How are improvement initiatives put into place within HSOs? How might leadership and the approaches used by leaders contribute to the implementation of improvement initiatives in practice?

The improvement initiative currently in place at my organization is an electronic medical record system. The primary goal of this initiative is to improve safety for our patients by increasing accuracy and efficiency with prescribing prescriptions, documenting patient visits, ordering tests, etc. Leadership has been very involved with the implementation of this initiative from the very beginning by forming committees made up of representatives from all departments within our organization such as IT professionals, clinical staff, administrative staff and more who worked together to develop a comprehensive plan for implementation.

In order for this initiative to be successful it requires collaboration between multiple levels in the integrated system which includes organizational structure (policies and procedures), personnel-related framework (leadership development programs), technological infrastructure (electronic medical records)and operations framework (workflows). Leaders need to understand each level’s needs and strengths in order to effectively implement change throughout their organization. Two approaches leaders can utilize in these situations are top-down decision making and participative management style. Through top down decision making leaders have clear expectations on what needs to be accomplished while utilizing a participative management style allows them to involve stakeholders early on so they are part of designing solutions which helps build consensus around their decisions .

Leaders can use motivational strategies such as providing rewards or recognition when goals are met or progress has been achieved. They should also provide incentives/support through training sessions or team building activities so employees feel empowered that their voice matters when contributing ideas towards improving patient safety related initiatives at their organization. Creating a culture where employees feel like they have ownership over the improvements being made encourages better engagement leading to greater success overall with any type of health services improvement initiative adopted at an HSO.