By Thomas Davis, CRNA, MAE, Lt. Col (ret)

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“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another…A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

~ Amelia Earhart

 

Kindness can change the entire culture of your workplace.  The essential elements of a preferred workplace, including civility, mutual respect, and collaboration, are interwoven with the thread of kindness. The same level of thoughtfulness in the delivery of care to patients increases patient satisfaction. Kindness is contagious in the interactions of cohesive workgroups and can be the difference between staff retention and resignation.   Take your team to the next level by doing catching acts of kindness that will quickly spread throughout your workplace and increase the effectiveness of your group.

 

Acts of Kindness.  I recently worked in a busy suite of operating rooms where anesthesia providers pushed patients on carts or hospital beds from the pre-op area to the OR and then again from the OR to the recovery area.  Many carts had defective steering devices and hospital beds were always heavy.   Staff would make room for the struggling patient pusher to pass, then stand back and watch. Two newly hired people who noticed the difficulty of transporting patients, started helping direct carts around corners and through doors and within two weeks several others joined the practice.  Within two months, with the simple act of assisting instead of watching, the culture of the entire work area changed.  Not only did people continue to help one another transport patients, they started aiding in other areas as well.

 

Several Jewish CRNA friends in the mid-Atlantic region always volunteer for call on Christmas and Easter to enable their Christian colleagues the opportunity to be with family.

 

A nurse manager in the Midwest always greets patients and their families in the hallway and provides directions when needed.  Despite being confined to a wheelchair secondary to an auto accident, she holds the door for people of all ages and gender, not just seniors…and does it with a smile.

 

My CRNA friend Sal and his wife Carol travel to Honduras to work as anesthesia provider and nurse one week every year.  Augustine is a CRNA and friend who solicits other CRNAs to join him on mission trips.

 

James, a Chief CRNA in the Midwest, takes his office manager and one staff CRNA to lunch quarterly to reward each for their work, and to build a bond between the office staff and the frontline providers.

 

Michelle arrives early each morning, sets up her room and then goes room to room asking her colleagues if they need help.

 

Another chief CRNA, who began this practice long before the advent of Facebook, emails a personal Happy Birthday well-wish to each of his staff, and copies the group.

 

Kindness is contagious.  An article in the highly respected APA peer reviewed journal, Emotion, describes a study done in a workplace where employees were placed in 1 of 3 groups.  Those in the first group were assigned to perform designated acts of kindness for specific people in group 2.  The third group acted as the control group for the study, neither offering nor receiving acts of kindness.  The study revealed that those on the receiving end in group 2 were more likely to react by offering kindness to others.  In the spirit of pay it forward, the thoughtfulness of a few spread rapidly and changed the culture of the work environment.

 

Kindness elevates patient satisfaction.  Kindness affects the overall experience of our patients and their families as reported by www.winnipegfreepress.com with feedback from a Canadian patient by the name of Z. Soloman.  Ms. Soloman’s experience is exactly the one all healthcare wish to provide.  “Kudos to Victoria General Hospital for recruiting and retaining staff who treat patients with (such) respect and kindness.  I rate my stay as 10 out of 10.”  Ms. Soloman’s experience elevated her satisfaction and raised the hospital’s scores.

 

Give gladly and receive in kind!  You can be a catalyst in changing your healthcare workplace to a culture defined by kindness just by being more attentive to the needs of others. Pay it forward by offering assistance when appropriate, or challenge yourself to perform several unsolicited kindnesses daily and watch the culture change.  It starts with you.

 

 

“The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”   ~ Amelia Earhart

 

Special thanks to my wife and editor, Liz Sanner Davis for contributing to this article.

Thomas Davis is a noted leader, educator, speaker and clinical anesthetist. 

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