Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Background
3- Theoretical Framework
4- Methods
5- Implementation
6- Conclusion
References
Abstract
Incivility in nursing education is an unfortunate phenomenon affecting nursing students in all aspects of their educational experience. Students and their instructors are often ill equipped to deal with academic incivility and their lack of ability to handle such behaviors has proven detrimental to the future of the nursing profession. Nursing instructors need tools to help educate nursing students on how to recognize uncivil behaviors within themselves as well as others and ways to combat it. This research project addressed these aspects of academic incivility and implemented an e-learning module that was developed to educate students on incivility. The data was collected through a pre-test, post-test model with resulting statistical analysis using the McNemar's test. Results showed the nursing students obtained increased self-efficacy in regards to their ability to define, detect, and combat academic incivility after viewing the e-learning module. In conclusion, the successful implementation of the e-learning module provides further incentive for schools of nursing to consider implementing incivility education in their curriculums.
Introduction
Increasingly, nurse educators and nursing students are challenged to deal with unprofessional behaviors such as academic dishonesty, bullying, and incivility in the classroom and clinical settings. The effects of incivility alone are well documented and are not limited to the halls of nursing school and often continue well into the new registered nurses’ work environments. The research regarding incivility is historically and unmistakably associated with high attrition rates, errors, accidents, poor performance, absenteeism, decreased commitment, and low job satisfaction (Ceravolo, Schwartz, Foltz-Ramos, & Castner, 2012; Smith, Andrusyszyn, & Spence-Laschinger, 2010). Research suggests nursing students and new registered nurses transitioning into practice are the most vulnerable and likely to fall prey in environments where uncivil behaviors have become widely accepted and even ritualistic in nature. With evidence of incivility beginning in nursing school, it is deeply concerning that education on its presence and prevention has not been mandated at the academic level (Sauer, Hannon & Beyer, 2017; Young, 2011). There appears to be an unlimited amount of data available regarding its occurrences, nurse experiences, contributing factors, and root causes. Unfortunately, the limitations in the literature are in its eradication. In a recent article, the authors advocate for a move beyond the description of incivility and call for the development of interventions to address it (Smith, Gillespie, Brown, & Grubb, 2016).