Carolyn Dickens earns grant to address incivility, violence toward nurses
Data shows patient reproach contributes to nursing shortages Heading link
UIC College of Nursing clinical assistant professor Carolyn Dickens, PhD ’17, ACNP, FAANP, received a grant to address incivility against nurses in hospital settings, a growing issue that has led to nurse burnout and staffing shortages.
Dickens, who also is UIC Nursing’s interim associate dean for faculty practice and community partnerships, received the grant as part of the Community Health Advocacy program. This partnership between Peoria, Illinois-based OSF HealthCare and UIC works to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities.
Dickens’ co-principal investigator on the grant is Eileen Knightly, MHA, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park, Illinois. Other collaborators include nurse leaders at UI Health and academic partners at the UIC College of Applied Sciences.
“There are no research-based solutions for the violence against nurses that’s occurring, or even incivility against nurses,” says Dickens. “We always knew it was a problem. What made it more important as an initiative across the country is that we already have a shortage in nursing. Recent data shows that this [incivility and violence] is just going to make it worse.
She adds, “How do you address this so we can retain the nursing workforce, attract new talent and have a great patient experience?”
Almost a third of nurses in the U.S. are considering leaving the profession after the COVID-19 pandemic left them overwhelmed and fatigued, according to a survey of more than 18,000 nurses conducted by AMN Healthcare Services Inc.
The grant-funded project, called BRIDGeS (Building Resourceful Interactions Despite Grief and Stress), will allow Dickens and her team to create storyboards that can be turned into short, animated videos to help improve patient and family interactions with nurses in hospitals. The goal is for this pilot research to lead to larger funding to create solutions at the health care systems level.
The project will kick off with semi-structured interviews at Little Company of Mary Medical Center with patients and their families, as well as nurses, to better understand areas of conflict. Then, the team will analyze the data and develop vignettes and storyboards showing various outcomes — negative, positive and neutral. The ultimate goal is to create animated “TikTok-style” videos, Dickens says.
Dickens, who is a nurse practitioner at UI Health, says her own clinical practice in cardiology keeps her in touch with the perspectives of both patients and nurses. She says one example of incivility that she hears about from nurses are “call light issues.”
“Nurses can’t get to the call lights fast enough because of staff shortages or because they are performing non-nursing duties, like dealing with broken equipment,” she says. “The patients and families are also experiencing stress because a loved one is ill. The result is a communication breakdown between groups.”
She adds that the videos would review options for solutions, adding that it was important to her to include the perspective of both patients and nurses.
“Workplace incivility is detrimental not only to the well-being of the nurses but also to patient care and outcomes,” she says. “When nurses experience incivility, it can have serious consequences. We need to find research-based solutions.”