Topic 2: Health Care Culture

Topic 2: Health Care Culture

Culture can be described as incorporated patterns of human behavior comprising thoughts, language, communications, beliefs, customs, values, actions, and institutions of ethnic, racial, social, or religious groups. All organizations have a defined culture which includes the practices, values, and expectations that inform and direct the actions of all employees (Henke et al., 2019). A culture is developed through constant and reliable behaviors rather than policy documents. In this regard, this paper will describe health care culture, including a culture of excellence and safety, principles to create a culture of excellence and safety, and how the Christian worldview can enhance ethical practices.

Health Care Culture

A healthcare culture defines human behavior patterns comprising the thoughts, language, communicatio

ns, customs, values, beliefs, actions, and institutions of the health care system. Health care system’s behavior patterns that are acquired and socially conveyed include language, customs, and traditions. Henke et al. (2019) explain that healthcare culture champions healthy, equitable communities and affects decision-making in private and public sectors. In a healthcare culture, every person is given a chance to make decisions that promote healthy lifestyles.

Culture of Excellence

A culture of excellence refers to one that aims for the highest quality results and will not give in for average results. It involves focusing on accomplishing results that have never been attained, achieving extraordinary results, and breaking records (Arthurs et al., 2018). A culture of excellence involves and empowers all the employees in an organization to think divergently in a modern vision that suits the challenging and evolving times the organization faces. Creating a culture of excellence in healthcare necessitates transformational leadership, strategic planning, and effective change management.

Culture of Safety

A culture of safety refers to a culture where an organization’s common values, perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes develop a commitment to safety and efforts to mitigate harm. The safety culture concept was derived outside health care in high-reliability organizations that constantly reduce adverse events in spite of engaging in complex and risky work (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2019). High reliable organizations are highly dedicated to maintain high safety levels by all employees. The commitment creates a culture of safety characterized by a blame-free working environment where employees can report errors or near misses with no fear of punishment or reprimand (AHRQ, 2019). An organization that fosters a safety culture acknowledges the high-risk nature of its activities and the efforts to attain constantly safe operations. It encourages collaboration across disciplines and ranks to identify solutions to safety challenges.

Principles for Building a Culture of Excellence and Safety

A culture of excellence and safety in healthcare organizations can be created through various principles, including communication, training, and rewards and incentives. Effective communication is essential to creating and upholding a culture of excellence and safety (Antonsen, 2017). Organizational leaders should support open and respectful communication among employees and encourage them to give and receive constructive feedback.  Effective communication is vital in supporting teamwork and coordination in the organization.  An organization’s staff become conversant with and part of its safety culture through communication (Antonsen, 2017). Ineffective communication from top-level leaders can lead to leaders saying one thing but doing something different.

Consequently, the staff use a lot of their time and energy trying to understand the contradictory messages conveyed by their leaders. The unceasing discrepancies in formal and informal communications can contribute to the staff having a pessimistic perceptive of formal communications. This can cause futile formal communication and weaken an organization’s goal of maintaining a culture of excellence and safety. In a culture of excellence and safety, communication takes top-down and upward patterns, encouraging employ