Importance of Accountability
Accountability is a pivotal issue in the healthcare industry. It entails procedures and processes which a healthcare party tends to justify and take responsibility for the activities it undertake (Moseley, 2013). Moseley further acknowledges the existence of three primary components found in the concept of accountability including its loci, domains, and procedures. The loci denote the parties that can be held or hold others accountable. Fields of accountability entail activities such as professional competence, financial performance, and adequacy of access. Procedures of accountability, on the other hand, include methods for evaluating domains compliance as well as their responses. Accountability in healthcare has positively influenced the organizational culture. For instance, it has enhanced the quality of care provided to patients. Also, it has a positive influence on the organization’s reputation. Further, the risk of lawsuits decreases with the implantation of rigorous accountability within the healthcare organization. Accountability stretches to ethics in healthcare provision and includes following policies and procedures to prevent mistakes. Organizations that hold their employees accountable provide a culture in which doctor-patient trust is improved . Moreover, with improved accountability, the misuse of resources is reduced, and the healthcare organization in context tends to provide superior quality care.
Measuring Employees’ Accountability
Accountability is linked with other undertakings within the healthcare sector including needs assessment, planning, and priority setting. According to Stecher & Kirby, (2004), assessing and measuring accountability requires some elements including a body with an aim to accomplish particular healthcare goals, the capacity of the body to undertake the required activities, accomplishment measuring, and the availability of tools to assess and improve effectiveness as well as quality. Regarding accountability measurement, those influencing population health are held accountable through two models; contract and mutual accountability models. The contract model uses accountability indicators to measure execution of agreed-on strategy. In the model, the oversight party has direct control over implementers. The model holds healthcare implementers accountable through regular programmatic progress reports including program reviews. The model is typically utilized for continuous quality improvement. Such measurements include the evidence-based practice. The mutual accountability model, also known as a compact model, is deficient in an oversight party over healthcare implementers. The implementers hence assume both oversight and implementation roles. Mutual accountability defines a process in which partners hold one another responsible for voluntary commitments made to each other. The framework for accountability , however, regardless of the model or rather the accountability measurement, ought to include an agreement among implementing parties, accountability of the parties , and measurement of execution and outcomes of agreed-on plans.
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Ethical Accountability in Leadership and Management
Ethics is an essential part of leadership and management since it forms the basis of practices and policies within a given organization. Through ethics, leaders are bound to remain accountable. They are also obligated to captivate a culture that encourages ethical practices within the body as well as protecting the interests of patients. The culture ought to revolve around ethical values which promote patients’ wellbeing. An ethical culture communicates commitment and service to the general public. Ethics are also determinants of morals in a given societal setting where right and wrong in the healthcare industry are deduced . Regarding this, leaders or rather implementers ought to make decisions based on ethical principles and practices to remain accountable whenever they serve patients and provide leadership to other practitioners. The interaction among health departments and other care providers including community coalitions ought to be run in an ethical manner to ensure a bond between the relating parties. The relationship fosters trustworthiness and hence a good practice.
Checks and Balances Process
Checks and balances help in controlling an organization’s power. They are specifically designed to ensure a given organization does not accumulate excessive power to the extent that it starts engaging in unethical and irresponsible activities (Cimasi, 2013). Cimasi further denotes that checks and balances keep off an individual from having absolute control in decision making. Regarding this, each person or rather implementer in the healthcare industry is accorded specific functions. Decisions made as a team have to be reported to the directing manager. The manager can then use the conclusions to solve related problems within their management team. C hecks and balances processes tend to eliminate or rather curb inappropriate actions including misuse of resources, abuse of power, and inadequate accountability within a given organization. For instance, an employee has to check needed patient supplies with an inventory system. A different person is responsible for approving the use of the products. The inventory manager later requests a replacement of the used product through a purchasing or procurement department. By conducting checks and balances in the healthcare industry, chances of leaders engaging in corruption or oppressive behaviors in their execution of allocated duties are minimized . In this case, equity in service delivery is attainable. Also, successful organizations are denied the opportunity to behave unethically and hence improve service delivery.
Accountability and Working Culture
Accountability has a significant impact on the working culture of a given healthcare organization. According to Moseley, (2013), increasing employees’ accountability within a healthcare organization reduces the misuse of resources and enhances efficiency that aid in reducing operating costs. The organization hence maximizes their profits. Employees who work within an accountability-culture increase job performance and education levels. Further, assessment and change in the given healthcare organization are improved. In this regards, work performance, as well as efficiency, is increased, and variability decreased. The throughput of the organization hence becomes sustainable. It is also through accountability that organizations develop working cultures that motivate employees to embrace ethical standards and procedures. Also, leaders also help affected employees to deal with ethical dilemmas. In the absence of it – accountability – organizations tend to go rogue and embrace unethical principles including seeking to satisfy individual interests as opposed to the benefit of the public. However, high accountability levels result in an organizational culture that translates to earning of a good reputation and hence contributes to the wellness of the implementers and patients or instead customers.
Maintaining a Positive Working Culture
Leaders are encouraged to lead a positive working culture within their organizations and ensure a minimum blame level. Regarding this, leaders need to be accountable for their employees through proper communication and clarity in the decision-making procedures (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). They should also disseminate more precise instructions, especially when delegating tasks in a bid to develop accountability. The leaders ought to lead by example to show the staff under their command that they are part of an essential team. Through this motivation, both individual and team productivity and accountability are enhanced . Equally, there is a need for leaders in healthcare organization to create collaborative work culture to achieve set goals and objectives. Studies show that collaboration produces responsible people. For instance, it can lead to individuals willingly taking the blame for actions they are not accountable . It denotes the existence of a work environment where individuals act as their colleague’s keeper. Collaboration shuns enmity among employees and initiates togetherness which results in capacity building among the implementers.
In conclusion, when an organization encourages teams to thrive in accountability as well as a delegation of tasks, productivity is enhanced throughout the organization . Effective leaders are an essential part of the accountability development. By empowering employees through leader accountability and job performance, an organization can reap benefits and in turn becomes more respectable in the community it thrives.
References
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management : Elsevier Health Sciences.
Cimasi, R. J. (2013). Accountable Care Organizations: Value Metrics and Capital Formation . CRC Press.
Goldsmith, S. B. (2005). Principles of health care management: Compliance, consumerism, and accountability in the 21st century : Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Moseley III, G. B. (2013). Managing Legal Compliance in the Health Care Industry
; Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Stecher, B. M., Kirby, S. N., Barney, H., Pearson, M. L., & Chow, M. (2004). Organizational improvement and accountability: Lessons for education from other sectors . Rand Corporation.
