1. BUILDING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY WITHIN NURSING UNITS
NECHERELL NELSON
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY

2. WHAT IS A SENSE OF COMMUNITY?
A sense of belonging that creates:
Co-worker expectations
Emotional safety
Value
Trusting relationships among colleagues
A bond between co-workers (Bryne, 2014)

3. WHY IS IT NEEDED IN NURSING UNITS?
Builds relationships
Promotes a positive working environment
Improves staff and patient satisfaction
Improves retention rates
Refine coping behaviors
Builds a joint emotional connection among staff (Buck, 2017)
Promotes self satisfaction and growth (Sherman, 2017)
Reduces gaps, redundancies and errors (Interprofessional Education Collaborative, 2011)
Develops a collective sense of efficacy (Salas, Sims, Klein & Burke, 2003)

5. WHY SHOULD MANAGEMENT BE INCLUDED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY?
Promotes authentic management and staff relationships (Hilton & Sherman, 2015)
Builds trusting relationships
Creates a mutual sense of purpose (Hill & Lineback, 2012)
Leads to more engaged staff (Hilton & Sherman, 2015)
Indicates that managers are part of the team
Shows that managers are willing to be hands-on

6. HOW CAN MANAGERS ACHIEVE A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN THE UNIT?
Allow staff to contribute to unit policies
Define roles, creating accountability and reliability
Provide opportunites for growth (Marquis & Huston, 2017)
Promote identification within the organization
Encourage open discussion
Offer opportunities to build skill and trust (Hilton & Sherman, 2015)
Allow colleagues to formally recognize their counterparts
Allow autonomy amongst staff (Andrioti et al., 2017)

7. CONCLUSION
A sense of community on nursing units are essential. Positive work environments are contributed to increased staff satisfaction, increased staff retention rates, and increased patient satisfaction. Since staff and patient satisfaction are interconnected, improving both actions are imperative. As reimbursement continues to be based upon patient scores, improving the unit’s community has a direct impact on potential funds.

8. WHICH MANAGEMENT STYLE ARE YOU?

9. REFERENCES
Andrioti, D., Skitsou, A., Karlsson, L. E., Pandouris, C., Krassias, A., & Charalambous, G. (2017). Job satisfaction of nurses in various clinical practices. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 10(1), 76. Retrieved from

10. REFERENCES
Bryne, S. (2014, June, 2). 4 elements to creating a “Sense of Community” by Dr. David McMillian [Blog post]. Retrieved from
Hill, L. & Lineback, K. (2012, April 3). Good managers lead through a team[Blog post]. Retrieved from
Hilton, N., & Sherman, R. O. (2015). Promoting work engagement: One medical Center’s journey. [PDF file]. Nurse Leader, 13(6), Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/nicke/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEd ge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Final%20Article.pdf
Interprofessional Education Collaborative. (2011). Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice [PDF file]. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/nicke/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_ 8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/IPECReport.pdf.

11. References
Marquis B. L., & Huston, C.J. (2017). Leadership roles and management function in nursing: Theory and application. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
Salas, E., Sims, D. E., Klein, C. & Burke, C.S. (2003). Can teamwork enhance patient safety? [PDF file]. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/nicke/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEd ge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Forum_V23N3_teamwor ksafety.pdf
Sherman, R. O. (2017). The leader coach [PDF file]. Nurse Leader, 15(3), Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/nicke/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEd ge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Leader%20Coach%20Ed itorial.pdf.