Health Care And Cultural Change

An analysis of health care among Indians in the central subarctic of Canada, principally Ontario and Manitoba. Based on an analysis of the interrelationships between health status, medical care, and social change, proposes a broad strategy for improving the health of native peoples in Canada.

Change in the culture of long-term care and the care of our elders is urgently needed! This insightful book lights the way. This book will inform you about the theoretical and practical applications of culture change within the institutional long-term care setting. It examines existing models of “positive cultures,” emphasizing philosophy, underpinning, and implementation. You'll gain a greater understanding of theoretical frameworks for organizational change, of the changes that can occur in all members of the long-term care community, and of culture change in the context of broad organizational experience and cultural competence. From the editors: “This text provides a timely and comprehensive approach to understanding culture change from the perspective of management and business as well as policy and regulatory guidelines and the framework for aging services. It will provide the reader with an understanding of the current state of the art in conceptualizing long-term care environments that are resident-centered and resident-directed, that respect the individuality of the staff, and that are high-performance entities. The theory and practice of culture change are presented with an eye toward a future where aging people and their families will be both consumers and providers of long-term care.” The first section of Culture Change in Long-Term Care explores the cultural values existing in today's long-term care environment that make us desirous of culture change. The second section examines existing models and networks of culture change in long-term care, including the Eden Alternative, Wellspring, and Pioneer Network Section three brings you to the frontline with case studies from urban, suburban, and rural facilities, facilities with and without unionized staff, facilities from various geographic regions of the United States, and facilities whose experience ranges from years to a decade. Processes, challenges, and qualitative/quantitative findings are included. Section four provides international perspectives, with practical advice from Australia, Sweden, and British Columbia. The final section of Culture Change in Long-Term Care explores the underlying question: “Is change realistic?” This section explores the role of state government, public policy, and the regulatory environment in accomplishing culture change. With Culture Change in Long-Term Care you'll get a theoretical perspective on culture and culture change, as well as quality-of-life models and case studies that will help you learn if—and how—such a process is achievable in your institution. Make it a part of your professional collection today!

Major changes are occurring in the United States population and the nation's health care institutions and delivery systems. Significant disparities in health status exist across population groups. But the health care enterprise, with all its integrated and disparate parts, has been slow to respond. Written by three nationally known scholars and experts, Diversity and Cultural Competence in Health Care: A Systems Approach is designed to provide health care students and professionals with a clear understanding of foundations, philosophies, and processes that strengthen diversity management, inclusion, and culturally competent care delivery. Focusing on current practice and health care policy, including the recently passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), this textbook integrates strategic diversity management, self-reflective leadership, and the personal change process with culturally and linguistically appropriate care into a cohesive systems-oriented approach for health care professionals. The essentials of cultural competence and diversity management covered in this text will be helpful to a wide variety of students because they encompass principles and practices that can be realistically incorporated into the ongoing work of any health care field or organization. Each chapter contains learning objectives, summary, key terms, and review questions and activities designed to allow students to understand and explore concepts and practices identified throughout the text.

Building on the revolutionary Institute of Medicine reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm, Keeping Patients Safe lays out guidelines for improving patient safety by changing nurses' working conditions and demands. Licensed nurses and unlicensed nursing assistants are critical participants in our national effort to protect patients from health care errors. The nature of the activities nurses typically perform â€" monitoring patients, educating home caretakers, performing treatments, and rescuing patients who are in crisis â€" provides an indispensable resource in detecting and remedying error-producing defects in the U.S. health care system. During the past two decades, substantial changes have been made in the organization and delivery of health care â€" and consequently in the job description and work environment of nurses. As patients are increasingly cared for as outpatients, nurses in hospitals and nursing homes deal with greater severity of illness. Problems in management practices, employee deployment, work and workspace design, and the basic safety culture of health care organizations place patients at further risk. This newest edition in the groundbreaking Institute of Medicine Quality Chasm series discusses the key aspects of the work environment for nurses and reviews the potential improvements in working conditions that are likely to have an impact on patient safety.

Healthcare policy frequently invokes notions of cultural change as a means of achieving improvement and good-quality care. This Element unpacks what is meant by organisational culture and explores the evidence for linking culture to healthcare quality and performance. It considers the origins of interest in managing culture within healthcare, conceptual frameworks for understanding culture change, and approaches and tools for measuring the impact of culture on quality and performance. It considers potential facilitators of successful culture change and looks forward towards an emerging research agenda. As the evidence base to support culture change is rather thin, a more realistic assessment of the task of cultural transformation in healthcare is warranted. Simplistic attempts to manage or engineer culture change from above are unlikely to bear fruit; rather, efforts should be sensitive to the complexity and highly stratified nature of culture in an organisation as vast and diffuse as the NHS. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

·What is organizational culture? ·Do organizational cultures influence the performance of health care organizations? ·Are organizational cultures capable of being managed to beneficial effect? Recent legislation in the United Kingdom has led to significant reforms within the health care system. Clinical quality, safety and performance have been the focus for improvement alongside systematic changes involving decision-making power being devolved to patients and frontline staff. However, as this book shows, improvements in performance are intrinsically linked to cultural changes within health care settings. Using theories from a wide range of disciplines including economics, management and organization studies, policy studies and the health sciences, this book sets out definitions of cultures and performance, in particular the specific characteristics that help or hinder performance. Case studies of high and low performing hospital trusts and primary care trusts are used to explore the links between culture and performance. These studies provide examples of strategies to create beneficial, high-performance cultures that may be used by other managers. Moreover, implications for future policies and research are outlined. Cultures for Performance in Health Care is essential reading for those with an interest in health care management and health policy including students, researchers, policy makers and health care professionals.

This book examines the current state of American health care using a social science lens to focus on the interdependent, intercultural, economic, and communication aspects of access and delivery. This text explores how the cultures of health care organizations, health professions, governments, and capitalism, as well as communication, all contribute to a disease-focused, economically driven, technology-centered health care system. It seeks to understand 21st century health care from a macro-level view based on historical realizations and the current plethora of interdependent, but self-serving realities that provide few, if any, incentives for organizational collaboration and change. The fact that the most expensive health care system in the world does not provide the healthiest outcomes is a driving force in this exploration. By reflecting on American values and beliefs regarding health care from philosophical, clinical, communication, and cost perspectives, this text is designed to encourage an organizational transformation at every level, from government to providers to patients. This comprehensive survey is an important guide for those studying, or working in, health care professions, as well as health care policy and administration. It should also be of interest to any reader who seeks to better understand U.S. health care policy from social science, economic, and/or health communication perspectives.