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I
am an RN/BSN at a family practice/internal medicine office. I have been
nominated with the task of requesting a larger facility to accommodate more
patients. I have been on the net searching for any documentation of
psychological turmoil related to a small area being utilized by many employees,
but with little success. With the opening in 1991 they had only three employees.
Today we have an office staff of 18-20, along with 1-2 students passing through.
We are a fast-paced facility that also deals with many emergency situations. One
thing I remember from my psych classes is that each individual need, at the
minimum, two feet of personal space. One thing that I have observed over the
last few months is the short tempers. You help is appreciated.
Signed,
Cramped Quarters
Dear CQ:
Crowding studies support your recall. Crowding animals experiments found physical signs of stress and antisocial acts such as adult animals eating their young and chewing on each other. So goes it with humans. Of course subject review board prevent the same kind of experiments with humans.
Correlation studies and observation investigations have found that we human animals need a bubble of about two feet which we protect from invasion by all but intimates. Communication in work groups is more civil when there is open space for work that requires much interaction and more private space for tasks that require special concentration and/or need confidentiality.
Your growth from 3 to approximately 20, if within the about the same quarters, is bound to beget stress, and stress can result in short tempers and get out of my way behaviors. Several years ago, the same kind of interpersonal shortness of temper was the topic of a hospital pharmacy unit I consulted. Its space, too, was too small for its busy, busy staff.
Even if and when you can make the case for more ample workspace, you might improve working relationships if you spend some time as a committee of the whole setting forth a set of COOPERATIVE WORKSPACE RULES. For example one such rule would deal with handling and care of equipment. Another about working next to one another. Another about asking vs. ordering who should do what. See what I mean? Problems of working side by side in emergency situations will be the grist for generating rules of civility . If you and your people can take the time to deal with your crowded space problem, please let us know what works and does not.
WEGO emerges from transforming my space into our place.
Bill Gorden