Implementing AACN Healthy Work Environment Standards in a Critical Care Unit

Background: The creation of a healthy work environment is challenging for a fast-paced critical care unit. In 2005, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) developed six standards for a healthy work environment. The six standards of a healthy work environment include skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership. The lack of these AACN standards might impact the work environment contributing to poor patient outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the results of an AACN Healthy Work Environment assessment tool administered in a critical care unit.

Methods: A 28-bed critical care unit within a 695-bed academic health center was selected for this study. The healthy work environment assessment tool was administered over a 23-day period via an online portal. 29 out of the 90 staff members responded to the online assessment tool. By completing the assessment tool, the staff members consented to the study. The AACN healthy work environment assessment tool is a reliable and validated tool. Open access is granted for AACN assessment tool. The second part of this study included a daily huddle of the AACN synergy model implementation for the AACN standard with the lowest score over a two-week period followed by the post-survey.

Findings: The findings of the AACN Healthy Work Environment assessment tool examined the pre- implementation and post-implementation data. The data from the online survey was compiled to provide an overall aggregate mean score, and a score for each standard. Based on the scoring guidelines, a score of 1.00-2.99 needs improvement, 3.00-3.99 good, and 4.00-5.00 excellent. The pre-implementation from the AACN survey revealed an overall aggregate score of 3.70, skilled communication was 3.63, true collaboration was 3.68, effective decision making was 3.86, appropriate staffing was 3.55, meaningful recognition was 3.57, and lastly, authentic leadership was 3.90. The lowest scoring AACN standard was in the area of appropriate staffing. Following the implementation of the daily huddles, the post-implementation survey showed…

Conclusion: