Resources

AACN’s Healthy Work Environment initiative is a comprehensive effort to engage nurses, nurse employers and the nursing profession in recognizing the urgency and importance of working together to improve the environments in which nurses work. AACN recommends the following resources in support of creating healthier work environments.

• Healthy Work Environments – Related Resources From AACN
• Healthy Work Environments – Related Resources From Other Organizations
• Books
• Journal Articles
• Continuing Education
• Poster Presentations From AACN's National Teaching Institute
• Implementation Consultants
• Archived Webinar and Audio Conferences

The Center for American Nurses recognizes AACN's work to promote healthy work environments.

• AACN Receives 2008 Workforce Advocacy Champion Award

Literature and Learning

Healthy Work Environments – Related Resources From AACN

• Healthy Work Environment Assessment Tool
  The Web-based AACN Healthy Work Environment Team Assessment tool will allow you and your team to collectively measure your work environment's current health against the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments.
• AACN Healthy Work Environments PowerPoint Presentation
• Press Release: Communication in the Healthcare Workplace: A Prescription for Better Care
• Workplace Violence Prevention Position Statement
• Zero Tolerance for Abuse Position Statement
• Moral Distress Position Statement
• AACN Testimony to the IOM Committee on Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety
• AACN Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence Guidelines
• AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care
• Recognition Certificate (downloadable) - from John Dixon, past AACN board member

Healthy Work Environments – Related Resources From Other Organizations

• Healthy Work Environments Standards Poster Available for Download and Self-printing
  This poster, designed by John F. Dixon, RN, MSN, NE-BC, director of The Center for Nursing Education and Research at Baylor University Medical Center (Dallas, Texas), is being generously shared by this facility. We encourage you to have it printed and post it in your unit.
• SBAR and Healthy Work Environments Standards Pocket Card Available for Download and Self-printing
  This pocket card, designed by Linda M. Bay, RN, MSN, ACNS-BC, CCRN, clinical nurse specialist at Clement Zablocki VAMC (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is being generously shared by this facility. We encourage you to have it printed and distribute to staff.
• American Organization of Nurse Executives Healthy Work Environments: Striving for Excellence
• Institute of Medicine Committee on Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety
• Hallmarks of the Professional Nursing Practice Environment
• Healthy Work Environments Best Practice Guidelines: Professionalism in Nursing
• Keith Harrell, Attitude is Everything
  Attitudes, whether positive or negative, have the power to impact the success of an organization or an individual.
• Eric Klein, The Secret Life of Complaints
  The special report for AACN members was written by AACN Healthy Work Environment partner Eric Klein
• International Council of Nurses: Positive Practice Environments: Quality Workplaces = Quality Patient Care Information and Action Tool Kit
• The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren't Enough to Save Lives – Executive Summary (2010)
• The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren't Enough to Save Lives – Complete Study (2010)
• Silence Kills: The Seven Crucial Conversations for Healthcare – Complete Study (2005)
• Silence Kills: The Seven Crucial Conversations for Healthcare – Executive Summary (2005)
• TeamSTEPPS^TM: National Implementation
  TeamSTEPPS^TM is an evidence-based teamwork system aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals. TeamSTEPPS was developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) in collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

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Books

The following books have been approved by AACN as part of the Healthy Work Environments initiative. Click on the title to access the sites where these books can be purchased.

• Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High
  by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey
• Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations and Bad Behavior
  by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
• 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
• You Are the Leader You've Been Waiting For – Enjoying High Performance and High Fulfillment at Work
  by Eric Klein
• Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace: Building Effective Relationships in Your Organization
  by Dennis S. Reina and Michelle L. Reina

Journal Articles

AACN Advanced Critical Care

• Beginning the Journey to Skilled Communication
• Building Trustworthy Relationships With Critically Ill Patients and Families
• Creating a Healthy Workplace: Skilled Communication: Making It Real

AACN News

• Healthy Work Environment Standards — From Paper to Practice

American Journal of Critical Care

• Confirmation of a Healthy Work Environment
• AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments: A Journey...
• Authentic Leaders Creating Healthy Work Environments for Nursing Practice
• Changing the Work Environment in Intensive Care Units to Achieve Patient-Focused Care: The Time Has Come
• Types of Intensive Care Units With the Healthiest, Most Productive Work Environments
• Healthy Work Environments, Nurse-Physician Communication, and Patients’ Outcomes

Chest Physician

• Creating Healthy Work Environments: Introduction (page 18)
• Creating Healthy Work Environments: Skilled Communication (page 16)
• Creating Healthy Work Environments: Authentic Leadership (page19)
• Creating Healthy Work Environments: Appropriate Staffing (page 18)
• Creating Healthy Work Environments: True Collaboration (page 10)
• Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments: Effective Decision Making (page 16)
• Creating Healthy Work Environments: Meaningful Recognition (page 15)

Critical Care Nurse

• Critical Care Nurses’ Work Environments 2008: A Follow-Up Report
• In Our Unit: Healthy Work Environments — Enroute to Excellence
• When Your Work Conditions Are Sicker Than Your Patients
• Critical Care Nurses' Work Environments: A Baseline Status Report
• Critical Care Nurses’ Work Environments Value of Excellence in Beacon Units and Magnet Organizations

Health Affairs

• Better Late Than Never: Workforce Supply Implications Of Later Entry Into Nursing
• Impact of the Nurse Shortage on Hospital Patient Care: Comparative Perspectives

Healthcare Papers

• Healthy Workplaces (Special Issue)

Poster Presentations from AACN's National Teaching Institute

2009 NTI Creative Solutions Poster Presentations

• AACN Piedmont Chapter Initiative for Promoting Healthy Work Environments
• Collaboration: Providing an Avenue to Practice With Confidence Through Education
• Do your Best Quietly!
• A Beacon Unit Uses Simple Innovation for Staffing Effectiveness
• There's a Kind of Hush.......Quiet Time in the MICU

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2008 NTI Creative Solutions Poster Presentations

• Unit-Based Shared Governance Leads the Journey of Creating a Healthy Work Environment

2007 NTI Creative Solutions Poster Presentations

• Improving RN and MD Communication and Relationships in a Cardiac Care Unit (CCU)
• It Takes More Than a Magic Wand! Staff Nurses Impact the Design of the New ICU in Our Small Community Hospital
• Keep the Door Open: Reducing the Stress Level of Family Members in the Intensive Care Unit
• Marshalling Reinforcements: Facilitating Staff Safety in a Six-Bed ICU in a Small Community Hospital
• Serenity Room: An Oasis in the MICU
• Under Construction: The Journey of Creating a Healthy Work Environment

2006 NTI Creative Solutions Poster Presentations

• The ENT All Stars: Boosting Patient and Staff Morale With Team Spirit Week
• The ICU Nursing Council: True Collaboration for Patient Safety

Continuing Education

• CE Articles on Healthy Work Environments From AACN's CE Library

Implementation Consultants

Case Studies

• Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
  Significant decrease in turnover; decrease in open positions
• Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.
• Shriners Hospitals for Children, Galveston, Texas
  Trained more than 200 employees in Crucial Conversations

Archived Webinar and Audio Conferences

On January 26, 2005, AACN unveiled "Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments" at a national briefing in Washington, D.C. View archived webcast of this event.  It will take 20–30 seconds for the webcast to begin.

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