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Learning Objective 1: The objective is for the learner to be able to identify signs of incivility in nursing education and clinical practice.
Learning Objective 2: he objective is for the learner to be cognizant of cultural diversity in nursing profession and its relationship to incivility
Incivility is a growing problem in academic classrooms and workplace. Clark (2009) defined incivility as rude, disruptive behavior that results in psychological or physiological distress. Behaviors of incivility include verbal abuse, dishonesty, violence, and bullying. Studies suggest that workplace incivility significantly impacts nurses, patients, and health care organizations. It may lead to medical errors, poor patient care, increased medical costs and loss of qualified health care providers. Workplace bullying, for example, was found significantly negatively affect nurse retention.
Moreover, incivility may affect faculty’s enthusiasm about teaching and may impact students’ involvement in classroom activities (Alexander-Snow, 2004). Racial discrimination is another form of incivility when taking into consideration of cultural difference. Incivility could therefore constitute insidious racism (Cortina, 2008). With the increase cultural diversity within nursing profession, attention must be paid to incivility and its relationship to cultural differences, and specifically ethnical and racial diversity. Cultural misunderstanding can easily occur when people ignore potential threats in cultural differences. Word, gesture, an object, or social context, may have different meaning in two cultures. Evidently, being culturally competent is the key to reduce or eliminate cultural misunderstanding and minimize incivility in nursing profession.
Alexander-Snow, M. (2004). Dynamics of gender, ethnicity, and race in understanding classroom incivility. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 99, 21-31.
Clark, CM., Springer, P. (2009). Academic nurse leader’s role in fostering a cultural of civility in nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 49 (6), 319-325.
Cortina, LM. (2008). Unseen injustice: Incivility as modern discrimination in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 33 (1), 55-75.
Key words: incivility, cultural difference, cultural competence