AACN’s Healthy Work Environment Initiative
AACN’s Healthy Work Environment Initiative is a multi-pronged, multi-year effort to engage nurses, employers and the nursing profession in recognizing the urgency and importance of working collaboratively to improve the environments in which nurses work.
This initiative is focused, not on the physical environment, but on creating environments where the more difficult, less tangible barriers to employee and patient safety are addressed. While AACN actively engages in other initiatives to ensure the physical safety of nurses and patients, the work we describe in this backgrounder focuses on creating professionally and psychologically sound environments.
We have made this our top priority because this type of major transformation will not happen automatically—and yet it is so vital. It requires a concentrated effort by nurses and employers because the links to patient safety, nurse retention and recruitment and, therefore, to the bottom line, are irrefutable.
AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments (44 Page Booklet PDF format)
AACN unveiled these new standards at a national briefing in Washington, DC on January 26, 2005. Featured panelists at the briefing included:
- Dennis O'Leary, MD, President, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
- Kathleen McCauley, RN, PhD, CS, FAAN, FAHA, President, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
- Joseph Grenny, President, VitalSmarts
- Connie Barden, RN, MN, CCRN, CCNS, Executive Editor, AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments
- Karlene M. Kerfoot, RN, PhD, CNAA, FAAN, Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse Executive, Clarian Health Partners
To view an archived Webcast of this event, please click here
These materials from the event are also available:
Press release from event: Communication in the Healthcare Workplace: A Prescription for Better Care
AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments: A Journey to Excellence – Complete version
AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments: A Journey to Excellence – Executive Summary
Silence Kills: The Seven Crucial Conversations for Healthcare – Complete Study
Silence Kills: The Seven Crucial Conversations for Healthcare – Executive Summary
OTHER AACN RESOURCES
Healthy Work Environment Backgrounder
Workplace Violence Prevention Position Statement
AACN Testimony to the IOM Committee on Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety
AACN's Staffing Blueprint
Moral Distress Position Statement
Zero Tolerance for Abuse Position Statement
Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence Guidelines
Synergy Model for Patient Care
FOCCUS-Framing Options for Critical Care in the United States
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
AONE Healthy Work Environments: Striving for Excellence
IOM Committee on Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety
AACN's Hallmarks of the Professional Nursing Practice Environment
ISMP Study on Workplace Intimidation
JCAHO Crossroads Report
Nursing's Agenda for the Future
VitalSmarts
BOOKS
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High
By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey
Code Green: Money-Driven Hospitals and the Dismantling of Nursing
By Dana Beth Weinberg, Suzanne Gordon
From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public
By Bernice Buresh, Suzanne Gordon, Mary Ellen Jeans, Patricia Benner
Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations and Bad Behavior
By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
ACT BOLDLY - COMMIT TO A HEALTHY WORK ENVIRONMENT
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