WellStar Health System has its organizational culture spelling its path to success. The culture outlines and details the corporate operations and procedures, helping formulate and realize a conducive working environment that generates positive patient care outcomes. This organization has a culture belief detailing its intentions and desires to develop solutions for its business operations. Henceforth, the entity’s organizational culture stipulates its purposes of collecting and applying evidence in offering patient care. WellStar Health System has a business culture specifying its desire to integrate data in designing and integrating solutions to realize organizational development. As such, Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is an integral component of WellStar Health System’s corporate culture. The nature of the industry in which the WellStar Health System organization operates necessitates the business using data in making and implementing decisions. This business culture is spelled within the organization’s mission and vision and is critical in driving employees’ conduct and performance. WellStar Health System’s vision and mission statements stipulate the entity’s commitment to enhancing the health and well-being of the people it serves. The mission and vision statement enables the organization to improve employees’ commitment to providing quality services while ensuring the inclusivity of all people served by the healthcare facility.
WellStar Health System Organizational Culture and How it Supports Change
WellStar Healthcare’s use of data-driven practices in executing their operations suitably positions the organization to facilitate and realize business change—the entity partners with CLEAR corporation to integrate healthcare systems to support learning data-based solutions. The facility understands the need to implement secure and easy patient data and health information access. By partnering with CLEAR, WellStar positions itself in a better place to realize organizational Change. This position is realizable by having the facility gather integral operational data about the policies that must be formulated, altered, or implemented to realize quality patient care. The collaborations between CLEAR and WellStar are influential in offering seamless patient experiences and ensuring the elimination of monotonous activities of re-entering patients’ biographic data, reducing the need for repetitive help care desk calls, reducing possible data breaches, and lowering operational costs. This partnership will also drive toward organizational culture by facilitating innovations. This argument is supported by Alotaibi and Federico (2017), who claim that integrating technology within healthcare facilities promotes conducive business operations by enhancing efficiency and quality patient care services. Therefore, by collaborating with CLEAR and other technological companies, the facility can consolidate operational data critical in making and implementing functional solutions leading to organizational Change.
WellStar organizational structure is another critical component in driving business change. WellStar is a multi-facility entity. The entity operates in various locations with diversified patient demands, necessitating a more straightforward business and management structure to facilitate eased decision-making. The facility has a simplified hierarchical structure established in the various facilities. This business structure is integrated into the business culture and is influential in realizing simplified and more efficient organizational processes. The simplified corporate structure drives toward the realization of Change by eliminating the need for a suggestion to go through a long process before implementation. The simplified organizational structure effectively drives toward organizational Change, enabling it to respond to market and patient demands, especially in Patient Access Services (PAS). The managerial command is simplified in the organizational structure, enabling eased Organizational Change. Communication is an effective tool in the WellStar Health System. Effective communication is instrumental in allowing employees to collaborate. This collaboration enables driving towards the realization of quality service delivery. Employees are considered integral components of organizational operations and are involved in decision-making. This technique makes employees feel part of the organization and appreciate the business operations. The business also enjoys the community’s role through involvement, needs consideration, and integrations in organizational processes. The hospital ensures that the community’s best interests are considered. The approach is instrumental in driving the establishment of a cheerful repertoire.
How WellStar Health Center Culture Supports and Sustains Evidence-Based Practice and Change
The integration of technology is instrumental in driving towards the realization of EBP. There is an interaction between applying evidence in making data-backed decisions and organizational Change (Spiva et al., 2017). According to Spiva et al. (2017), using data in corporate operations and driving decision-making and implementation of policies supports the realization of EBP by necessitating that all decisions relating to organizational processes and patient treatment be based on tangible evidence. The collaborations between WellStar Health System and the CLEAR corporation focus on designing technology that enables gathering and documenting patient data critical in determining the kind of healthcare service the hospital needs to focus on. As such, the collaboration focuses on establishing and installing facilities or assets suitable for realizing EBP. The integration of programs facilitating the gathering and analysis of patient data for decision-making enables the hospital to design solutions based on tangible evidence. The collaboration between the hospital and the CLEAR corporation facilitates organizational Change. Organizational Change is realizable using evidence and patient data from the designed programs to help understand the kind of patient care demanded by specific demographics.
The collaboration between WellStar and CLEAR corporation is a noticeable strength towards realizing EBP. This collaboration provides a critical platform where WellStar benefits from reviving its healthcare systems to provide quality EBP services. However, weaknesses relate to the ability levels of using and interacting with data systems necessitated by EBP. Nurses and medics’ less familiarity with EBP systems and programs might inhibit the use of these systems. Also, there are challenges relating to resistance to changes nurses might portray. Humans tend to resist changes and are likely to demonstrate willingness and desire to remain in their current positions. This understanding might result in delayed implementation of the changes necessitated by EBP.
Organizational Readiness Tool
The ability to execute and deliver the anticipated patient services is based on the availability of the appropriate intervention approaches targeting specific initiatives (Dearing, 2018). The organizational readiness tools inform the administrative state or level of a firm’s readiness to realize changes. The organizational readiness tool at WellStar Health System reports on the willingness to achieve the anticipated changes. WellStar Health System focuses on discovering corporate Change and targeting the realization of EBP in its operations. Henceforth, the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment (ORCA) tool is appropriate for assessing WellStar Health System readiness levels. ORCA tool measures and sets organizational readiness levels toward the implementation of EBP (Helfrich et al., 2009). The ORCA tool informs the readiness levels based on initiatives undertaken by the WellStar Health System. The ORCA summary includes steps involving awareness of Change, acceptance, capacity for Change, knowledge of what is being changed, and level of training needed.
Awareness of Change
The employees and the broader stakeholders know the need to have data-based solutions to most health challenges impacting them. The internal stakeholders hold reasonable levels of understanding of the policy changes implemented based on the need to realize data-driven solutions to healthcare challenges.
Acceptance of the Change
Stakeholders at the hospital appreciate the need to design and implement healthcare solutions based on evidence. These stakeholders appreciate the role collaboration between the hospital and the CLEAR corporation plays in designing and implementing EBP. The employees and the management appreciate the need for patient information in extending treatments and developing operational policies.
Capacity for Change
WellStar Health System has laid the appropriate foundation to achieve EBP in its operations. The hospital has established programs in collaboration with CLEAR to facilitate the gathering of operational and patient data. These applications are instrumental in facilitating the realization of anticipated changes.
Knowledge of What is Being Changed
The stakeholders are aware of what is being changed. The employees, shareholders, and the community have the necessary details to accomplish data-driven decisions. Individuals need to gain more knowledge of the particulars of the components that will need to be changed.
Level of Training Needed
WellStar Health System will need to initiate training necessary to inform the public, employees, and other stakeholders on the particulars of EBP. The organization will need to train the employees on the details relating to the interactions and attributes of the programs designed by CLEAR.
Employees’ Training to Facilitate Readiness Levels
Training will play an instrumental role in familiarizing employees with the practices and the requirements under the EBP programs. Also, exercise will help educate employees on the significance of these systems, helping overcome resistance to change demonstrated by workers. Employees will learn to appreciate the role of EBP in operations, enabling them to acknowledge and endear the use of the systems in their operations. The workers will understand and appreciate the role of changes relating to EBP in simplifying their work.
Healthcare Processes and Systems to Improve
WellStar must focus on improving the quality of services extended to their clients. The hospital will need to focus on having appropriate leadership. Appropriate leadership is critical in ensuring the hospital responds to consumer demands using the gathered insights when formulating operating policies. This approach contributes to developing consumer-centered services. According to Dixon (2021), hospital leadership is integral in driving performance and realizing patient demands. Henceforth, WellStar Health System must have appropriate leaders who can see the bigger picture and design policies addressing patient demands. The leaders must continuously evaluate the operations and respond to evolving patient demographic needs.
The hospital will need to improve patient safety. Root-cause analysis is an instrumental tool that will help understand the threats confronting or are likely to engage patients in these facilities. The root cause analysis will help inform on the circumstances resulting in errors and how to overcome them. This technique will contribute to developing a secure hospital environment. Patient safety will be realized by understanding potential threats and designing tools or teaching approaches to deal with these threats.
WellStar Health Systems will need to control the levels of operational costs incurred. Allocative Efficiency (A.E.) is an instrumental tool to enhance cost efficiency. A.E. will be integrated by assessing the resource demands across the various healthcare systems to ensure appropriate allocations. The approach is practical in optimizing resource use across the organization. A.E. will ensure that the available resources are allocated to appropriate health systems based on their varying significance to the entity. The approach will ensure the optimum and proper use of organizational resources. The process will be critical in improving care outcomes. Healthcare systems will help gather patient data to understand the various patient care services demanded. This technique will ensure that the hospital is better positioned to offer quality patient services and generate offering services targeting specific patient services.
Stakeholders and Team Members for EBP
Inclusivity is an integral component in driving the development and implementation of Change. Therefore, EPB projects will necessitate the inclusion of internal stakeholders within WellStar in the development team. The development team will comprise WellStar employees, management, shareholders, and the employees from CLEAR corporation and other organizations offering technology for the project. The team must also include community representation to ensure that society’s demands are considered and integrated. The employees will be instrumental in ensuring they are familiar with the various components and enhancing the acceptance of the project. The shareholders must be involved to ensure they understand the role of the multiple programs. Including shareholders will ensure they understand and appreciate the need for Change, allowing them to authorize the budget for the Change.
Information and Communication Technologies for Change
The realization of the changes under EBP requires the establishment of effective communication and delivery of information. Video modeling will be necessary to demonstrate how various components interact and operate. Video modeling is a teaching mode that shows how multiple programs allow nurses to familiarize themselves with the EBP. The approach will enable nurses to develop appropriate skills and behavior,
Voice Output Communication Aids (VOCA) is another information communication technology. VOCA are portable electronic devices enabling nurses and change teams to get communications sent to computers. VOCA provides computer-generated speech to enhance communication and message delivery to nurses.
References
Alotaibi, Y.K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi Medical Journal, 38(12), 1173-1180. https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2017.12.20631
Dearing, J.W. (2018). Organizational readiness tools for global health interventions; A review. Frontiers in Public Health, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00056
Dixon, J. (2021). Improving the quality of care in health systems: towards better strategies. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-021-00448-y
Helfrich, C.D., Li, Y.F., Sharp, N., & Sales, A. (2009) Organizational readiness to change assessment (ORCA): Development of an instrument based on promoting action on research in health services (PARIHS) framework. Implementation Science, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-38
Spiva, L.A., Hart, P.L., Patrick, S., Waggoner, J., Jackson, C.R., Threat, J.L. (2017). Effectiveness of an evidence-based practice nurse mentor training program. Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing, 14(3), 183-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12219
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