Healthy Work Environment Best Practices: Supporting Leaders in Evidence-Based Management Decision Making Towards Clinical Nursing Excellence

Bajnok, Irmajean

Sunday, 30 October 2011: 11:40 AM

Irmajean Bajnok, RN, MSN, PhD¹
Linda O'Brien Pallas, RN, MScN, PhD²
Althea Stewart-Pyne, RN, MScN¹
Sara White, MA³
(1)International Affairs and Best Practice Guidelines Programs, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada
(2)Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
(3)Healthy Work Environments Best Practice Guidelines Evaluation Project, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada

Learning Objective 1: 1. Define and describe a healthy work environment and its link to quality patient care based on best evidence outlined in foundational best practice guidelines.

Learning Objective 2: 2. Discuss the impact of leadership and related factors on implementation of healthy work environment best practices and their effects on nurse and organizational outcomes.

Healthy work environments are a critical component of quality patient care, nurse satisfaction, and organizational effectiveness. In an attempt to provide supports for those in leadership positions to enable evidence-based management decision making for quality care, a major professional association developed six foundational healthy work environment best practice guidelines. These guidelines enable evidence-informed management decision making in the areas of leadership, teamwork, professionalism, workload and staffing, cultural diversity in the workplace, and workplace health safety and well being, and facilitate clinical excellence.

In 2005 a 4 year pilot project was commenced to evaluate the impact of implementing HWE BPGs on selected units/teams in nine health care organizations. The study demonstrated the profound impact that a focus on creating a healthy workplace by leaders and staff can have on key outcomes related to aspects of each of the HWE BPGs. The research showed that implementing HWE BPGs made a difference for nurses in their perceptions of the work environment, quality of care, and ease of use of the HWE BPGs in a sustained way over time, and reinforced the critical role of leadership at all levels in creating healthy workplaces.

In this presentation, the HWE BPG program elements will be highlighted, as will the nature of the comprehensive research undertaken to determine the impact of HWE BPGs on key nurse and organizational variables. Finally key findings related to the impact of HWE BPG implementation, the leadership factor, and effective knowledge transfer strategies in creating healthy work environments will be shared.

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