Health Care Culture
Health care is a complex system with various factors interconnected, and that influences the access and provision of health care. Health care is known to be a system always associated with maintenance and improvement of the health of people and the community as a whole through practices such as prevention, treatment, and management of illnesses and injuries. The healthcare professionals thus have to work within a particular framework to ensure that these services are delivered to the community and patient population effectively. The elements within this framework determine and influence what is regarded as normal and acceptable within the care system hence forming what is known as health care culture. This essay will hence discuss the various fundamental factors associated with health care culture.
The health care system encompasses various factors that work together or independently to ensure that there is quality care provision. It is thus always evident that healthcare professionals often embrace certain attitudes and behaviors as part of their daily practice, and it is these that form the health care culture. Health care culture refers to the social behavior and norms that guide healthcare professional’s knowledge, behaviors, habits, and values in offering care to the patient population (Lawati et al., 2018). In other terms, health care culture entails the numerous factors that influence the ways care providers approach their different roles and responsibilities regarding preventing, treating, and managing illnesses that affect patients and the community in which they operate. The key factors that influence the health care culture are safety and excellence. Edmonson and Asturi (2015) stated that nursing care is grounded on the culture of excellence because it is by pursuing excellence in attitude and practice that care practitioners can improve quality and safety through compassion, dignity, and respect. Lawati et al. (2018) highlighted that the culture of safety describes the core values and behaviors aimed at reducing or eliminating errors or injuries that can cause adverse effects on the patients. The culture of safety and excellence can thus be regarded as the backbones of care delivery.
One of the key principles for building a culture of excellence and safety is the commitment of leadership to excellence. The management and the leadership always have the most substantial influence on organizational culture by uniting all groups to commit to and pursue a common objective. Dans et al. (2017) mentioned that leadership commitment to the right practices in an organization must be expressed through actions that can be observed by the staff. In other terms, this means that the organizational leaders must continually set the pace of pursuing excellence and safety in healthcare by ensuring that excellence and safety are addressed as priorities in strategic plans and organizational policies. At the same time, leaders can achieve this by reinforcing norms and offering incentives for desired behaviors. The other principle for building a culture of excellence and safety is empowering the employees and engaging them in ongoing vigilance. It is crucial to understand that leaders and managers cannot always oversee infinite activities in a care institution. It is because of this that care personnel are empowered with the right skills, knowledge, and opportunities to be on the lookout of any event that affects quality care provision.
As mentioned, the health care system is complex with numerous factors and forces in play to ensure that there is a quality provision of care. It means that the care system is made of various stakeholders whose roles overlap each other to ensure coordinated practice. Stakeholders refer to a wide range of individuals and organizations that play a part in the provision of care, and these include caregivers, nurses and doctors, policymakers, and advocacy groups (Leviton & Melichar, 2016). The caregivers and nurses play a crucial role in improving the health care culture because they are both the agents and the advocates for quality care. The caregivers offer support to patients in a patient-centered manner. At the same time, the caregivers serve as advocates by being the voice of the patients in issues affecting the access to quality care. Nurses and doctors are responsible for implementing the health care culture by practicing excellence and safety in the process of treating and managing conditions affecting the patients. Policymakers, on the other hand, play a key role in establishing a framework of practices that must be adhered to as a means of creating a culture unique to healthcare. Lastly, agency groups ensure that the policies governing health care culture are implemented and adhered to accordingly to increase the quality provision of care.
The Christian worldview refers to the coherent way of perceiving life and interpreting ideas and actions based on the principles established by Jesus Christ. According to Cuellar De la Cruz and Robinson (2017), Christ-centered care promotes the servant-leadership attitude among care practitioners, which then reminds them that their profession in nursing is a call to provide selfless and quality care services. The Christian worldview principles would offer a framework that guides a health care organization to remind the practitioners on the need to embrace excellence and integrity in every practice, whether it is directed to the patients or the other staff members. The Christian worldview principles can hence be used by health care organizations in enhancing ethical practices grounded in compassion and stewardship along the lines of integrity and excellence.
One of the ways that the integration of faith, learning, and work at GCU can be implemented by individuals to enhance the health care culture is by incorporating a Christian worldview in the services offered by the health care organization. This will help in fostering an attitude towards work grounded on Christian principles such as compassion and stewardship when interacting with each other and patients. The other way that this integration can be implemented by people to improve the health care culture is through having life groups like those that are present at GCU. Life groups will be a place that the organizational members can form relationships and support each other while learning to develop a better understanding of the Christ-perspective and Biblical principles.
In conclusion, health care culture is crucial in steering the care practices in the right direction. Health care culture entails the social behavior and norms that govern the attitudes, values, and behaviors of the care practitioners. The primary features of the health care culture are safety and excellence, and it is these that influence the approaches that nurses take when treating and managing illnesses affecting patients and the community at large. Nonetheless, various stakeholders play significant roles in establishing the desired culture, but at the same time, it is advisable that the implementation of care culture should be rooted in the Biblical principles. It is in doing so that the health care culture embrace the Christian worldview guided by compassion, stewardship, and integrity.