Workplace Incivility Affecting CRNAs: A Study of Prevalence, Severity, Consequences with Proposed Interventions

Abstract

Purpose: Professional burnout can occur as a result of several factors in present day healthcare facilities. Incivility within health care institutions is one growing concern affecting stress and professional burnout. Stress can be defined as a state of psychological tension resulting from demanding situations. Professional burnout can be defined as physical or mental breakdown caused by over working and/or high stress situations. Incivility has potential detrimental effects not only on the health care provider, but also on patient safety. Incivility has also been associated with increased overall cost of health care delivery. This is a study of the prevalence of incivility and burnout, as well as the relationship that incivility has on the development of professional burnout experienced by CRNAs in the state of Michigan. Methods: Data was collected between October and November of 2012 via a Qualtrics© survey. The NIS (Nursing Incivility Scale) was used to measure workplace incivility. The CBI (Copenhagen Burnout Inventory) was used to measure professional burnout. In addition open-ended questions were used to survey a population of Michigan CRNAs regarding workplace incivility. Conclusions: Analysis of data from the NIS, CBI and open-ended questions revealed that CRNAs work in a potentially stressful environment and experience incivility from several sources. A statistical significant relationship between workplace incivility and professional burnout was identified with the use of SPSS programming of the quantified data collected. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed recommendations on prevention, coping with and management detection of workplace incivility in attempt to curb professional burnout of CRNAs.