1. A REVIEW OF P. M. FORNI’S TWENTY-FIVE RULES OF CONSIDERATE CONDUCT BY: KRISTI MATTINGLY Choosing Civility in the Workplace

2. Assessment Participants completed a survey of 25 questions based on P. M. Forni’s rules of considerate conduct. Questions were developed from each rule and measure how the unit functions in relation to civility and considerate conduct. A Likert scale was used to quantify responses. The scale ranged from always, almost always, sometimes, never and undecided

3. Areas identified as most civil Areas identified as least civil Pay attention Acknowledge others Assert yourself Respect other people’s time and space Accept and give praise Refrain from idle complaints Listen Speak kindly Think the best Keep it down Results

4. Raising Awareness of Civility After conducting the survey, a discussion of the weaknesses that were identified as having the most impact on the workplace and patient care were:  Speak kindly  Refrain from idle complaints  Listen The results of the survey were then discussed and interventions developed to promote change of these weaknesses

5. Raising Awareness of Civility: Interventions Speak kindly  Think before speaking  Keep the volume of your voice moderate at all times- people respond to the tone of your voice  Smile when appropriate Listen  Listen with no other intent than that of listening  Body language  Eye contact Refrain from idle complaints  Focusing on solutions instead of problems  Do not feed into the person complaining as it can only spread misery  Occasional complaining can be therapeutic, but do not dwell on the problem

6. Raising Awareness of Civility cont’d…. After the discussion, a flyer was created and placed in a populated area on the unit, so that it could be viewed by other co-workers. It is required of nurses on the unit to attend a weekly morning huddle. The charge nurses have agreed to speak about one of the areas identified as a weakness and interventions to improve the weakness each week.

7. Evaluation To evaluate how raising awareness of civility has changed the workplace an interview of co-workers was conducted.  Co-workers have agreed to try listening to patients without thinking of other tasks that need to be done in the work day.  Another co-worker admitted to speaking kindly to a nurse who was having a bad day with the hope of bettering her day.  A nurse who admits to complaining majority of the day has agreed to try and be optimistic during the work day  Other nurses interviewed had similar responses to the answers of these nurses. A group-lead discussion was used to evaluate people’s understanding of civility and considerate conduct in the workplace

8. Reinforcement To reinforce the rules of considerate conduct, I along with the education counsel have developed a plan to inform co- workers of rules and interventions to maintain a civil workplace.  An insert will be included in the monthly newsletter that is emailed to staff.  The insert will include a rule with a definition and interventions to improve this in the workplace.  If staff have questions about civility I will be available to answer questions or lend the book for them to review.

9. Reference Forni, P. M. (2002). Choosing civility: The twenty-five rules of considerate conduct. New York: St. Martin's Press.