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The Importance of Accountability

Accountability Importance in Healthcare Industry
Accountability is very essential in all areas of life. In a healthcare industry, accountability is as important as the patients’ life. Accountability in the healthcare industry not only applies to the course of medical practices of the professionals being administered to the patients, but it also applies to the whole areas of the industry including the business itself. As an example, each and every piece of equipment in the hospital has an equivalent cost, so hospital staff must be accountable for handling the hospital properties with extra care. This will ensure that these properties will be handled with care of whoever is assigned to it.
More importantly, accountability in healthcare industry is important because it represents major opportunity for health care professionals to adapt and showcase the skills as well as to lead (ahima. org). Accountability will let the health care staff to become more competitive as they will have the opportunity to show their capabilities as health professionals, equipped with a sense of responsibility that will ensure the quality of their work.
In addition, accountability approach in healthcare industry will provide assumption of various risks for cost of care, the quality of healthcare, and even the patient’s satisfaction (ahima. org). This approach is in connection with healthcare providers’ way doing their job for patients’ sake. In example, if a healthcare professional accidentally hurt the patient either in the course of neglect or negligence, the person who was supposed to be taking care of the patient must held accountable for what happened. In this case, accountability in healthcare industry is important factor to ensure that patients will receive the care and assistance they need for their quick recovery.
Additionally, the effectiveness of the professional being the care provider will be ensured. Therefore, accountability in healthcare industry is very essential in providing quality service to patients and to ensure that the healthcare facility will be able to achieve its goal as a service provider.

Employee’s Accountability Measured in Healthcare Industry

Employees are being measured in terms of their accountability through combination of tools of quantitative measurement as well as qualitative feedbacks from the customers and their co-workers. This is also to successfully balance the customer satisfaction and productivity (mytimeforce. com).
Tools are being used to measure the employee’s accountability such as the CRM software. It collects data which will eventually show the result of the employee’s strengths and weaknesses (mytimeforce. com). This tool will accurately provide the needed results for the actual accountability measurements. However, if the company is unable to purchase this tool, focus group discussion among employees and feedbacks from the customer may give valuable inputs for those areas that are difficult to measure.

Application of Accountability to Ethical Considerations in Management

Healthcare leaders normally encounter different ethical issues. They encounter organizational issues like dealing with suppliers and even the difficult health issues of critical patient care decisions. John Buell (2009) says that leaders must set a systematic approach so that when an issue about ethics occurs, the management’s actions will be in-line with their core values. Healthcare leaders and managers should also establish a strategy that instead of solving the ethical issue, they are more likely to prevent it from happening in the first place (Buell, 2009).
Leaders are not just in the position to lead, but they should be a leader by example so as to decrease the future possible ethical issues within the organization. Preventing a future ethical issue is better. However, once it occurs, leaders will be able to resolve it according to their code of ethics. This is along with a well-established ethics-based program that will focus on the ethical side of the employees that should be conducted by leaders. Buell (2009) added that as a leader, he must display behavioral traits that his employees may adapt such as being ethically conscious, ethically committed, ethically competent, ethically courageous, ethically consistent, and ethically candid. Ethically conscious means that leaders must appreciate the ethical implications and dimensions of the employee’s daily decisions and actions. An ethically committed leader is constant in doing the right thing. Also, an ethically competent leader is being knowledgeable and understanding towards making an ethically sound actions and decisions.
On the other hand, being an ethically courageous leader acts upon the competencies even his actions are not accepted with endorsement or enthusiasm. Additionally, an ethically consistent leader is the one who maintains the ethical standards without rationalizing difficult exceptions. Finally, a leader should also be ethically candid as being straightforward and open about the difficulty of merging conflicting values (Buell, 2009).

Successful Organization’s Checks-and-Balances

Check and balances are essential in an organization, especially in a healthcare organization wherein one employee or a leader can make decisions, which will affect the whole organization’s operation. A successful organization’s checks and balances systematically separate the duties of different employees by clearly defining their roles. The organizations are better able to make sure those ineffective leaders and employees will not be able to bring the organization down without the knowledge of other employees (investopedia. com). Just like in the government, checks and balances will ensure that each personnel in the organization will do his role as part of the team. On the other hand, another branch of an organization’s role will prevent the first in committing unacceptable actions.

Effects of Accountability in Working Culture

Accountability is a foundation to improve performance. Accountability affects the working culture in a sense of providing guidance that portrays how employees make commitments to their co-employees. Accountability is also a key to success in achieving the organization’s initiative. Through implementing the accountability in a positive approach will help ensuring employees embrace the accountability attitudes and behaviors, which can shape their daily work as well as the accomplishment results of the organization (ozprinciple. com).

Maintaining a Positive Working Culture

Instead of keeping the blame once an issue arises, Todd Henry (N. D.) says that in can be prevented in the first place. Organizations must ensure that every task has a clear accountability, rails, and metrics. If clear expectations are explained throughout the process, it would be a complex move to shift blame (Henry, N. D.). In addition, leaders must first admit mistakes and must take responsibility for his employees and lead them towards the resolution of the issue. Stopping the blame conversations right away also helps. If a conversation is shifting to blaming someone, change the topic and re-affirm where project accountability rests (Henry, N. D.). Everyone commits mistakes; there are even times that these mistakes may harm the team’s efforts. However, by developing a culture of accountability and transparency will focus the whole team’s efforts where they must belong.

References

AHIMA (n. d.). Accountable Care: Implications for Managing Health Information. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://library. ahima. org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_049111. pdf
Buell, J. (n. d.). Ethics and Leadership. Retrieved December 18, 2013, from http://www. ache. org/abt_ache/MA09_Ethics. pdf
Checks And Balances Definition | Investopedia. (n. d.). Retrieved December 18, 2013, from http://www. investopedia. com/terms/c/checks-and-balances. asp
Encourage Employee Accountability. (n. d.). Retrieved December 18, 2013, from http://www. mytimeforce. com/press/articles/Encourage_Employee_Accountability
Henry, T. (n. d.). Toxic: Dealing With A Culture Of Blame | Accidental Creative. Retrieved December 18, 2013, from http://www. accidentalcreative. com/teams/toxic-dealing-with-a-culture-of-blame/
Partners in Leadership (n. d.). Why Accountability? | Performance Improvement | Partners In Leadership. Retrieved December 18, 2013, from http://www. ozprinciple. com/self/why-accountability/