Summary of the Interview
The interview conducted was with an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN), who operates in New Jersey. The interview focused on understanding how health reforms have helped improve female reproductive health, as well as, trying to get an in-depth perspective into some of the underlying issues occurring in the branch of medicine. One key issue that was noted in the interview involved patient safety. The OB-GYN raised concerns on the issue of patient safety when dealing with female reproductive health. Among the key aspects addressed involved the extent of the issue in healthcare organizations and the measures implemented to curb the prevailing cases of issue. The OB-GYN presented details and statistical data concerning the impact of the issue in the healthcare industry. As a parting shot, the interviewee mentioned that the implementation of key leadership strategies and effective health reforms may help to handle the issue and create an improvement in reproductive health.
Issue Identified
The main issue identified is patient safety, which is a major concern in female reproductive health. Reproductive health involves delicate and complex aspects that include family planning, sexual, and maternal health, which are an important part of human life. When focusing on the issue of patient safety it is important to note that there are various risks associated with the provision of reproductive healthcare. The first aspect of patient safety includes risks of infection, which is an issue that may result in creating complications on the female reproductive organs. Most healthcare organizations fail to capitalize on patient safety, which is an aspect that results in increased infections among the patients who visit health facilities. In this case, hospital-acquired infections become a major safety issue for women who are prone to infections. The increasing concern of patient safety is attributed to the nature of processes and procedures implemented in reproductive health care.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Another crucial aspect of consideration entails the fact that most procedures in reproductive health are high-risk practices. For example, when providing maternal care, it is important to focus on the health of the fetus and the mother, which means that any kind of mistake would be a major risk. Most hospitals fail in the process of implementing strategies to protect patients against different kinds of risks. The issue of patient safety in reproduction health plays a significant role in increased morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and childbirth. Some of the notable aspects that result in increased issues concerning patient safety include inadequate skills from healthcare professionals, human errors, and lack of proper communication and cooperation strategies (Dekker, 2016). The mentioned aspects result in a situation where patients seeking reproductive health care are exposed to risks that could be prevented with the implementation of proper measures.
Potential Change Theories and Leadership Strategies
Dealing with the issue of patient safety in reproductive health care requires the implementation of strategies that enable an organization to focus on ensuring that the patient receives quality care. For an organization experiencing challenges regarding patient safety, it is important to capitalize on leadership strategies that enable all healthcare professionals to focus on promoting patient safety in the organization. Firstly, the implementation of change theory in a healthcare organization is important as it helps towards ensuring that a health organization applies effective measures to deal with patient safety. In healthcare organizations providing reproductive health, change theory helps leaders to focus on the implementation of new strategies that seek to provide solutions on the problem concerning the safety of the patients (Presseau et al., 2018). The implementation of the theory involves three main steps that include unfreezing, changing, and refreezing, which are necessary for creating a perception that change is needed to help in promoting positive practices in a healthcare facility.
Leadership strategies play a significant role in the implementation of change in a healthcare facility. Considering the issue identified concerning patient safety, it is important to note that change in organizational policies may help in the development of new techniques to ensure that patients seeking reproductive health remain safe. The first significant leadership strategy that may be implemented by the company to deal with the issue is training the healthcare professionals on the required skills that are necessary for handling patients. During the provision of reproductive health care, healthcare professionals need to have relevant skills to handle the patients and to undertake the high-risk procedures. Healthcare management should understand key factors that contribute to the risking of patient safety to engage in the proper implementation of measures and policies to ensure safety (Venkatesh, 2018). The provision of training on the methods and techniques to handle patients may help in addressing the issue of safety in reproductive health.
The second key strategy that may be implemented to address the issue in a healthcare organization is the implementation of new performance goals. In reproductive health care, performance is an important aspect that should act as a guide towards achieving a positive patient outcome. In that case, the obstetricians and gynecologists handling patients should focus on defining their new goals and objective to ensure that they engage in practices that aim at achieving the said goals and objectives. Additionally, defining new performance goals is an important aspect that helps towards enhancing change in a healthcare organization. The leadership strategy could ensure that all the relevant stakeholders in a healthcare organization work towards the achievement of the defined goals and objectives. The main objective that should guide healthcare organizations is to promote the safety of the patient, through the employment of strategies that prioritize the health of the patient.
Collaboration Approaches
Collaboration is an important measure that helps to improve the operations within a given working environment. In health care, collaboration would mean a situation where healthcare professionals work together towards the achievement of a stated goal. Collaboration helps in promoting proper decision making among healthcare professionals on issues concerning patient care. When focusing on the issue of patient safety in reproductive health, it is important to note that collaboration approaches may provide a suitable solution for the problem. The first collaboration approach that may be necessary is knowledge transfer and sharing. Obstetricians and gynecologist who are the primary caregivers in reproductive health should form a network that helps to promote sharing to create a platform for individual growth through increased knowledge. Health care professionals should be able to share the knowledge that is gained from experience. Sharing of knowledge is an important collaborative approach that helps to solve organization issues.
The second important collaboration approach involves team learning, which is a measure that focuses on promoting teamwork. In healthcare, teamwork is an important aspect that helps towards ensuring that all the stakeholders collaborate and work in a team. Teamwork helps to promote effective decision making, which helps to handle various challenges and issue that concern the healthcare industry (Karam, Brault, Van Durme, & Macq, 2018). When dealing with the issue of patient safety in reproductive health, it is important to note that teamwork may help in the development of ideas and strategies that may help to improve on the issue. Through the teams, the professionals may focus on defining measures that may help to deal with the issue and promote positive outcomes. The collaboration approach helps in the achievement of organizational goals considering that the teams work towards meeting the stated goals and objectives.
References
Dekker, S. (2016). Patient safety: a human factors approach . CRC Press.
Karam, M., Brault, I., Van Durme, T., & Macq, J. (2018). Comparing interprofessional and inter-organizational collaboration in healthcare: A systematic review of the qualitative research. International Journal of Nursing Studies , 79 , 70-83.
Presseau, J., Mackintosh, J., Hawthorne, G., Francis, J. J., Johnston, M., Grimshaw, J. M., ... & Elovainio, M. (2018). A cluster randomized controlled trial of a theory-based multiple behavior change intervention aimed at healthcare professionals to improve their management of type 2 diabetes in primary care. Implementation Science , 13 (1), 65.
Venkatesh, A. N. (2018). Leadership Strategies for Employee Engagement in Healthcare Organizations. American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences , 18-425.
