Civility versus Incivility – Strategies to Promote a Healthy Workplace Community

Incivility also known as lateral violence and interpersonal abuse is common in the health care workplace and in health professions programs in higher education. Nursing students and nurses are exposed to incivility in their educational experience and in their jobs. Public health and community agencies hire nurses who come out of these institutions. The public health workforce is under significant stress dealing with increasing population health needs and reductions in the workforce and funding. It is important to consider whether PHN staff have the ability to create and maintain a healthy workplace community given their past socializing experiences regarding professional behaviors and the stresses encountered in many public health agencies. The authors of this presentation have been involved in research and organizational interventions related to interpersonal abuse in academic and in the health care workplace. They also have a background in community agency management and development of learning activities for competencies in leadership, collaboration, and communication. This presentation summarizes recent literature and research on incivility in the health care workforce, the organizational attributes necessary for creating and maintaining a healthy workplace community, and the leadership, collaboration, and communication skills needed by staff PHNs to create and maintain a healthy workplace community. Lessons learned based on authors' research and organizational intervention experiences will be discussed. Recommendations and strategies for creating an organizational culture that is supportive of a healthy workplace community will be presented.