Organizational Culture and Values in Hospitals

Organizational Values

• Hospitals provide high-quality care while maintaining efficiency.
• Focusing on patients’ well-being and safety.
• Respectful environment supporting differing opinions and perspectives.
• Integrity in upholding legal and ethical standards.
• Ensuring availability of treatment and quality of service.
• Transparency and responsibility in any operational practices.

Organizational values in a medical facility are often focused on patient-centered care and upholding quality. This is done for both ethical and commercial purposes to uphold the reputation and operational capacity of a hospital. Furthermore, the management of health care organizations has shifted towards maintaining a respectful and transparent environment to increase staff productivity.

Nursing Values

• Nurses are expected to follow professional values.
• Values are instilled through academic and observational learning.
• Maintaining patient confidentiality and protecting right to privacy.
• Responsibility for meeting needs of diverse populations.
• Personal accountability for professional actions and practice.
• Role of nurses in shaping health care policy.

Nurses consider their professional ethical duty to be a critical part of the job. Values are a continuous part of education that comes with following standards and learning how to deal with various situations based on experience. The protection of patients and accountability for the provided care are the leading professional values amongst nurses (Poorchangizi, Farokhzadian, Abbaszadeh, Mirzaee, & Borhani, 2017)

Impact of Values on Nurse Engagement

• Nurses consider values directly correlated to clinical practices.
• Positive workplace environment increases RN engagement.
• Ability to voice opinion and shape health care policy.
• Professional respect from leaders and administration.
• Understanding accountability for patients’ well-being motivates.

Nurses spend a tremendous amount of time focused on their work which is inherently stressful. Organizations that promote a comfortable and respectful work environment see an increase in nurse engagement (Ruffin-Ellis, 2017). Furthermore, professional values which highlight the importance of ethical duty can motivate towards better performance.

Impact of Values on Patient Outcomes

• Positioned to improve quality of inpatient care.
• Require providing care to patients regardless of background.
• Increase level of trust and comfort from patients.
• Values are combined with evidence-based care.
• Patient-centered care engages patient participation.

The focus of health care facilities on patient-centered care makes many organizational and professional nursing values directly applicable to improving patient outcomes. This is done through providing non-discriminatory care with the goal to establish the trust and engagement with the patient.

Effective Communication Techniques

• Understanding emotions and experiences – showing empathy.
• Keep note of nonverbal communication and gestures.
• Practicing responsible, active listening with both patients and colleagues.
• Maintaining consistency and transparency to form trust.
• Properly react to any potential issues in communication.

Upkeeping effective communication for nurses should be focused on the interpersonal factor. A respectful and considerate attitude towards people will help to establish an open dialogue (Neese, 2015).

Communication and Collaboration Across Groups

• Multidisciplinary approach requires collaboration of multiple levels of staff.
• Effective communication prevents the “silo effect.”.
• Cooperation of teams help break down communication barriers.
• Communication helps to bond in multicultural groups.
• Two-way feedback encourages professional improvement.

In medical facilities operating with multidisciplinary teams and shift changes, it is critical to maintaining communication in order to collaborate on providing the best treatment. Despite having varying backgrounds and experiences, effective communication can reduce any barriers and improve overall performance (Epstein, 2014).

Communication and Effective Problem Solving

• Establishing trust and open channels of communication.
• Practicing good conflict management techniques.
• Considering varying perspectives and opinions.
• Seeking guidance from someone with experience.
• Actively developing a plan of action.

Nurses are faced with various challenges in their work that must be solved through active discussion. It is critical to consider various perspectives as it will help to approach problem-solving from different angles. Furthermore, disagreements may arise in the process which requires conflict management techniques to focus the discussion on the problem rather than personal judgments (Vertino, 2014).

Professional Experience (Aligned)

• Medical facility sought to implement educational programs.
• Staff had to participate in workshops.
• Emphasized effective multidisciplinary communication and leadership.
• Encouraged to communicate with each other and patients openly.
• Conflict resolution and culturally competent approach.

This is an example where an organization seeks to improve the workplace environment by encouraging communication and teaching proper interpersonal communication. It is beneficial to the nurses who seek self-improvement and the overall morale in the organization focusing on improving the quality of care.

Professional Experience (Non-aligned)

• Hospital restructured its management system to cut costs.
• Resulted in complicated management hierarchy.
• Ineffectiveness processes that burdened hospital operations.
• Poor supervisory culture and abuse of power.
• Nurses unable to voice concerns or input.

In a situation where the organizational values implemented by management are misaligned and ignorant of the nursing professional values, it creates a hostile environment. Organizations must consider the interests of its frontline workers before making any changes.

Impact on Nurse Engagement and Patient Outcomes

• Nurses showed more desire to collaborate after seminars.
• Patients reported improving service from nurses.
• Fewer communication barriers and misunderstandings amongst staff.
• Nurses felt professional values compromised with poor management.
• Lack of efficiency caused a decline in engagement and nurse health.
• Patients experienced extremely poor levels of care.

It is evident that organizational values and actions have a direct impact on the nurses’ ability to efficiently perform their job. Nurse engagement increases when there is visible support for their professional development, which directly reflects on patient outcomes.

References

Epstein, N. (2014). Multidisciplinary in-hospital teams improve patient outcomes: A review. Surgical Neurology International, 5(7), S295-S303. Web.

Neese, B. (2015). Effective communication in nursing: Theory and best practices. Web.

Poorchangizi, B., Farokhzadian, J., Abbaszadeh, A., Mirzaee, M., & Borhani, F. (2017). The importance of professional values from clinical nurses’ perspective in hospitals of a medical university in Iran. BMC Medical Ethics, 18(20). Web.

Ruffin-Ellis, V. (2017). How does organizational culture impact RN engagement? Web.

Vertino, K. (2014). Effective interpersonal communication: A practical guide to improve your life. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19(3). Web.