Reflective practices: meaningful recognition for healthy work environments
Intended for healthcare professionals
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Reflective practices: meaningful recognition for healthy work environments

Gwen Sherwood Professor and associate dean for global initiatives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC, United States
Usha Koshy Cherian Nurse manager, Medicine intensive care unit/step down unit/cardiac care unit, Dorn VA Medical Center, Columbia SC, United States
Sara Horton-Deutsch Professor and Watson caring science endowed chair, College of Nursing, University of Colorado, Denver CO, United States
Rebecca Kitzmiller Assistant professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, Chapel Hill NC, United States
Cheryl Smith-Miller Nurse Researcher, UNC Medical Center, Chapel Hill NC, United States

Nurses’ decisions about their intent to remain in the workforce are based on various factors. A healthy work environment in which work done well is recognised and appreciated contributes to nurses’ satisfaction and better patient outcomes. This article examines the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses framework for a healthy work environment, focusing on standards for meaningful recognition. Reflective practice, which provides a self-analytical approach to appreciate and value one’s work, is viewed as self-recognition. Neither boastful nor arrogant, reflective self-recognition is part of progression to professional maturity. It involves examining events at work continuously and systematically to learn, appreciate and move to higher levels of contribution in the workplace.

Nursing Management. 24, 10, 30-34. doi: 10.7748/nm.2018.e1684

Correspondence

pliston@bohlsengroup.com

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

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Received: 07 September 2017

Accepted: 19 January 2018

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