As an organization committed to optimizing healthcare systems for patients, families and nurses, AACN understands the current imperative to improve the health of hospital work environments or risk the failure of our healthcare system.
To support healthcare organizations nationwide in transforming their workplaces and improving outcomes, AACN launched its Healthy Work Environments (HWE) National Collaborative in April 2024. This two-year education, mentorship and co-learning program will guide hospital-based teams in creating healthier work environments together that lead to improved quality indicators, job satisfaction and retention, and organizational outcomes.
Organizations participating in the AACN HWE National Collaborative will experience benefits on many levels. These hospital teams will:
Program participants can also benefit from the improved outcomes associated with an HWE.
A growing body of research shows that creating and maintaining an HWE is critical to ensuring a strong future for America’s healthcare system. The AACN HWE standards provide an evidence-based framework for establishing and sustaining work environments that support excellence in care delivery and staff satisfaction and retention. These essential standards are based on workplace improvement concepts backed by nearly 20 years of data.
Why Do HWE Standards Matter?
Impact of HWE
The Evidence
Overcoming Barriers
At no other time in healthcare’s history has there been more turbulence, rapid change or complexity. Mounting evidence reflects that unhealthy work environments resulting from these and other factors contribute to medical errors, ineffective delivery of care and conflict and stress among healthcare professionals. The link between HWEs and patient safety, staff retention and recruitment, and a hospital’s bottom line is irrefutable.
Creating an HWE helps nurses and the rest of the healthcare team provide the highest standard of compassionate patient care while being fulfilled at work. Research reveals that an HWE can lead to more engaged staff, decreased burnout, lower turnover and better patient care. By identifying and replacing unhealthy systemic behaviors with the HWE standards, organizations can achieve a culture where safety is the norm and excellence the shared goal.
There is still much work to do.
In 2021, AACN conducted its fifth National Nurse Work Environments Study. The study reports a dramatic decline in the overall health of the work environment along with higher nurse turnover rates and notably lower nurse satisfaction — all of which raise significant concerns about the future of our healthcare system and the livelihood of the nursing profession.
On the bright side, these surveys show that nurses working in units where the HWE Standards have been or are being implemented report significantly better quality of care, satisfaction with their role and profession, emotional health and fewer plans to leave the bedside.
A few notable insights from the survey include:
However, among respondents who worked in a unit with HWE Standards (vs. those in non-HWE Standard units):
While many healthcare leaders understand the importance of a healthy work environment, they know how challenging it can be to take those first steps, rally their teams and implement their vision. Creating and sustaining a healthy work environment requires intentional effort and concrete action steps. It is a journey, not a sprint, that requires long-term organizational culture change throughout all levels of the organization.
In the years since launching the Healthy Work Environment initiative and HWE Standards, AACN has developed a variety of tools and resources to support healthcare leaders and organizations in achieving a healthier workplace. However, feedback from our community of nurses, clinical and practice advisory groups, volunteers and national conference attendees indicate that significant barriers to implementing the standards remain.
AACN’s HWE National Collaborative addresses and helps hospitals overcome the most common barriers to implementation, including:
We have long understood the linkages between a healthy work environment and recruitment and retention of staff. In this global crisis of healthcare workforce shortages, an environment with each of the HWE Standards present and working synergistically ensures clinical excellence and optimal patient outcomes.
Jean Anne Connor, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, Director Nursing Research and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Additional HWE Information