Management of organization culture is increasingly becoming necessary in improving the performance and effectiveness of healthcare organizations. Critical shifts in behavior are necessary for implementing the desired change in the healthcare systems. The culture change policies developed should, therefore, stimulate people to adopt new ways of doing things. Additionally, the change initiatives should honor the strengths of the existing culture and use it as a platform to launch reforms that are essential to improving the quality of healthcare. An effective culture change initiative should clearly articulate reasons for the change, expected results, the route that the change will take and the role each will play (Bob, 2011). This paper will focus on the strategies for implementing effective patient safety culture in healthcare organizations. Patient safety is a critical factor in enhancing quality care in the health care system. The impact of implementing patient safety culture in healthcare organizations, nursing and the major competencies of nurse executive roles will be articulated.
Strategy Description
Patient safety culture is an important component of the health care quality. Patient safety culture refers to the general behavior of individuals and healthcare organizations that is based on a set of beliefs and values meant to reduce the opportunities for patient harm (Ronald, 2005). Several high-profile accidents across the world are attributed to lack of effective patient safety culture in healthcare facilities. For instance, 14 patients died at J.J Group of Hospitals in India as a result of administration of contaminated glycerol (Visvanthan, 1999). Moreover, administration of Hepatitis B Vaccine instead of Polio Vaccine in West Bengal (Nagral, 2012) clearly demonstrates the negative effects of lack of patient safety culture. Investigations of such incidences alone will not help unless the attitudes and beliefs of the healthcare workers regarding patient safety are established.
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Safety and efficient care, therefore, require that all the respective elements of the healthcare system are integrated. This will ensure seamless flow of activities and information within the health care system. The interactions between the elements determine patient safety to a great extent. As such, incorporation of an effective patient safety culture in healthcare teams is essential in improving the quality of healthcare in organizations.
Safety should be incorporated as a visible design element in the system as a shared leadership accountability at the highest level in the organization structure. Accountability in patient care will ensure that instance of adverse events are reported promptly without people being blamed when mistakes occur. This approach ensures that valuable lessons are learned to prevent further occurrences in the future. Consistent application of improved methods of handling patients by the healthcare personnel will lead to improvement in the quality of care. Therefore, the opportunities for the occurrence of adverse events are significantly reduced hence promoting patient safety. Furthermore, the culture change should respect and value the contribution and perspective of individuals.
It is, therefore, important to incorporate patient safety culture in all the respective roles played by nurses in healthcare organization to improve the welfare of patients. This is because nurses are the primary care providers who spend most of their time in direct patient care activities than any other healthcare professional. As such, nurses should be provided with the knowledge tools and resources to enable them to lead the safety agenda. This will ensure that the patient’s family is involved in the provision of patient-centered care with an objective of sharing an understanding and aligning perception and reality of the care process.
Patient safety culture assessment is important in healthcare organizations; it helps in planning intervention programs to prevent adverse events relating to patient safety. The key areas that determine the success of a patient safety culture are teamwork, communication about errors, continuous improvement, management support, staffing and non-punitive responses to errors. Therefore, healthcare organizations should facilitate the success of the patient safety culture by effectively communicating their commitment through action. The necessary resources should be availed to the nurses to promote the safety agenda.
Impact on Healthcare Organization
Patient safety culture has a great influence in the improvement of health care quality of the organization. The policies and procedures designed and implemented will facilitate transparency and establishment of accountability infrastructure. Executive staff will be visible in living safety as a core value as a result of shared vision and plan. Therefore, the organizations will be able to identify risks inherent in its population, thus, establishing the appropriate intervention measures to improve patient safety (Hines et al., 2008).
Patient safety culture facilitates increased executive leadership interaction on patient safety issues. This will ensure that the safety agenda is enhanced in the entire healthcare system of an organization. The resources necessary for the implementation of the desired changes in the system will be availed by the executives because of the shared commitment to improve patient safety. Shared commitment and teamwork in healthcare organizations enable achievement of the desired goals effectively.
Communication is an important aspect that influences the quality of care in a healthcare organization. Patient safety culture increases the amount and quality of communication among staff regarding the changes made after incidences are reported. The skills regarding communication of anticipated outcomes are enhanced, therefore, facilitating the development of proper intervention measures to prevent adverse outcomes. Furthermore, effective communication improves teamwork among nurses in the organization; hence, leading to efficiency in the delivery of quality healthcare services.
Patient safety culture enables development of safety-enforcement policies. Proper dissemination and understanding of critical policies and implications of failure to comply will enable the healthcare teams to focus on improving service delivery. The existence of enforcement frameworks provides directions and clarity regarding the organization's purpose as far as patient safety is concerned. Therefore, it is important to have appropriate guidelines regarding patient safety to enhance the reliability of healthcare facilities.
Patient safety culture facilitates the implementation of processes that are convenient for broad staff participation. This, therefore, ensures that safety becomes everyone’s responsibility in the healthcare organization. The prevalence of blame regarding mistakes will be eliminated because there will be a seamless flow of information necessary for reducing the instances of adverse occurrences. It is important also to recognize that the patient safety culture outlines the role played by every individual during implementation.
Patient safety culture ensures that all the stakeholders in the care process are engaged. Patients and families are engaged through the creation of a patient safety brochure that encourages them to be more involved in the care process and ensure that all the matters are laid clear. This will also encourage valuable feedback from the patients and their family regarding the quality of care given. Technological service providers and the community should also be involved accordingly in the provision of care.
The progress of the care provided can easily be monitored and evaluated through a validated culture of safety survey instrument to measure progress. Therefore, the managers and staff are provided with the tools that assist them in establishing the expectations for improvements in the healthcare system. The reports are shared objectively throughout the organization; hence, facilitating transparency. This is important in establishing the gaps in the care process that need strengthening to improve the welfare of the patients in the hospital.
Patient safety culture will lead to the creation of an annual patient safety award to recognize outstanding teamwork in making patient care safer. As such, the patient safety culture assessment will provide the baseline for the rewards. The individual competencies, as well as teamwork, are enhanced in the healthcare environment. This will enable the creation of awareness regarding the importance of patient safety initiatives throughout the organization. Individual perspectives and contributions are identified and enhanced through continuous development. Improvements in the provision of healthcare based on empirical evidence will reduce the occurrence of error as a result of mistakes by healthcare personnel hence improving the quality of healthcare.
Shared leadership will be initiated in healthcare organizations as a result of patient safety culture. All the players in the provision of care will participate in the decision-making process. This ensures that all the personnel appreciate the essence of the culture. Their commitment toward the accomplishment of the goals relating to the culture will be enhanced through collective responsibility and accountability. Therefore, there will be improved effectiveness in communication among caregivers. Additionally, healthcare associated infections will be reduced significantly as well as improvement in the accuracy of patient identification.
Impact on Nursing
Patient safety culture enhances leadership competencies among nurses. The nurses develop leadership skills through teamwork and empowerment from the organization executives. The individual sense of responsibility that is embodied in the concept of patient safety culture will help develop leadership qualities among the caregivers (De Wet et al., 2010). Decision-making skills among nurses will be developed through decentralized roles in decision making regarding various approaches that can be used to contribute to patient safety effectively.
The framework and structures associated with patient safety culture motivate the nurses to contribute fully to the efforts of ensuring patient safety. The satisfaction that the nurses get after the success of patient safety and intervention plans increases their confidence. This improves their efficiency and critical thinking skills in the face of challenges in the care process.
Patient safety culture provides a transparent environment where nurses can freely share information regarding safety. This enhances their experience as well as ensuring that errors are reported promptly. The lessons learned from mistakes are shared effectively and thereafter used to develop effective criteria for managing safety in the hospital. Teamwork and understanding is also enhanced among the caregivers through openness and experience sharing.
Patient safety culture also models professional behavior by enhancing personal responsibility and accountability in the care process. The nurses are able to identify with the values and ideals of the profession by accessing information that is essential for developing their careers. Important professional experience can be shared among the nurses in a way that will influence the provision of standardized care.
Nurses acquire valuable communication and reporting skills which are essential in the provision of quality care to patients. The process of sharing valuable information and error reporting enhance the required skills in the career of nurses (Xue, 2013). Nurses will, therefore, be able to articulate issues objectively with regard to professional guidelines. As such, the nurses will be able to appreciate the importance of patient feedback in the process of improving patient safety in healthcare organizations.
Moreover, patient safety culture will enable nurses to develop a continuous learning mindset. The continuous information sharing facilitates knowledge acquisition. The nurses, therefore, will appreciate the dynamic nature of the healthcare system whereby research leads to improvement of healthcare practices progressively. The nurses will undergo the job training to acquire skills to improve service delivery and efficiency.
The aspect of adaptability in nurses will be enhanced by the existence of a patience safety culture. As such, the nurses are able to adapt effectively to the ever-changing demands of the healthcare system regarding patient safety. This is because the policies and procedures regarding patient safety are regularly updated according to the existing needs.
Major Competencies and Standards of the Nurse Executive Role
The nurse executives should be in a position to lead the process of culture change. They are at the top of the management of the other employees, and they should appear as role models. Therefore, there will be a need for leadership skills necessary to influence the desired behavior among the healthcare team members. The members of the healthcare team should be told the reason for the change. This is to enable them to accept the changes without a doubt. Moreover, the nurse executives should appreciate the existing culture and suggest a culture change that will improve the quality of care (Moore, 2004). Nonetheless, the nurse executives should articulate the expected results and the route that will be taken to achieve the desired results. The role of each team member should be outlined.
Nurse executives should be good decision makers who can analyze information and give the appropriate course of action to other nurses. The information regarding an error in the process of care should be used to provide a baseline for rectification and further improvements of the process. The nurse executives should allow all the team members to communicate their perspectives and views regarding a subject matter.
In addition, nurse executives should also provide shared leadership. They should be in a position to define the role of the nurse at a leadership table. They should also integrate safety into every activity of the organization. The nurse executives should develop systems and processes that recognize the variations that exist and the potential for error (Hawley et al., 2007). Finally, the nurse executive should always acknowledge the contributions of each of the team members despite the varying needs and wants as they are essential for effective group functioning.
Teamwork is an important aspect regarding the role of the nurse executive in implementing patient safety culture. He should be in a position to collaborate with the team members to accomplish organization goals. He should appreciate the contribution of every individual and encourage team building. The decision-making process should be a collective one to promote transparency.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that patient safety culture is crucial for the improvement of the health care quality. Organizations should have a patient safety culture in place to ensure that the opportunities for patient harm reduce significantly. The existence of a patient safety culture improves the reliability of healthcare organizations. Nursing executives play a pivotal role in implementing an effective patient safety culture in healthcare organizations.
References
Bob, H. 2011. Shifting Cultures: A Change Management Guide for Hospital Leaders. Becker’s Hospital Review
De Wet, C., Johnson, P., Bowie, P., 2010. Measuring Perceptions of Safety Climate in Primary Care: A Cross-Sectional Study. Evaluation Clinical Practice Journal
Hawley, R, Molgaard, A, Ablah E., Manske, E., Romain, T. 2007. Academic- practice partnerships for community health workforce development. Journal of Community Health Nursing
Hines, S., Luna K., Lofthus, J., .2008. Becoming a High Reliability Organization: Operational Advice for Hospital Leaders . AHRQ Publication
Moore, D.W., 2004. Nurses top list in honesty and ethics poll. The Gallup Organization .
Nagral, S., 2012. Fire in a hospital. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
Visvanthan, S .1999 . The Great Indian Novel: The Lentin Report. Economic and Political Weekly 34
Xue, W., Liu, K. 2013. The Relationship Between Patient Safety Culture and Adverse Events. International Journal of Nursing Studies.
