• Storytelling by nurses is encouraged and
  interviewing takes place at this time to identify
  the cultures strengths and when each person felt
  most alive on the ACE unit. Rick Hansen will be
  speaking during this phase to inspire nurses and
  to encourage them to identify what is already
  working well for them. Hence, they may gain a
  more realistic view of the importance of
  managerial feedback.

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Viktor Frankl
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Viktor Frankl

• A Swiss psychiatrist named Viktor Frankl taught
  that the one thing in our control is the ability
  for individuals to choose their attitude about a
  given situation. This applies to the ACE unit
  because even though nurses feel taken for granted
  by management, they can still identify what is
  good in a situation and this ability epitomizes
  the discovery phase.

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Dream
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Dream

• Hereby envisioning a better working environment,
  individuals are asked how they may be more
  supportive of each other. Interviewing takes
  place to build on exceptional life moments
  identified in discovery to envision what ACE
  could be in the future.

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Dream

• A focus group will be held so that open
  discussion among nurses may facilitate a vision
  for a better working situation with management.
  Michael Dwyer will speak to nurses to facilitate
  the collaboration process that takes place at
  this phase.

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Design
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Design

• Here attention turns to creating the ideal
  organization and nurses are more specific about
  starting to function differently together.
  Interviewing will revolve around identifying
  possible changes to verbal exchanges with
  management related to feedback.

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Design

• Debra McPherson will be invited to speak to help
  nurses identify specifics about how to function
  better. She will offer tangible suggestions
  about how to approach the issue of feedback from
  management. She will show that while nurses may
  function better with feedback they should not
  expect it from management. This speaker
  identifies the ideal situation for nurses.

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Destiny

• By empowering each other at this stage, the power
  of the positive change core is lived out. The
  nurses strength as a group is identified in
  shaping expectations of how management gives
  feedback to them and a more harmonious
  organizational culture results.

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Destiny

• A focus group will take place to provide nurses
  the opportunity to share how far they have come
  on their journey towards not expecting feedback
  but appreciating when it is given on the rare
  occasion. Also, Anthony Robbins will speak over
  dinner for nurses and management and will empower
  each person to give more positive feedback to
  each other. A new supportive culture will be
  celebrated

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Conclusion

• Through this presentation you will have
  identified that expecting less feedback can be
  beneficial as you learn to value your own best
  efforts. By honoring the valuable aspects of
  your current work situation, you can strive to
  imagine a better working environment and learn to
  be more supportive of others.

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Conclusion

• In addition, you can learn that your best
  performance is valuable with or without receiving
  feedback as you learn to empower fellow nurses
  and have realistic expectations about feedback.

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Conclusion

• The findings of this research will be
  disseminated through television advertisements on
  CBC, printed materials such as pamphlets and
  booklets at British Columbian hospitals, and
  through discussion on CBC radio. Funding comes
  from a grant from Health Canada.

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Thanks to

• www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.ht
  m
• Michael, S. (2005). The promise of appreciative
  inquiry as an interview tool for field research.
  Development in Praise, Vol. 15, Number 2.
• Image 1 http//www.a-fib.com/images/NursesBig.jpg
  . Retrieved from http//www.a-fib.com/PersonalExpe
  riences.htm.
• Image 2 http//www.geocities.com/webwinds/frankl
  /frankl.jpg. Retrieved from http//www.rjgeib.com/
  thoughts/frankl/frankl.html
• Image 3http//bluurb.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/
  dreams.jpg. Retrieved from http//bluurb.wordpress
  .com/2007/05/
• Image 4 http//www.merrowmedia.com/alien_flower_d
  ance_new.gif. Retrieved from http//www.merrowmedi
  a.com/