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How will you address each area and improve understanding, collaboration, motivation, and positive attitude?

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Conflict may occur in any work environment, whether it is in the clinical setting, another department, or another organization. It is important to understand how conflict arises and how conflict is managed through effective communication.

The behavior of a leader has a direct impact on the motivation of his or her team. It is crucial for a leader to understand how his or her behavior and conflict-handling ability impact the care of patients.

Here is a scenario of a leader who is willing to handle conflicts in his or her workplace.

You are promoted to a management position in a small organization. There are four full-time members and three part-time members. You have a department manager currently overseeing the operations. You are excited to begin with your new assignment and have completed orientation. You heard some rumblings from the staff development team, “You have your work cut out for you in this department!” It does not sound promising, yet you are filled with energy, a positive attitude but a bit concerned as you do not want to appear bossy. You lack a bit of confidence since they are seasoned team members and you are new to the organization.

Once you begin your first day, you decide to meet with everyone as a group and individually over the next few days. What you are uncovering is disturbing and you quickly realize that the team members have lots of conflicts within the department. In a nutshell, this is what you have discovered:

  • The department manager thinks she is in charge since clients, customers, or patients have specialized needs. She is stern faced and does not seem to smile, yet she does not admit it is her or her department’s fault if there is an error. She seems to enjoy the increasing conflict among the unit as it takes any “pressure” off her and she can continue to “tell people what to do.”
  • Two full-time administrative staff members do not like each other and refuse to work together. One feels the other cooks “strange food” and cannot understand her when she speaks, and she is too quiet. The other staff member feels the first one is too outspoken and not gracious and hurries through her assignments. They share a small office and their work is critical to the success of the organization as they oversee all billing, accounts payable and receivable, and schedule the large projects and services to other organizations. The rest of the staff members avoid going to this office as the tension is clearly increased in this room.
  • The part-time staff feel they are not being offered any extra shifts and sometimes they are asked not to come to work if the day is slow. They feel they are not valued and are demotivated by less pay. This is a critical time for them due to the economy crisis. When they are at work, they often bring their home problems with them and seem stressed when they have to work with the other team members.

Answer the following questions:

  • How will you address each area and improve understanding, collaboration, motivation, and positive attitude?
  • How does emotional intelligence play a role in encouraging the staff to cooperate and to be willing to make behavior changes?
  • What behavior theory will you research to develop your thoughts when you speak to each staff member?
  • How important is decreasing overall conflict in the workplace?
  • How can you develop a win-win approach?

Discuss the future of public health and how your selected issue will affect the people of the United States.

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As discussed throughout this course, there are many factors that contribute to the success of an effective public health response. A prompt response, accurate documentation of the event, and communication with both personnel and the public are intertwined. Once the event has passed the critical stage and disaster recovery begins, a thorough evaluation needs to be completed to reflect on what went well and what did not. These evaluations will provide crucial information to public health professionals to improve performance for the next disaster.

You have learned more about public health issues, environmental factors, behavioral health and wellness, immunization, and social determinants of health. In this assignment, you will research and develop a PowerPoint presentation to address the future of public health and the implications of public health issues for future generations.

Select a current public health issue. You can select an issue addressed in this course or one of your choice (e.g., chronic diseases, immunization, obesity, heart disease, and/or an environmental issue). Identify at least five scholarly resources (peer-reviewed references) to support your assertions. Analyze the current status of your selected issue to determine how this issue will impact the future of public health including the implications for future generations and public health involvement.

Include the following in your presentation:

  • Describe the problem and how the issue has been addressed. List the advantages and disadvantages of the method(s) used to address it. Explore how you might handle these components and include three reasonable approaches to address the issue.
  • Discuss the future of public health and how your selected issue will affect the people of the United States.
  • Describe how this situation might be handled in a different manner. Recommend ways by which public health involvement can improve handling of the issue in future occurrences and identify some examples to change the status quo.
  • Support your statements using scholarly literature and evidence-based information from at least five authoritative resources.
  • Be sure to state major points clearly and support with specific details, examples, or analysis.

Analyze how political arenas (government, workplace, professional organizations, and community) shape health care delivery.

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Organizational Structure, Strategic Planning

Care Delivery Models, Safety Culture

Learning Objectives

Module I concentrates on the following course outcomes—

· Analyze how political arenas (government, workplace, professional organizations, and community) shape health care delivery.

o The concept of the organization is introduced to provide context to the planning component of nursing management. Mission, philosophy, vision and values are discussed as impacting the nurse’s practice. Planning patient care in specific team configurations is also discussed.

Federal and consumer directives have forced healthcare organizations to examine current practice models and both organizational structures and processes that account for increasing efforts to develop models and systems that contribute to patient safety. Patient safety is at the forefront of issues for organizations and efforts have begun to identify safety culture dimensions.

The importance of communication within the organization and specifically within structured work teams is discussed. Typical patterns of communication are identified.

Reading Assignment

Sullivan: Chapters 1, 2, 3

Supplemental Readings (See Resources Section)

Beyea, S. C. (2005). High reliability theory and high reliable organizations. AORN Journal. 81(6), 1319-1322.

Cooke, H. (2009). Theories of risk and safety: what is their relevance to nursing? Journal of Nursing Management. 17:256-264.

Air Safety Support International. (2006) Safety Culture. Available at: http://www.airsafety.aero/safety_development/sms/safety_culture/ (Links to an external site.)Accessed July 25, 2012

Overview

Understanding the organizational context of professional nursing practice is an important part of leadership and management. The nurse will participate in determining the most effective strategic plan for implementing care at the bedside or for an entire patient population of a facility. Other contextual factors include the mission, vision and philosophy and organizational culture of the organization. It is important for the nurse to know the mission and vision of the organization and have a philosophy that is consistent with that of the organization in order to support its efforts. Organizational structure relates to how work is organized and and provides for how work is communicated. Classic organizational structures include centralized, decentralized, matrix and combinations of these types. Centralized organizations (tall, with many layers) tend to have decision making at the “top.” While, decentralized organizations (flat) have decision making closer to the level of care. The military is an example of a centralized organization. Modern healthcare have moved toward a more type flat type of structure with decentralization and shared decision making. A concept appropriate to professional personnel. The organizational chart defines chain of command, line versus staff positions, and span of control. These are key concepts to know for this course. System’s Theory, Humanistic Theory, Chaos Theory, Contingency Theory and Complexity Theory are theoretical frameworks used to guide the processes within an organization. Cultural Diversity within organizations relates to both care provider and recipient. The changing demographics require non-biased understanding and appreciation of the difference of others.

Safety Culture has become a major issue for organizations since the IOM report in 1999 citing thousands of hospital errors and patient deaths and establishing a culture of safety has become a healthcare priority. Safety culture has its origin in high risk organizations such. Health care organizations are considered high risk organizations similar to aviation, nuclear plants and chemical process industry. Organizations that perform successfully under exigent conditions are termed high reliable organizations (HRO). Characteristics of high reliable organizations include for example: 1) preoccupation with failure, 2) reluctance to accept simplification and 3) deferring to expertise. Preoccupation with failure is an effort to avoid drifting into failure and becoming complacent. Safety culture is a central foundation of HROs and is measured with a variety of tools to assess communication, teamwork, frequency of error reporting. Expectations of manager behaviors to promote safety and more. The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) published the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) in 2004 and to date hundreds of hospitals with thousands of healthcare employees have reported perceptions of hospital safety culture with de-identified data reported in aggregate. See information about safety and the HSOPSC at http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/advances2/vol2/Advances-Jones_29.pdf (Links to an external site.). Safety and safety culture information will be discussed again in Module V along with Quality improvement and literature related to healthcare errors.

“Nursing work” is organized according to different models for care delivery. Functional, Team Leading, Differentiated Practice, Primary Nursing and Care Management Method are common delivery models. Differentiated practice is a model more commonly seen within Magnet hospitals systems and includes provision for the different levels of educational preparation and skill of the Registered Nurses with different job descriptions for each. The type of delivery system depends on a number of factors, including availability of staff, staff mix, type of patients and organizational philosophy. The ultimate goal is a safe environment with quality and financially sound outcomes.

Strategic planning is vital to any organization and is carried out in a systematic process. It includes identifying the organization’s strengths and weaknesses through assessment of the internal and external environment. The process screens for influencing markets, competition, technology, healthcare trends, financial resources and information systems to name a few.

Assignment questions: Post answers in Forums Module I. See calendar for due date.

1. Discuss one of the organizational theories from the readings and how you see this theory used or could be used in an organization. What are the merits of the theory?

2. Discuss what is meant by the terms, organizational span of control and chain of command.

3. Describe three types of organizational structures and some characteristics. Which type of organizational structure have you seen used in an organization and what are its advantages and limitations.

4. Which type of organizational structures do we see most frequently in acute care hospitals?

5. Cite common factors used for strategic planning and how nurses are involved in the process.