Module 2-Healthcare Managment Strategies-Turning employees into problem solvers

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The Institute of Medicine published To Err is Human ten years ago (Hanna, 2010). The report caused medical mistakes to be in the spotlight and become a hot topic (Hanna, 2010). We all make mistakes, but it is an important part of management to recognize those mistakes, and come up with solutions so that the mistakes are not repeated. Medical mistakes cost nine to fifteen billion dollars annually (Hanna, 2010). So what is management to do to decrease these numbers?

According to the article, management needs to prompt their employees to speak up (Hanna, 2010). If an employee notices something that is a potential mistake, tell a manager, so that they can address the problem and find a solution. In 2010, Harvard did a study to see what types of tactics management could use to encourage employees to speak up. According to the study, patient safety campaigns are a good start (Hanna, 2010). Instituting these types of campaigns increased the number of employees to speak up by five percent (Hanna, 2010). In addition to this, managers that “practiced what they preached’, and reported problems themselves had numbers higher than this (Hanna, 2010).

The next step is for management to evaluate the types of problems that are happening, and determine if they are repetitive problems that have an easy solution. Evaluation is key in management, and can be helpful in solving a multitude of problems (Hanna, 2010).

The last thing that the author talks about is recognizing what she calls “front line employees”(Hanna, 2010). These are employees that are willing to go the extra mile to help their department limit the amount of mistakes they make. These employees are not perfect, and may make mistakes themselves, but are willing to take criticism, and problem solve when needed. These employees also have watchful eyes, and report things to management that should be reported (Hanna, 2010). They avoid near-miss situations, and help management when necessary.

Works Cited

Hanna, J. (2010, Aug 30). Havard Business School. Retrieved from hbs.edu.