Influence of Culture on Nurses and Patient Care - Essay Example

Lecturer: presented: Introduction Organizational culture is a phrase that represents the common beliefs, conceptions andthe term used to describe the shared beliefs, perceptions, and prospects of stakeholders in an organization. Individuals in an organization share particular understanding in regard to customs and values. Chen and Francesco (2000 p 876), culture is an aspect of organizations that has a great influence on their procedures and operations. It usually affects the organization’s efforts towards bringing change in its operations. On the other hand, an organization’s performance is largely affected by its capacity to make positive improvements. In healthcare provision, organizational culture determines an organizations performance in regard to the services offered to clients, employee contentment, improvement of services through innovativeness, as well as consistency in service provision facilitated by sound management of the organization’s finances. The safety of patients and the quality of nursing care largely depends on organizational culture. This essay is a critical evaluation of the influence of organizational culture on patient care. It outlines organizational leadership and management, and also analyzes the influence of organizational culture on patients. Influence of Culture on Nurses and Patient Care In order to understand how culture can influence nurses and patient care, it is important to comprehend the role of nurses and their relationship with patients. Nursing involves provision of healthcare to individuals, households, as well as communities in order to improve their health regardless of whether they are unwell or healthy. A nurse plays a significant role in advocating for environmental safety, research in regard to health care as well as participation in the formulation of policies on healthcare and healthcare facilities. Educating the public in regard to safe living and prevention of diseases are also major roles of nurses. They play a significant role in helping people to regain their physical and mental strength. With this understanding, it is clear that drawbacks arising from organizational culture such as lack of enthusiasm amongst nurses due to in-effective leadership, insufficiency of equipment and funds due to poor management of finances, poor relations between nurses and patients amongst others may adversely affect service delivery and the health of patients (Pearson and Entrekin 2001 p 81). However, organizational culture may also have a positive impact on patient care. A culture that generates positive rapport among the organization’s management, the nurses and the patients impacts positively on patient care. An accommodating organizational culture is a major factor that contributes to the capability of nurses to perform effectively. A culture that allows flexibility allows an organization to become accustomed with the rapid changes that occur in the operating environment. A rigid working environment does not allow inventiveness in the organization, which may hamper improvements in healthcare provision. More discoveries emerge through continued research, and nurses need to be acquainted with the new developments in order to improve their productivity. On the other hand, a culture that promotes organizational learning is important in building the capacity of nurses to provide good quality care to patients. It helps in personal and career development, making the nurses competitive and appreciative of the benefits of working in the organization. This appreciation is demonstrated through good quality care to patients. In essence, employees in organizations have vested interests concerning their future in their profession (Westwood and Posner 1997 p 45). It is therefore an advantage for an organization that improves their prospects through organizational learning. In the healthcare profession, nurses feel privileged to work in an organization that builds their capacity and improves their competitiveness in the job market. An organizational culture that restrains them from career development lowers their morale and enthusiasm at the place of work, which in turn leads to poor quality service delivery to patients. It may lead to high staff turnover, a trend that may be detrimental to the organization in regard to the maintenance of experienced nurses. Such organizations are usually faced with the problem of recruiting new employees who after acquiring significant experience leave the organization. This adversely affects the quality of care given to patients. On the other hand, experienced nurses may lack interest in getting employment in the organization. Worker satisfaction is therefore significant especially when dealing with important issues such as healthcare (Snell 2002 p 567). Organizational Leadership and Management Leadership in any organization is a core determinant of the accomplishment of organizational goals. It is a relationship whereby the leader motivates and inspires others in order for them to accomplish the organizational objectives. The leader uses his ability in order to influence others and offers guidance through his knowledge and experience. On the other hand, management in an organization mainly focuses on providing leadership towards the implementation of activities within an organization in order to accomplish the laid down goals. The manager supervises activities within the organization and helps the employees to accomplish their objectives through generating enthusiasm and motivating them, which is important in enhancing their productivity (Farhoomand and Phoebe 2002 p 51). Leadership qualities are important for managers to perform their role effectively. In this context, leadership is viewed as a component of management. Not all managers possess leadership qualities, and these are likely to hamper progress in the organization. In healthcare provision, good leadership is important in managing the implementation of healthcare plans. Adopting flexible working in the organization is important in helping the nurses to maintain a work-life balance that is necessary for the accomplishment of their tasks. Flexible working practices include plans such as working in shifts and job sharing. This allows the nurses to attend to family and personal issues, which largely contributes to offering quality services to patients. The management has a significant role of maintaining harmonious working relationship in the workplace. The safety of the patients wholly depends on the competence of the nurse. For example, lack of enthusiasm due to exhaustion and feelings of oppression in the workplace may lead to negligence of vital issues affecting patients. The organizational culture depends on managers. They need to be outgoing individuals who understand how the organizational culture affects performance and service delivery. They need to promote a culture of team work in the organization. This is important in ensuring that all the nurses own the organization, and that the outcomes of all their activities belong to the organization and not the individual. This is a culture that significantly contributes to good service delivery to patients (Farh et al 1997 p 442). Solutions to problems are generated as a group, and there is no shifting blame. A culture of maintaining high commitment in the organization is achieved through investing in flexible work change programs that involve constructive discussions between workers and the managers. Managers request workers for their assistance while setting departmental or organizational goals. They also invite them for recommendations concerning the procedures for achieving the organizational goals. Getting nurses to be part of the organizational goals is the most appropriate means of ensuring that the goals turn out to be reality (Lee et al 2000 p 687). They possibly may have an idea of the problems that they may come across in the process of healthcare provision as well as ways of overcoming these problems. Promotion of new working procedures enhances flexibility which brings high commitment amongst them, thereby becoming smart workers with improved productivity. It also allows an organization to be capable of drawing experienced personnel in to the production system from external sources, which brings new knowledge to the organization (Cheng et al 2006 p 323). Impact and Influence of Culture on Patients Certain aspects of organizational culture have a significant impact and influence on the patients. For example, in the contemporary field of healthcare, there are many changes that are occurring due to continuous research in human health, and various occurrences that lead to the emergence of new strains of disease causing pathogens. Patients therefore tend to focus on receiving services to dynamic organizations that embrace new practices in healthcare provision. Organizations that resist change therefore may therefore have a negative influence on patients, and may end up losing clients especially for those in the private sector. The ability to adapt to the changing operating environment ensures that patients are offered quality services that are consistent with their changing needs. On the other hand, attitude is significant in maintaining the confidence of clients (Ngo and Loi 2008 p 656). Patients need to be treated considerately in order for them to keep on coming for the services. More over, it is an important factor in the healing process. Bad attitude and inconsiderate treatment negatively impacts on the patients’ view regarding the organization. An organizational culture that promotes a caring attitude towards the patients and effective communication encourages them, and also generates confidence that makes it possible for them to recuperate fast. In this view, culture is seen as a major determinant of the kind of relationship that exists between the organization and the patients. Without the patients, an organization can not be in operation. On the other hand, the safety of the patients is of utmost importance. Organizational culture has a significant influence on the patient’s safety. Team building in organizations helps in ensuring that the patient is attended to by nurses who have different opinions in approaching problems (Yee et al 2008 p 658). A combination of such opinions is important in the provision of quality healthcare, than working from a single individual’s perspective. In organizations where nurses work as a team, there is a reputation of minimal Medicare bereavements. An organization’s mission is critical to effective provision of services. Organizations that stick to their mission in offering services are usually capable of providing services equivalent to the cost that the patient has paid. This is a superior organizational culture that has a positive impact on the patient. Under certain circumstances, patients realize that they have been deceived for having been promised services which they later find out are of low quality. The culture of sticking to the organization’s mission ensures that patients are satisfied with the services rendered. Inconsistency may be a major drawback in the accomplishment of organizational goals. A culture that disregards the human resources’ concerns usually lowers the ability of workers in paying attention to details (Ngo and Loi 2008 p 657). For example, a nurse who has been denied a leave to attend to family issues may naturally be unable to focus on every necessary detail in regard to healthcare provision. This may adversely affect the health of the patient who may not be aware of the circumstances under which the nurse could be working. Negligence slowly develops from such situations, eventually resulting in death. Conclusion Organizational culture is fundamental to accomplishment of organizational goals. In nursing, it largely affects the process and the outcome of operations. The satisfaction is the main theme that raises concerns in regard to healthcare provision. It is the core factor that determines the realization of organizational goals. When nurses are dissatisfied with their work, there is a likelihood of a negative impact on the patients. The safety of the patients remains at stake, and the organization is likely to lose its reputation. All these phenomena depend on the organizational culture, which affects nurses as well as the patients. The management is in charge of providing strong leadership that is able to maintain a favorable organizational culture to the employees as well as the patients. The most important factor is to maintain satisfaction amongst the nurses for improved productivity. This is significant in the realization of organizational goals and maintenance of its repute in the field of healthcare provision. References 1. Chen, Z.X., and Francesco, A.M. 2000. "Employee demography, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions in China: do cultural differences matter?” Human Relations, Vol. 3 No.6, pp.869-887. 2. Cheng T.C., Lai K., Koufteros X. and McDermott C. 2006. 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