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Dr. Clark is Strategic Nursing Advisor and Consultant, ATI Nursing Education, and Professor Emeritus, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho; Ms. Sattler is a PhD student, and Dr. Barbosa-Leiker is Associate Professor and PhD Program Director, Washington State University College of Nursing, Spokane, Washington.
The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Creating and sustaining a healthy work environment is a desirable goal for individuals, teams, and organizations and in health care, paramount to safe, patient care. Most, if not all, members of the workforce desire to be part of a vibrant, healthy work environment. Whether the organization is private or public, what often matters most to workers is for its members to abide by a compelling and shared organizational mission, based on principles of mutual respect, collegiality, quality, and excellence and guided by trustworthy, ethical, and visionary leaders at all levels of the organization. Employees desire and deserve a work environment where they are viewed as partners, valued as assets, and generously rewarded for their individual and collective contributions to the success of the organization. Highly desirable work environments generate high levels of employee satisfaction, engagement, and morale, and encourage free expression of diverse ideas. The American Psychological Association ( 2015 ) recognizes psychologically healthy work environments for their efforts to foster employee well-being while enhancing organizational performance. According to the American Psychological Association ( 2015 ), healthy environments benefit from improved work quality and productivity, lower absenteeism, employee engagement, less turnover, and better customer service ratings. The purpose of this study was two-fold: to measure practice-based nurses' and nursing faculty's perceptions of the health of their work environment and to describe the development and psychometric testing of the Healthy Work Environment Inventory (HWEI).
Elements of a Healthy Work Environment
Several organizations and researchers have identified essential elements of a healthy work environment. The following section highlights findings from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Chronicle of Higher Education , and the Society for Human Resource Management.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( 2015 ) identified four categories of effective work environments consisting of 20 essential elements. The four categories include:
Organizational culture and leadership.
Program design.
Program...