Accountability in the Health Care Industry

Accountability inside the health c atomic number 18 industry S. Thomas University of Phoenix Leadership and Performance Development HCS/475 Paula Smith border district 25, 2010 Accountability inside the health care industry Accountability by definition can best be described as the perception of beingness held answerable for ones actions or decisions (Gelfand, Lim, and Raver, 2004, pg. 138).Unfortunately, for some Americans the terms obligation or accountability standards appear to be nothing more than cleverly marketed buzzwords that are used to fool imprudent consumers into a believing that there is a dust of proper stoppages and balances within American businesses (Hughes, 2004). After all, for years the American humans has taken a front roll seat to watch business after business fold because their company executive were brought up on charges of accountancy fraud, theft, or ethical violations (Valentine, Godkin, Page, and Rittenburg, 2008).The cynicism of these detractors i s clearly understandable, considering that to date only a handful of executives have been successfully prosecuted or charged with a crime. Despite the validity of the detractors argument, there is one fact that these cynics seem to forget and that is, the concept of accountability dates back to the time of Aristotle, who back then, contextualized the subject in terms of justice, punishment, and social control (Gelfand, Lim, and Raver, 2004).In fact, accountability is a topic that has been closely aligned with psychology, politics, law, education, health care, and organizational behavior (Gelfand, Lim, and Raver, 2004). Indeed, accountability and accountability standards are a crucial component of each and each discipline, especially in the field of health care. Health care is a unique business in that the industry has a fiduciary duty to federal, state, and topical anaesthetic governments. Not only do professionals mployed within the industry have different professional and ethica l obligations but every decision or judgment that is spend a penny will also have a direct impact on the way care is delivered. Nonetheless, the doubts and misgivings of the American consumers has forced health care organizations into taking a more hands-on approach toward fostering a climate of accountability inside organizations. These consumer demands forced organizations to implement transparent accountability standards.Furthermore, there are 2 successful approaches that businesses have used to shift to a more productive stand. The first is by establishing strategic performance objectives and rateing their effectiveness (Mulvaney-Harris, Zwahr, and Baranowski, 2006). For instance, in the past if a nurse made a medication error by giving a medication a patient was allergic to the prevailing wisdom was to vacate the incident or keep the knowledge of the incident within the department where it occurred.Back then, the protocol for medication errors was to inform the physician, charge nurse, department manager, and lastly the nurse supervisor. straight instead of containing these incidents within the department, hospitals managers are instead using these incidents as a teachable moment and to gather data. Meaning, that instead on punishing the employee or redness them, managers are revisiting incidents, patient loads or training procedures to make certain that employees are properly trained or reviewing the processes before a medication is prone (St. John Medical Center, 2004).The second approach that successful organizations have used is to incorporate systems of checks and balances that are interdependent throughout their businesses. The sole purpose of instituting a system of checks and balance is to ensure that there is an internal control mechanism in place to impede fraud, waste, or abuse. In the example of the medication error, the system of check and balances that was instituted created an audit trail by purchasing an automatic medication dispen ser that would only release medication designate for that specific patient (Business Dictionary, 2010).If another medication error occurred, this error could be traced to the nurses for that patient, the pharmacy department who stocked the dispenser, and the physician who ordered the medication. For some health care facilities, employing a system of balances entails giving mid-level managers the authority to make decisions and the related responsibilities to verify execution is distributed among different departments (Business Dictionary, 2010). The unexpected benefits of implementing organizational checks and balances systems have permanently transformed todays health care organizations.Specifically, the corporate support of internal accountability standards has created a positive work climate that progresss greater understanding and support for the organizations mission, while simultaneously enhancing the decision making abilities of managers (Mulvaney-Harris, Zwahr, and Baranow ski, 2006, pg. 438). To continuously promote or foster these productive environments 21st century health care facilities will have to keep establishing strategic performance objectives to gather data, measure it, and assess the procedures effectiveness. Not just to quell the voices of cynical detractors but also to run efficient organizations.References Business Dictionary (2010). Definition of checks and balances. BusinessDictionary. com Retrieved on March 23, 2010 from http//www. businessdictionary. com/definition/checks-and-balances. hypertext markup language Gelfand, M. J. , Lim, B. C. , and Raver, J. L. (2004). Culture and accountability in . organizations Variations in forms of social control across cultures Science-Direct. Human Resource commission Review. Vol. 14 Iss1. Elsevier Science Inc. Retrieved on March 20, 2010 Hughes, S. (2004). Critics blame of push to weaken corporate accountability laws CQ Weekly- banking & Financial Services.Retrieved on March 21, 2010 from Sag e Publications Mulvaney-Harris, R. R. , Zwahr, M. and Baranowski, L. (2006). The trend toward accountability What does it mean for HR managers? Science-Direct. Human Resource Management Review. Vol. 16. Elsevier Science Inc. Retrieved on March 20, 2010 St John Medical Center (2004). SOP Medication Errors. St. John Medical Center Tulsa OK Retrieved on April 2004 Valentine, S. , Godkin, L. , Page, K. , and Rittenburg, T. (2008). Gender and ethics Ethical judgments, ethical intentions and altruism among healthcare professionals. Retrieved from Emerald, on March 23, 2010