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Choose the two elements that you feel are the most difficult to achieve and provide one strategy for each that will make them achievable.

Choose the two elements that you feel are the most difficult to achieve and provide one strategy for each that will make them achievable.

Topic 8 DQ 2

A Just Culture is defined as a system characterized by shared accountability whereby an organization is responsible for the systems it has designed and responds to the employees’ behaviors in a fair and just manner. Creating a just culture in a healthcare organization encourages the healthcare providers to report errors and hazards, which eventually improves patient care (Fencl et al., 2021). In a just culture, leaders center not only on why an error occurred but also on the employee’s intent and then hold the employee responsible for the behavior.

The elements of a just culture that are most difficult to achieve include leader responsibility and staff responsibility. Leader responsibility involves the leader being accessible and approachable so that employees feel free to connect with their leaders and engage them in solving the challenges and barriers they face (Fencl et al., 2021). Leader responsibility is challenging to achieve because the leader has to lead by example, including admitting errors. Besides, it requires the leader to share failures they have encountered and lessons learned from the failures. However, a leader can achieve the element by establishing clear expectations for employees through direct communication, setting boundaries, and holding employees responsible for their behavior consistently (Fencl et al., 2021).

Staff responsibility entails all employees’ commitment to identifying safety gaps and developing process i

mprovements. It also involves employees being accountable for reporting adverse events and near misses as per an organizational policy (Fencl et al., 2021). It is often difficult to achieve staff responsibility where employees are accountable for safety due to the fear of punishment. Punitive measures used on employees when they report errors often create a culture of fear whereby the staff fear reporting errors for fear of punishment, thus limiting the achievement of staff responsibility (Paradiso & Sweeney, 2019). Nonetheless, staff responsibility can be achieved by adopting a high-reliability model (Fencl et al., 2021). In the model, when an employee spots a safety event or reports an error, the leader suspends the hierarchy of command and involves employees experienced in the subject matter.

References

Fencl, J. L., Willoughby, C., & Jackson, K. (2021). Just culture: the foundation of staff safety in the perioperative environment. AORN journal113(4), 329-336. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.13352

Paradiso, L., & Sweeney, N. (2019). Just culture: It’s more than policy. Nursing management50(6), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000558482.07815.ae

Just Culture and Culture of Safety

Health organizations operate in highly competitive, dynamic, and demanding environments. Their success largely depends on the safety, quality, and efficiency of care given to diverse populations. Organizational culture influences the care that organizations give and the employee experiences with their roles. Health organizations often strive to create a culture that promotes excellence in service delivery for the realization of optimum care outcomes and their mission and vision. Therefore, this essay examines just culture in my practice site and the factors that create a just culture and culture of safety in the organization. It also focuses on how the mission and vision align with the factors that create a just culture and culture of safety in the organization.

Description of the Selected Health Care Organization

The selected healthcare organization is my practice site. It is a tertiary hospital involved in the provision of general and specialized services to diverse populations. The organization ranks among the top ten leading institutions in the delivery of high-quality, safe, and efficient care to its populations. The organization has highly qualified employees who are competent in the delivery of high-quality and safe patient-centered care. Besides healthcare delivery, the organization also leads in the adoption of innovations in healthcare and advancing practice through research. The organization’s employees are highly motivated and dedicated to delivering the best possible, value-based care to their populations. Their dedication can be seen from the high level of patient satisfaction with the care they receive and the institution’s performance against the national benchmark data on the key indicators of healthcare safety and quality.

Factors that Create a Just Culture and Culture of Safety

The practice site has a just culture that promotes safety. A just culture refers to an organization’s culture that strives to balance the need for an open, honest reporting environment with quality learning and culture environments. Organizations with a just culture recognize the increased risk of employees committing errors and the use of approaches that would enhance learning and risk reduction in the future. The just culture environment requires health organizations to shift their focus from errors in the care process to new design and management systems and approaches that transform employees’ behavioral choices. A just culture promotes patient safety in the care process (Stemn et al., 2019). System and approach redesign in just culture encourages the use of best practices that protect patients from adverse events such as injuries, errors, and infections in the care process.

Several factors in the practice site contribute to a just culture and culture of safety. One of them is the organization’s dedication to transparency. The organization has embraced transparency in the implementation of new systems and approaches and in reporting incidents. Transparent approaches strengthen a just culture and culture of patient safety since non-punitive approaches are used in incident reporting. The focus is on learning from the incidents and identifying new strategies that can be used to improve patient outcomes and organizational change.  The organization’s leaders also use the best leadership approaches that contribute to the just culture and culture of patient safety. The leaders lead by example, which empowers the employees to adopt best practices in care delivery, error reporting, and learning from them (Aubin et al., 2022; Paradiso & Sweeney, 2019). Leading by example has also been effective in increasing the probability of employees reporting incidents, as it decreases fear of intimidation among them.

The organization has also implemented policies that support a just culture and culture of patient safety. Specifically, it has adopted and revises regularly the policies that relate to issues such as reporting adverse events, unsafe practices, and near-miss events by healthcare providers. The organization also reports, enforces, and ensures accessibility of the policies to the employees and other stakeholders to ensure the consistent use of practices that enhance safety.

The organization also uses data to track and make informed decisions on strategies to improve its just culture and culture of safety. Data on care indicators such as injuries, medical errors, and hospital-acquired infections guide the organization’s decisions on quality improvement initiatives (Paradiso & Sweeney, 2019). It also enables it to identify variations in practices and implement interventions that would standardize practices that ensure a just culture and safety in all of its departments.

The other factor that promotes a just culture and culture of safety in the practice site is the provision of employee educational and training opportunities. The organization recognizes the vital role that employee competency levels have on its culture and care safety. As a result, it offers regular education and training opportunities to its staff to strengthen safety and quality interventions used in care delivery. The training also strengthens the employees’ capacity to use strategies such as interprofessional collaboration and translation of best practices into clinical use for improved outcomes (Bendermacher et al., 2021). The additional strategies such as regular assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing systems and approaches have also been effective in creating a just culture and safety culture in the organization.

How the Mission and Vision Align with the Factors that Create a Just Culture and Culture of Safety

The organization’s mission and vision align with the above factors that create a just culture and culture of safety. A mission statement communicates the reasons for an organization’s existence. The practice site’s mission statement is to provide high-quality, safe, and efficient care that promotes health and optimum functioning for the affected populations and families. A vision statement encompasses the organization’s future aspirations and purpose in its market. The practice site’s vision is to be a leader in healthcare innovation, research, and advancing medicine for population health.

The organization’s mission and vision statements align with the factors that create a just culture and safety culture. First, the provision of high-quality, safe, and efficient care requires the adoption of best practices and continuous quality improvement in the organization. The organization must also use data to track the effectiveness of its strategies in facilitating the realization of its mission and vision. For example, tracking data on hospital-acquired infections informs about the effectiveness of quality improvement initiatives, which creates a safety culture in the organization. The organization’s focus on being a leader in healthcare innovation, research, and advancing medicine depends on factors such as effective leadership, transparency, and the development of employee competencies. Strategies such as the provision of education and training opportunities and leading by example are effective in creating a culture of excellence in the organization (Paradiso & Sweeney, 2019). The culture underpins the outcomes of a just culture, safety culture, and the realization of the organization’s mission and vision statements.

Conclusion

In summary, the practice site has a just culture and a culture of safety. Several organizational factors such as transparency, effective leadership, and use of data promote a just culture and culture of safety. The organization’s mission and vision align with the factors that promote a just culture and a culture of safety. Therefore, the organization’s focus should be on continuous quality improvement to drive the desired outcomes in its service delivery.

 

 

References

Aubin, D. L., Soprovich, A., Carvallo, F. D., Prowse, D., & Eurich, D. (2022). Support for healthcare workers and patients after medical error through mutual healing: Another step towards patient safety. BMJ Open Quality, 11(4), e002004. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2022-002004

Bendermacher, G. W. G., Dolmans, D. H. J. M., de Grave, W. S., Wolfhagen, I. H. A. P., & oude Egbrink, M. G. A. (2021). Advancing quality culture in health professions education: Experiences and perspectives of educational leaders. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 26(2), 467–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-020-09996-5

Paradiso, L., & Sweeney, N. (2019). Just culture. Nursing Management, 50(6), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000558482.07815.ae

Stemn, E., Bofinger, C., Cliff, D., & Hassall, M. E. (2019). Examining the relationship between safety culture maturity and safety performance of the mining industry. Safety Science, 113, 345–355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2018.12.008

  Excellent Good Fair Poor
Main Posting 45 (45%) – 50 (50%)

Answers all parts of the discussion question(s) expectations with reflective critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module and current credible sources.

 

Supported by at least three current, credible sources.

 

Written clearly and concisely with no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.

40 (40%) – 44 (44%)

Responds to the discussion question(s) and is reflective with critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

 

At least 75% of post has exceptional depth and breadth.

 

Supported by at least three credible sources.

 

Written clearly and concisely with one or no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.

35 (35%) – 39 (39%)

Responds to some of the discussion question(s).

 

One or two criteria are not addressed or are superficially addressed.

 

Is somewhat lacking reflection and critical analysis and synthesis.

 

Somewhat represents knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

 

Post is cited with two credible sources.

 

Written somewhat concisely; may contain more than two spelling or grammatical errors.

 

Contains some APA formatting errors.

0 (0%) – 34 (34%)

Does not respond to the discussion question(s) adequately.

 

Lacks depth or superficially addresses criteria.

 

Lacks reflection and critical analysis and synthesis.

 

Does not represent knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

 

Contains only one or no credible sources.

 

Not written clearly or concisely.

 

Contains more than two spelling or grammatical errors.

 

Does not adhere to current APA manual writing rules and style.

Main Post: Timeliness 10 (10%) – 10 (10%)

Posts main post by day 3.

0 (0%) – 0 (0%) 0 (0%) – 0 (0%) 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)

Does not post by day 3.

First Response 17 (17%) – 18 (18%)

Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.

 

Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.

 

Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

15 (15%) – 16 (16%)

Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

13 (13%) – 14 (14%)

Response is on topic and may have some depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed.

 

Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited.

0 (0%) – 12 (12%)

Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are missing.

 

No credible sources are cited.

Second Response 16 (16%) – 17 (17%)

Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.

 

Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.

 

Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

14 (14%) – 15 (15%)

Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

12 (12%) – 13 (13%)

Response is on topic and may have some depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed.

 

Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited.

0 (0%) – 11 (11%)

Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are missing.

 

No credible sources are cited.

Participation 5 (5%) – 5 (5%)

Meets requirements for participation by posting on three different days.

0 (0%) – 0 (0%) 0 (0%) – 0 (0%) 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)

Does not meet requirements for participation by posting on 3 different days.

Total Points: 100

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For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

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Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

  • Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
  • There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
  • Include in-text citations in your response
  • Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
  • Follow APA-7th edition
  • Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

  • A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
  • Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
  • Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
  • Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
  • Follow APA 7th edition
  • Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
  • Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
  • Here are some helpful links
  • Student paper example
  • Citing Sources
  • The Writing Center is a great resource