Pilot Study Using Cognitive Rehearsal, Simulation, and Biomarker Data to Address Workplace Incivility

Workplace incivility poses a threat to patient safety. This intervention pilot study used simulation and biomarker data with newly graduated nurses to explore the impact of incivility on patient care and tested whether cognitive rehearsal could mitigate the effects of workplace incivility.

A clinical scenario and script were used by actors to deliver either an uncivil or a hurried but not uncivil handoff report to participants before they conducted a focused patient assessment and administered medications to a standardized patient.

Participants identified gaps in understanding of both handoff reports that resulted in compromised patient care. Quantitative trends showed lower resilience scores and higher stress appraisal scores for participants who received the uncivil handoff report.

Although participants expressed confidence using cognitive rehearsal as an intervention before the simulation, responses indicated that a 60-minute session was insufficient to adequately prepare them to effectively address an uncivil nurse encounter. [.