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

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 journal, 113(4), 329-336. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.13352