Question

what defines a culture of accountability and quality excellence and also what do you recommend on how to foster this in the emergency department?

Answer 1

Accountability is taking responsibility for your actions, behavior, reactions and outcomes to a situation. It’s owning your role and knowing how important it is to the team, organization and patients. Every contribution made by an employee matters and helps the organization achieve their mission and accomplish key goals. By creating a culture of accountability, staff members will accept this way of thinking and working as the norm. It’s setting a standard that everyone is expected to adhere to with everyone working towards a common goal through different contributions to achieve the goal. Having a transparent process where everyone understands their role, but also understands the role of others is imperative.   “We do our managers a disservice by not articulating the several things they should be focusing on, such as quality, patient and employee satisfaction and financial performance.”. All of these metrics are being measured by management and then reported back so that everyone can see if the processes are working and emphasis is placed on necessary priorities. “It is vital that leadership support managers by prioritizing with them what is important as a leadership team.” As a team they can reflect and see if there is anything that can be done differently.