AONE Workplace Environment Assessment Survey FAQs
Why should we participate?
Who should participate?
How will the survey be administered?
What type of information will we receive?
What is the timeline and when will the results be available?
How is the nurse/hospital anonymity protected?
How do we access the survey to participate?
What is the cost?
Why should we participate?
This assessment offers a unique opportunity to create a forum for nurse executive and staff nurse dialogue around creating, developing and maintaining healthful work/practice environments. At a time when some have concern that there is a lack of adequate attention to nursing work environments, this assessment is an important first step in identifying staff and executive concerns, demonstrating where the two groups have high agreement and where there is low agreement. Such a gap analysis allows for a clear and candid discussion among leadership and staff to begin to address the areas of low agreement and of course, to celebrate those areas of high agreement. There is no single way to improve a hospital’s work environment, but this assessment is one way to begin: ask the questions, see and analyze the results, and then ideally, develop a plan for improvement that includes staff input and leadership. The work environment is not the nurse executive’s responsibility alone and by giving staff nurses the ability to anonymously rate their day-to-day experiences and see their own aggregate responses alongside those of the executive staff, the opportunity for collaboration and ownership grows. Plus, the assessment tool is free!
All hospitals who want to:
- assess their executive and nursing staff perceptions of the key elements of a healthful practice environment;
- engage in dialogue between executive and nursing staff as to what is working and where are our challenges;
- develop processes and systems that will effectively orient new nurses and retain them; and
- establish baselines to measure future performance and set improvement targets.
How will the survey be administered?
The survey will be accessible through an online survey site administered by enetrix, a Division of Gallup, Inc. Online survey registration is free and open for members to register for survey access. Once you have registered, you will receive a unique, secure survey link to distribute with all staff who will be invited to take the survey.
What type of information will we receive?
- A unique, secure link to share with all staff whom you are inviting to participate in the survey.
- Access to the online survey site with the ability to monitor the number of surveys taken.
- Once the desired number of surveys is received, the ability to close the survey and run a final report.
This final report includes the following: - The sample size of executives and staff nurses and the mean score for each question
- Gap analysis of how each group’s answers compare for each question
- Chart showing the top 5 questions of high and low agreement
- Reference list of resources to use after analyzing the survey results.
What is the timeline and when will the results be available?
One of the key features of this online survey is that there is no predetermined timeline for participation. Each hospital decides their timeline and can register for the survey at any time. The unique, secure link that your hospital receives does not expire until you decide to close the survey and run your final report. AONE recommends that you time this survey so that it does not conflict with other surveys being requested of your staff and that you provide ample time for responses to be collected. Once you decide to close the survey, you can log in to the survey administration site and run the final report with all results included.
How is the nurse/hospital anonymity protected?
Participating nurses will not be asked for any information that can be used to identify them. Individual responses will be collected and aggregated as part of the total. No individual data will be discussed or reported at any time.
How do we access the survey to participate?
After registration, each hospital will receive a unique, secure link to share with survey participants. Participants will simply click on the link to enter and complete the survey.
What is the cost?
There is no cost to sign up for the assessment survey. When you register, you will be asked to “order” the survey, but the amount indicated is $0. This free registration will give you online access to the survey module, a unique link for your hospital staff to take the online survey, the ability to monitor number of surveys taken and flexibility to create your own timeline for the survey, meaning that the unique link you receive for the survey will not expire until you choose to close the survey and run your final report.
