Essay about Just Culture

One of the most critical factors which contribute to the number of preventable cases of healthcare harm is the culture of silence surrounding these cases. The fear of medical providers to report incidences is related to the possibility of punishment and liability due to a medical error (Discovery, 2010). The criminalization of some acts of medical error has resulted in job dismissal, criminal charges and jail time for some healthcare workers. This is despite the fact that the system they are working in helped to create the situation which led to the error in the first place. Human error, due to fatigue and system errors can result in deadly consequences, but by criminalizing the error it effectively shuts down the ability to correct the root problem. Healthcare workers, working at all levels within the medical system, can provide valuable input on how to improve the processes and prevent harm from occurring (Discovery, 2010).

Anthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its background significance. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered through the field, yet not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an anthropologist in the early 20th Century, and his students, had a difficult time figuring out the objective of what culture is. Culture is about learning and shared ideas about behaviour. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. They ultimately reached a conclusion, a definition of culture in their view that is a contradiction in terms. Boas sates that, “ culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it;

With the current healthcare reform, all organizations around the globe are aiming to redesign their operations. Healthcare systems, that use the omnibus leadership model, need to function in an environment in which the needs of society will have a positive reaction. Nevertheless, the dynamic culture leadership model argues that healthcare organizations need to always work in ways that they can definitely give services that the society can use (Kennedy et al., 2011).

Quality improvement, patient safety, and cost containment are some of the key focuses of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010. Therefore, many Healthcare Organizations (HCOs) were confronted with the challenge of changing their organization behavior, so that they can deliver a safe care without compromising on qualities and increasing on expenditures with each care delivery (KPMG Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Institute, 2011). The purpose of the paper is to discuss a HCO’s transformation challenge, its subsystem within a larger system, its culture and climate, its leadership style, its assessment based on Collin’s Good to Great, and its readiness for change in today’s complex environment.

A Just Culture is a proactive, learning culture that sees events as opportunities instead of misfortunes and in healthcare is directed towards patient safety and improving patient outcomes. Allowing employees to report errors without being reprimanded promotes trust. Human errors are costly and can lead to death when providing care to patients. Creating an environment that fosters learning in preventing errors boost employees morale. A learning environment allows individual to reflect on the situation and their behavior that caused harm or potential harm to the patient. A Just Culture encompasses behavior, duties, and skills in managing employee’s behavioral choices (Outcome Engenuity, 2016). The purpose of

One of the facts of life is that people are motivated in different ways and hold different points of view. They have unique values hierarchies, develop unique perceptions of reality, and establish different goals and priorities from those of their coworker and colleagues. At the same time, organizations are living systems that demand dynamic relationships among employees. Given that people do not have identical viewpoints, this dynamic relationship necessarily leads conflict, challenges, and problems. The culture of the Mayo Clinic has proven to be a viable and effective means for solving problems and meeting challenges in contemporary healthcare (Nelson & Quick, 2015).

Many errors and mistakes happen around the world in health care facilities on a daily basis. With the influence of just culture, new and better ideas are planned and implemented based off the various behaviors and mistakes/errors that have been reported. It is used for a learning opportunity rather than focusing on a punishment for those who made the mistakes/errors. Just culture encourages openness and responsibility of the healthcare team and improves patient and staff satisfaction.

Health leaders can use different strategies to create a culture for change in the health organization. A health transformation leader would have to be able to create trust, admiration, loyalty, and respect from their followers through the leader’s actions, behaviors exhibited and persona exemplified. Once a culture of change is learned and the pattern is exhibited it is shared by the members about what is right and what is good. Health leaders should be able to develop a predetermined organizational culture

340). The current culture can be described as a normative, process culture in that employees follow regulations and policies when completing their work. The organization is transparent with their communication, hence employees respect them. However, the workface feels like they are running to lean and only care about the bottom dollar hence turnover is high. There is great coordination of care between all departments except for the marketing department. There is a disconnection secondary to the clinical staff feeling that marketing only brings in patients to meet their quotas instead of patient that truly need services. Moreover, marketing is the only department that is bonus eligible. As a result, the folklore is that the organization only cares about the bottom-line and not the employees. Additionally, the only reason patients come to this hospital is because the employees “kill them with kindness”. Superior Hospitals needs a cultural change. It needs to more towards an academic and normative culture as employees are highly skilled and need further training and education in order to be successful. The research notes that this type of culture pays particular attention on who they hire, their current skill sets and their motivation to learn and grow, so that turn-over rates remain low and the employees are fulfilled in their roles (Sponaugle, 2014). Moreover,

The school atmosphere was different I was hanging with Caucasian girls and the African American children did not understand what I was doing being so close to children opposite of my own culture. At that point, I was unsure of what their problem was but realized they were sheltered from other cultures and raised differently. This caused several fights as a child because other children would call me a “little white girl” and I had no idea of what that meant and was offended. I was raised around majority boys in the neighborhood, until I started playing softball, some would consider me as a tomboy. So

Effective management should have a good relationship with their employees, which will encourage, motivate and empower their staff to perform well and provide exceptional and quality patient care. Managers integrity, honest, interpersonal communication skill helps their works to keep and maintain good relationship with the core leadership which could help to find out any problems and to discuss and resolve any issues which makes the workplace more comfortable. Studies reveal that 84 percent of nurses resigned their job, because of dissatisfaction with their supervisors or managers (Contino, 2004). Organizational theory is employed to nurse managers allow them to cause appropriate alterations in the system to provide a safe work environment for the nurses and to retain skilled nurses. Trait theory describes the six skills needed for a manager such as vision, passion, trust, curiosity, integrity, and a daring and Attitudinal theory for leadership mentions how to maintain a healthy relationship between management and staff (Huber, 2013).

A rising concern in the United States is the amount of questionable healthcare deaths and medical errors, prompting many to question the intentions of medical doctors. A study conducted by doctors at John Hopkins, indicated that medical errors may kill more people than lower respiratory diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis, which ranks medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the United States behind heart disease and cancer (Christensen & Cohen, 2016). Furthermore, in a new study conducted by the British Medical Journal suggests that medical errors are not detected in official records, which raises my suspicion concerning the doctor’s culpability (Christensen & Cohen, 2016). Additionally, in 2008 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the

The Organizational culture and structure can have real big impact on the quality of care either negatively or positively. If the organizational culture is poor then it is really hard to provide best health care that can work effectively. Poor organizational culture creates poor work condition at the facilities for workers, which leads to lots of stress and low quality of patient care. A many medical errors caused by employees, who were under lots of stress and workload (Imhof & Kaskie, 2008).

Understanding where one has derived from, how the path was set for one’s purpose, and the how cultural beliefs, values, and views are indicative of the family structure, is important. This literature will provide information on the importance of history in shaping culture and communication; and how it affects the family, specifically my family. Insight surrounding some experiences my family has endured throughout generations, and how such experiences have helped to shape the cultural beliefs, values and views that have been passed down through generations, along with how the same experiences helped to shape cultural learning. Historically, culture and communication are important pillars for shaping the family foundation, but the specifics of gender roles, social skills, individualism, and collectivism are also important indicators of cultural beliefs, values, and views.

The organizational culture of an organization serves as a foundation that should guide the practice and attitude of all healthcare professionals and staff. King & Demarie (2015) describes organizational culture as the basis that determines right and wrong. A hospital organization’s mission, vision, and goals are derived from the culture established within the organization. Organizational decisions are highly influenced by the organizational culture within an environment. Growth, advancements, and acquirements must be aligned with an organization’s culture to facilitate success. Healthcare organizations must ensure that all staff are aware of the efforts they must portray in order to properly exhibit the culture to all individuals seeking healthcare services.