Leadership

Improving quality, change management and leadership: A case study on reduction of medication error

Introduction

Change management refers to a systematic approach to deal with transition taken place by supporting the individuals, staff members and the employees (Carnall, 2018; Baum, 2016). The aim of the report is to understand the change management procedure by acknowledging the change management practice and leadership approach which helps the organisation to manage changes in the workplace and enhance the organisational performance by ensuring efficiency and capability in which the issue of medication error can be minimised. In the public health care institutions, it is necessary to have effective changes in the workplace of public health as there are many issues related to medication error within the public health care sector for which the health and social care service providers face difficulties to maintain the quality standard of the health and social care and provide the efficient service and effective treatment to the service users, where the service users also face problems in getting proper treatment, quality care and effective medication for their health issues. Hereby, change management process in this regard is necessary for the public health care institutions to enhance their performance and help the service user to get better benefits of public health, where the issue of medication error can be mitigated through implementing the change procedure in the organisation.

Background of the issue

has crucial impacts on the quality of health and social care and providing proper medicines to the patients and in this context, the public health care sector is also suffering from managing workplace culture due to lack of management, poor transparency and accountability for which the nurses and staff members including the doctors, heath care professionals, managers at the floor, physicians and general therapist cannot cooperate with each other for delivering quality care and right medicines to the individuals who are suffering from serious health issues. Hereby, there needs proper management, so that it is possible for the public health to develop quality care and support the social communities to overcome their health issues through providing the right and appropriate medicines (Cummings, Bridgman, and Brown, 2016). These are the major challenges in public health where the leaders and the managers cannot control the patient in a systematic way as well as they fail to provide quality care and medicines to the social communities as a whole due to lack of technological infrastructure to manage patient information and efficient health care staff members in the workplace. In the recent years, there is lack of transparency and accountability as well as inequality in providing the service of public health care, where the individuals in the society cannot access proper care from public health care institutions which needs to be mitigated so that everybody can be treated fairly. Hereby, due to lack of patient’s management and maintaining computerised data form arranging the right medicines for the right patient, the medication error arises in the health and social care organisations. The medication error is a serious problem in the health and social care setting which may deteriorate the patient’s health condition and may lead to ultimate death due to wrong treatment and error in providing incorrect medicines to the patient. The reasons for such medication error are such as overcrowding at the hospitals or the nursing homes, absence of proper communication, reliance on verbal communication, lack of technological upgradation, poor infrastructure for managing patients etc. for which he patients or service users cannot get proper medicines as per their health condition and disease they have. Overcrowding is one of the major reasons of such medication error where the nurses and the health acre professional are getting confused to manage a huge number of the patients at a time which raises error in providing the right medication to the right patient (Doppelt, 2017). Moreover, absence of proper computerised system at the hospitals and lack of management of using prescription rather than using verbal communication are the reason of medication error for which the service users cannot get proper medicines. The staff members are not trained well to manage the proscription in a computerised system and maintain patient information through could computing and data base of the hospital which raises the issue of medication error and this must be mitigated through implementing change in the organisations.

Necessity for change management

Change management in this context is necessary in the public health and social care sector through which it is possible for the leaders and managers of the public health institutions to manage the issue of medication error and implement the necessary changes in the organisations for successful planning of maximising performance and organisational values where the service users can get appropriate medications according to the diagnosis and health issues of the individuals. It is the aim of the public health care centres to deliver quality care and appropriate medication to the society as a whole, but it is now challenging for the public health care sector to maintain quality standard of the health and social care as it faces issues in providing the right medication to the right patient which create a serious issue of medication error at the hospitals for which the service users become sufferer as there is high risks of getting inappropriate medicines which may negatively affect the health condition of the service users (Cameron and Green, 2015). As per the feedback of the service users, it comes to know that, through change management procedure, it is easy for the organisation to manage the internal working culture efficiently and motivate the health care staff, nurses and doctors to cooperate for managing change and leading the organisation towards achieving success by reducing the medication error and improving health and social care service quality. Improving workplace culture is one of the main benefits of change management technique, through which the leaders and the managers can develop cooperative working culture, where the employees staff members and nurses as well as other health care professionals can cooperate with each other for delivering quality care and provide proper medicines to the individuals (Friedman et al., 2017).

In additional to these, change management is necessary for public health and social care centre, so that it is easy for the leaders and the managers to improve engagement as well as develop effective team, so that they can fulfil their aims and pre-specified objectives of public health of providing proper medicines to the patient after proper diagnosis of the individuals. As the health and social care service depends on team work where collaboration and communication are necessary, manging changes and improving effective team are helpful for the public health care to support the individuals with their specific needs and provide the best care and quality treatment with medication after successful diagnosis of their health (Harkness, and DeMarco, 2016). Additionally, increasing ability of the workers in the public health care centres as well as improving infrastructure in the care centres are also the beneficial for implementing the change management, where the leaders and the managers can implement and execute the planning of improving technological upgradation in the public health to manage the performance and provide the right medicines to the service users. Stakeholder management and high communication can be possible through change management process as well as the leaders and the managers can enhance their performance and promote the health care service in the society with effective care and proper medication which ensures that the medication error can be mitigated properly.

Change management process is hereby helpful to improve cooperation and collaboration by enhancing internal communication which in turn helps the health care service providers to improve quality standard of their service of public health and maximise patient’s care by providing proper medicines and treatment, which is the aim of public health (Kuipers et al., 2014). In addition to these, there is significant impacts of change management on the performance of the staff members as well as organisational performance as a whole, which further helps to improve organisational reputation and mitigate the mediation error, where the patients can rely on the health and social care service for the improvement of their health condition. Moreover, through change management procedure, it is also possible to manage internal conflicts and manage the employees, so that they can perform better through cooperation and communication (Hayes, 2018). Hereby, as per the client’s feedback, internal and external communication can also be increased through change management, where it helps to manage the patients and deliver them quality care and proper medicines as per their disease and health issues. In the recent context, according to the patient’s feedback, there needs proper change management for reducing the medication error, where implementation of upgraded technology in the workplace, providing training and improving communication are effective for the health and social care professionals to deliver the best care and appropriate medications to the service users.

Implementing changes for reducing medication error

In order to mitigate the current issue of medication error in the health and social care organisations, change management, improving leadership and management technique and quality improvement through technological upgradation are necessary so that the service user can get safe and effective treatment, proper medicines and quality acre front he service providers. Leadership style is one of the significant factors for successful implementation of the change management, where the leaders are responsible to create suitable environment and proper organisational culture in which the people can collaborate for managing changes successfully for mitigating the medication error (Lozano, Ceulemans and Seatter, 2015). The leadership style needs to be transformational where the leaders support the employees, staff members, nurses through building strong relationship with them. In the present context, for managing change of implementing effective technology and managing the internal stakeholders of the public health care sector, it is necessary for the leaders to communicate with all the staff members through open discussion, group meetings so that they can manage the medication error and cooperate for providing the right medicines to the right patient (Baum, 2016). Through open communication, the leaders try to inform the employees about the urgency of implementing changes in the public health care to mitigate the medication error. Additionally, the leaders need to improve collaboration as the health and social care service depends on team work and cooperation, where it is necessary to have proper coordination among the doctors, health care professionals, nurses, staff members, physicians and others social workers for providing the right medicine after proper diagnosis of the service users.

In order to mitigate the issue of medication error, it is necessary to confirm that the prescription is correct and complete ad entry of prescription needs to be handled efficiently so that it is possible to reduce medication error and provide proper medicines to the right patient. Moreover, it is the role of the leader and the managers in the hospitals to arrange effective training and development program for the staff members so that they can improve their knowledge and enhance their technical skill to manage the patient’s information and prescription with the computerised data base of the hospital which reduces the medication error at the nursing homes (Goedecke et al., 2016). In addition to these, overcrowding is another issue of such medication error and in this regard the nurses need to take the responsibility of each patient and manage them properly with communication and collaboration. In this regard, the public health needs to implement technology such as investment on computers for managing patient’s records and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for enhancing internal and external communication as well as develop effective culture in the workplace by enhancing technological transition towards digitalisation. this is one of the major strategies of implementing change where the staff can mitigate the medication error at the hospitals and provide the right medicines to the right patient. The leaders and the mangers in this context need to create urgency of implementing the change and in the present case, there is urgent need of technological upgradation and improving infrastructure and organisational culture through managing the staff members for resolving the issues of medication error for which the service users are at risk due to incorrect medicines, provided to them for lack of management of the patient’s information and prescription provided by the doctors (Härkänen, Saano, and Vehviläinen‐Julkunen, 2017).

Empowering the action in the workplace is important in this regard, where the leaders need to create values for the staff members in the hospitals by empowering the staff in the decision making practice so that it is easy to improve involvement and engagement of the staff members and other internal stakeholders such as nurses, doctors, physicians, health care professionals and social carers (Pugh, 2016). Through digitalisation, it is possible to manage the records of the patients and maintain the individuals where the service providers can provide proper medication without any error by managing the right prescription in the computerised system. In addition to these, through managing changes, the leaders can manage the internal conflicts and provide technical training to the staff members, where the staff can manage the computers and latest technological infrastructures for delivering quality health care service and proper medications to the patients as per the health needs and preferences of the individuals (Goetsch, and Davis, 2014). The leaders and managers implement the technical equipment and develop proper organisational culture where transparency and accountability are necessary to enhance cooperation and communication in the workplace, which in turn helps the employees and other health care professionals to collaborate and work efficiently in future for mitigating the issue of medication error in the care institutions by ensuring that the service users get proper medications as per the doctor’s prescription (Lozano, Ceulemans, and Seatter, 2015).

Cooperation and integrity at workplace are effective leadership approach for such changes taken place in the hospitals, where the staff members can understand the information technology and improve communication among them to deliver high quality treatment and medicines to the individuals in the society (Gaffney, Hatcher, and Milligan, 2016). Empowering the physician in the decision-making practice is another leadership approach as well as managing the technology to maintain patient’s record are also necessary, through which the service users can be managed well as well as their personal information can be kept secured. In addition to these, creating values for the staff members is necessary, where the leaders can encourage the efficiency of the staff and give them freedom to work as per their capability, and this is effective to encourage and motivate the staff in the public health to give their full potential to perform better so that it is possible to manage the quality standard of the health and social care service provided by public health care. In addition to these, managing computerised data and information as well as utilising cloud computing and data entry for entering the right prescription is effective for mitigating the medication error which further helps to manage changes and improve the quality of the health care service, where the service users in the society can get the right medication and quality care from the service providers in which the employees can manage the patient’s information and prescription through the computerised data (Korb-Savoldelli et. al., 2018). Moreover, it is necessary for the leader in the public health and social care centre to arrange training program for the staff members, so that the capability and knowledge as well as skill and performance of the staff members can be enhanced, which in turn helps to manage the quality standard of health and lead the strategic change of implementing information technology in the public health care sector. Through training, it is possible to manage changes in the public health and it also provides a scope to enhance communication and cooperation among the staff members which are beneficial in the change management procedure.

Conclusion

Change management practice depends on leadership and management style of the organisation where corporate culture, employee’s engagement and the practice of decision making are crucial factors, that help to manage the strategic changes in the organisation. In the present context, public health face the difficulties on medication error for which the quality standard of health care service hampered and in this context, change management is necessary through which it is possible to serve the people in a better way by utilising latest technology and managing staff member in the organisation by ensuring mitigating the medication error, so that the patient can get the correct medicines as per the doctor’s recommendations and prescription. The leaders and managers need to cooperate and empower the staff in the change management process as well as provide proper training for implementing technology in the hospital for managing the patients by improving quality of health and social care service and providing the correct medications by managing transparently and accountability.

Conclusion

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