Implementing Cognitive Rehearsal Training with Nursing Students to Counter Incivility in the Clinical Setting as Students and New Nurses: A Sequential Mixed-Methods Study

NLN Nursing EDge Unscripted

In this episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted, host Dr. Steven Palazzo interviews Dr. LisaMarie Wands about her research on integrating cognitive rehearsal training into nursing education to counteract incivility. Dr. Wands explains how incivility, from dismissive behaviors to overt hostility, harms nursing students and new nurses and contributes to burnout and attrition. Her study, funded by the NLN, used simulation to teach students strategies like pausing and scripted responses when encountering uncivil behavior. Findings revealed that students often struggled to act on these strategies because of their low power in clinical settings, but some reported applying the training once in professional practice. The conversation emphasizes the need for nursing programs to introduce even small-scale training or role-play to prepare students for the realities of incivility in the workplace.

Wands, L., McDermott, C., Bernard, N., Wolf, R., & Kimble, L. P. (2025). Implementing Cognitive Rehearsal Training With Nursing Students to Counter Incivility in the Clinical Setting as Students and New Nurses: A Sequential Mixed-Methods Study. Nursing education perspectives, 46(4), 243–245. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000001325

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