By Shanti Wilson

Cultural transformation is a term used often in organizations going through a big change. It’s become the norm in health care, to the point that “cultural transformation” occurs multiple times in every health care organization.

The consulting firm SmartMinds defines cultural transformation as “the dynamic process of irreversibly changing the outlook (culture) of an organization; and correspondingly its policies, processes, and behaviors that result in a more effective mode of operation.” 

While most health care organizations do well updating policies and processes to support cultural transformation, they often struggle with encouraging corresponding staff behaviors to support it. That shouldn’t be surprising, considering how we’re physically hard-wired to resist change, even when it’s beneficial. The emotional control center of our brains, the amygdala, interprets “change” as a physical threat, and releases fear, fight or flight hormones to protect us from change. 

Within that core physical context, you will want to be mindful of the human dynamics that could positively or negatively affect your cultural transformation efforts. Organizations seeking successful changes to support strategic goals and cultural transformation need behaviors that align with their efforts. This means: 

1. Understand your internal and external stakeholders and their motivations
2. Develop an action plan to achieve your cultural transformation goals
3. Celebrate your positive efforts toward cultural transformation

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By Andrea J. Fonte Weaver

Here’s what we know. By the age of six, many children have developed ageist attitudes. Not only do they often fear older adults, but our impressions about our own aging can affect our health outcomes and length of life. Yet, when positive messages are internalized about aging, life expectancy can be increased by 7.5 years. With this knowledge, it is imperative we create intentional opportunities to bring young people and older adults together. Organized, serious and inspiring intergenerational programs give us the chance to redefine aging and build bridges so there is mutual appreciation across all generations.

In just 7 years, Americans over the 65-years-old will outnumber youth age 13 and younger. And with this changing demographic, one of the consequences is that older people are experiencing social isolation. This is dangerous as the health impact of this has been compared to smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Isolation for older, even active adults, leads to both physical and cognitive decline, and ageism overall can produce negative physical, social, and economic consequences for all of us. Simultaneously, our pre-teens and teenagers are also experiencing record social isolation primarily due to overexposure to social media and so much time spent on devices. [Read more…]

Imprisonment is tough enough already but there is more for a former convict once they are out of prison. Their chances of landing any type of job are slim unless they seek it from a former convict. They already have a record and so it is quite hard to convince anyone that they have turned a new leaf.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Every year, over 600,000 Americans are released from prison for various offenses and even though they have served time, they have a hard time convincing employers to look beyond those damning records. Jean Cobbs, 52, who served an 11-year stint for attempted murder has been out if orison for 4 years now and his accumulated experience won’t get him a cleaning job. He says he has tried to express his remorse but all he gets from his potential employers are apologies.

Changes are coming

Even though several companies have pledged to help inmates get jobs but bailed at the last minute, a few for-profit and charitable organizations are picking up this mandate. The Fortune Society based in Harlem coaches former inmates on how to secure a job and turn their lives around. Cobbs and several others are already benefiting from this.

Other organizations overlooking one’s records include Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, New York and Cascade Engineering, a manufacturer based in Michigan. They monitor former inmates closely to ensure that they stay within the law and in so doing, help them make something out of themselves. [Read more…]

The years roll by, and the question of the necessity of meetings still lingers. For in the past decades, meetings, corporate or otherwise, have gotten a bad rep, often the conclusion is that whatever was discussed could have been done so in an email. What then can you do as a member of a team to not perpetuate the cycle of unnecessary and perhaps long meetings especially if you’re a manager?

Have meetings if the email would otherwise be in booklet form

Let’s use the example of injury lawyers Vancouver-based that has chanced upon the opportunity of a merger with a firm in another city in Canada. It is likely that the managers will have a hard time condensing the implications in an email. Therefore, in any case, only hold meetings when there is a need to provide information that will affect all member of the company. It is especially important when it is a lengthy topic, sensitive, could be misconstrued or likely to raise plenty of questions.

Departmental meetings as are also crucial because they provide team members with information to govern their roles. Supervisors, however, ought to be sensitive in establishing whether a weekly meeting needs to take the place of that time is better spent undertaking other duties. [Read more…]

By Scott Cormier

Workplace violence against healthcare workers can be as simple as a doctor yelling at a nurse or a patient intimidating a doctor. However, it can also be as grave as a deadly assault. Regardless of severity, it’s imperative healthcare organizations find effective measures to eliminate violence and protect their workforce.

According to OSHA, 75 percent of nearly 25,000 workplace assaults reported annually occurred in healthcare and social service settings. Moreover, The Joint Commission (TJC) recently issued a Sentinel Event Alert on violence toward healthcare workers, further proving the gravity of this issue.

These incidents are grossly underreported as well. Many healthcare workers believe that violence is part of the job, and something they must learn to deal with. Sometimes they’re also uncertain what constitutes as violence and believe their assailants are not responsible for their actions, due to a multitude of reasons, according to the TJC.

Discover the ways healthcare organizations can take preventative steps to protect their staff against workplace violence. [Read more…]

By Alex Tate

The telephone in your office is the critical communications tool of your practice.  Yet it can also be a source of danger to your practice. Teach your staff how to protect your telephone from becoming a tool for those who would abuse you and your practice.  Teach them well.

Most payers and virtually all outsourced vendors of all the payers have corporate policies that allow employees to call physicians without identifying themselves beyond a first name.  The ability to use the apparent authority of their employer, while remaining anonymous has led to some very inappropriate messages, even threats and intimidation attempts being made and inferred.  Of course, without a full name, and only central switchboard number provided by the caller, there is little ability to track down the offensive authority person that has overreached their authority.  And without a full name, the employee has plausible deniability.

Therefore, to protect yourself and your practice, it is important to teach your staff that they must obtain full and complete identification of callers, be it the health plans, or one of their sub-contractors.



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