Discussion 5

Discussion 5

Question:

Week 5 Discussion

“Power Plays and the Abuse of Power in Health Care Organizations” Please respond to the following:

  • Suggest the major issues that you believe are the basis for most of the organizational power struggles within health care facilities. Propose a method that a health care facility could use to alleviate power imbalances within the organization.
  • Assess the importance of preventing power abuse within health care organizations. Propose two (2) effective negotiation approaches that the leadership within a health care organization could use to move situations involving power abuse to a productive conclusion. Justify your response.

Respond:

Kelly Berry:

HSA501 Week 5 Discussion

Power Plays and the Abuse of Power in Health Care Organizations” Please respond to the following:

Suggest the major issues that you believe are the basis for most of the organizational power struggles within health care facilities. Propose a method that a health care facility could use to alleviate power imbalances within the organization.

I feel that the major issues that are the basis for most of the organizational power struggles within health care facilities are based in communication breakdowns. I think that different are within health care facilities have different ideas of what is most important and shoot for those goals. For example, physicians are most worried about patients and not costs. Hospital administrators are more focused on profits and costs and saving money. If a facility does not do a good job of conveying their goals company-wide, everyone will not be on the same page. It is most important however, to help all the departments see how the goals are beneficial to their needs and will fit within their own departmental goals. These both need to work together. One idea is to have a meeting of the minds so to speak, by bringing together the department heads to have a facility-wide meeting to bring everyone’s goals and ideas together.

Assess the importance of preventing power abuse within health care organizations. Propose two (2) effective negotiation approaches that the leadership within a health care organization could use to move situations involving power abuse to a productive conclusion. Justify your response.

It is important to prevent power abuse within health care organizations. You should want each team member to have just a successful career as you do. Power abuse is defined as using power in ways that a not generally not acceptable, that involve self-interest and not in the best interest of the organization. There are two main ways that abuse of power are seen, through personal ends at the expense of employees, shareholders or customers; or at the expense of the organizations. These abuses cause loss of trust be employees towards management (Newman & Grigg, 2008). Some ways to reduce abuse of power are structuring communication networks to create greater transparency; and having effective ethics programs and call in lines available to report ethics concerns.

Newman, J., & Grigg, D. (2008, March 19). Company suffers when leaders abuse pow

Respond:

LaSandra Hooks

RE: Week 5 Discussion

There are so many issues that arise in a health care facility. Since I have been in the health care world for about 20 years, I have seen so much power struggle between one physician to another one physician. Even nurses have the big head and feel that he or she can talk to a co-worker any kind of way. Sometimes a co-worker may feel that he or she knows how to take care of a patient better than the next person, it is so sad, all that really matter is the patient! During shift changes when one nurse is giving a report on the patients that she has taken care of for the last 12 hour shift and he or she leaves out vital information a patient’s care, this can cause a patient not to receive all of the care that is needed to have better health. Example: A patient is suppose to receive 2 units of packed red blood cells in a 4 hour period and the previous nurse forget to tell the oncoming nurse that the patient is suppose to have their labs drawn to see if the patient still needs the blood transfusion, this can be detrimental to a patient and this is definitely miscommunication.

How can such mishap be alleviated? There should be a more concise nurse to nurse report given, There should be communication boards in each patient room so that any clinician that is taking care of the patient can write any task that needs to be completed for this patient. Also any medications/labs that need to be given or held should be written on this board also. We can not slack when given patient care, our patients rely on us to give them the best care possible.

Also to prevent any conflicts in the work place, a professional code of conduct should be established, not only in the health care facility but as part of group practice policies and medical staff bylaws.