Communication is the ultimate key to success, collaboration, efficiency, and best outcomes in practically every industry. It is especially relevant in healthcare which focuses on human interaction and has complex mechanisms of care as well as a number of involved stakeholders and professionals, applying to everything from a simple doctor’s visit to enacting health policy. Communication is beneficial for organizational culture by promoting cooperation and coordination, often necessary for treatment by interprofessional teams.
It allows for a coordinated approach of shared decision-making around patient health and social issues that the industry deals with (Körner, Wirtz, Bengel, & Göritz, 2015). It is important for a professional to learn and practice communication alongside other elements of interpersonal interaction, such as respect and understanding of both patients and other professionals. This will allow providing the most accurate and helpful care as well as establish oneself as a professional capable of working with various individuals.
Flexibility is more of a personal trait than one of an organization. However, if each professional individual demonstrates healthy flexibility, the workplace culture will improve significantly. For example, through flexibility, staff can adapt to difficult situations of the healthcare environment that are constantly shifting and changing, ranging from medical cases to the introduction of new technologies and processes. As an individual, one’s career will benefit tremendously from flexibility as one can demonstrate adaptability and potentially excel in several skills or specializations that would make one an asset to the health organization.
Integrity is a complex concept that includes principles and values, consistency of actions, honesty, and trustworthiness, and accountability. It is the vital link between professionalism and ethics in healthcare. In medicine, where patients’ health and wellbeing are dependent on the actions of professionals, integrity is vital to the core of the rightful practice. In modern times, when healthcare has become a large organization, personal integrity can be absolutely vital to maintain the humanity of the professional. In an organizational culture that values integrity, there is more openness, and the entity will be more ethical and practice social virtue. For example, the culture will allow to be honest with patients and provide the best care despite their background or financial capabilities.
Ethical behavior is an integral aspect of healthcare, on which many patient care theories have been developed and something that is protected by law and policy. Since healthcare deals with the utmost private aspects of patients’ well-being and information, professionals are expected to act ethically in a manner that would not violate their patients or abuse power over vulnerabilities. Ethical challenges arise consistently in healthcare, and workplace culture with ethical behavior can address them in a respectful manner with accountability and adherence to regulations (Rushton, 2016).
In terms of career, understanding and practicing ethical behavior is necessary to receive and upkeep one’s license and follow laws, as well as receive positive overviews from HR and other entities that monitor ethical practice.
Critical thinking skills are a soft skill that can be a highly valuable competency, particularly in healthcare where the diagnosis of patients is not always straightforward and requires a combination of knowledge and logic. Critical thinking is the basis of innovation and problem-solving, thus a workplace culture should promote critical thinking as a whole. This may include providing employees with the necessary resources to develop critical thinking skills as well as managers that promote challenges and outside-the-box thinking.
It is an aspect that helps to avoid major errors in practice as well, making it significant in healthcare where mistakes can be dangerous for patient well-being (Sisodia & Agarwal, 2017). Critical thinking can help one to climb the career ladder as it is a skill valuable in leaders and top executives, ones that are able to manage multiple inputs and find solutions to highly complex situations.
References
Körner, M., Wirtz, M. A., Bengel, J., & Göritz, A. S. (2015). Relationship of organizational culture, teamwork and job satisfaction in interprofessional teams. BMC Health Services Research, 15(1). Web.
Rushton, C. H. (2016). Creating a culture of ethical practice in health care delivery systems. Hastings Center Report, 46(1), S28–S31. Web.
Sisodia, S., & Agarwal, N. (2017). Employability skills essential for healthcare industry. Procedia Computer Science, 122, 431–438. Web.