Article Summary: Intergroup Relationship and Quality Improvement in Healthcare

The article addresses the role of social dynamics in facilitating or impeding quality initiatives in healthcare settings. It points out that when the relationship among the professionals in healthcare is sour, it may hinder the delivery of quality healthcare. The health practitioner’s social relationship is paramount to collaborate for quality healthcare provision. The article addresses first, the role of social identity in enhancing individual’s self esteem. Identifying with the right group is beneficial to the person and more so, shapes the consistency of their behavior, hence making positive contribution to their practice. However, clinging to such social identities could undermine the efforts of other groups, which could lead to hitches in their social relationship. Second, communities of practice are “groups of interdependent participants [that] provide the work context within which members construct shared identities and the context that helps those identities to be shared. Members of such groups collectively develop an outlook on work” (Bartunek, i63). Consequently, members of a particular community perceive their activities as being important and complex than the observers do. The article maintains that one of the problems in facilitating quality service delivery in healthcare institutions is inadequacy in transfer of knowledge between communities (Kovnar & Knickman, 2011).

Third, is the concept of socialization and its role in creating professional identity, where new practitioners learn their impact in the society around them and ultimately defines their purpose. They eventually identify themselves as professional physicians over time, and this identity reflects knowledge and common social identity that can only be understood by individuals who have undergone similar training. This could create difficulties in situations where different professional groups interact (Bartunek, i63). These three aspects create identity conflicts, which could stand on the way of administering quality initiatives. This is summarized in the article by the statement that “The professional communities stimulate learning and change internally but block such processes externally, given the social boundaries between neighboring professions” (Bartunek, i64).

According to the article, fostering these relationships requires communication, which should be enhanced across the professional groups through means such as Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, to create penetration between boundaries that exists between them. This can be achieved by enhancing socialization in cross-disciplinary communities, helping the practitioners to think beyond their practice and inflicting dual identification through super-ordinate shared identities. These are achieved through intergroup meetings, interpersonal relationships and having common goals to enhance the productivity in the healthcare facility (Bartunek, i65). When this is said and done, then quality or “the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge” (Clancy & Lloyd p. 234) will be achieved. This can be measured through evaluation of clinical performance percentage with regard to the patients’ reports. Information collection is paramount in healthcare as data sources for improvement of healthcare delivery and this should involve all healthcare practitioners (Clancy & Lloyd, Ch.11).

In conclusion, life involves interacting with others and such interactions could have an impact on people’s wellbeing and performance. Positive social interactions have been linked to job satisfaction, decrease in fatigue and improved job performance. Supportive working environment is not only enjoyable but also facilitates teamwork while lack of it is liked to bullying and harassments that is meant to humiliate, distress or annoy colleagues. The article did not take an integrated approach in offering solutions to enhance social dynamics in healthcare institutions. Integrated organizational approach at individual, team and organization levels is proactively appropriate to evaluate these aspects in the healthcare organizations, to facilitate supportive culture of dignity and respect and ultimately enhance productivity (Royal College of Nursing, 2005).

References

Bartunek, J. M. (2010). Intergroup Relationships and Quality Improvement In Healthcare. British Medical Journals, Doi: 10.1136

Clancy C and Lloyd R. (2004). High Quality Healthcare: A Guide to Developing and Using Indicators. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Kovnar, A. R. and Knickman, J. R. (2011). Health Care Delivery in the United States (10th ed.).

New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Royal College of Nursing (2005). Working with Care: Improving Working Relationships; Self- Assessment Tools for Health Care Teams Initiative. Retrieved on 25^th October From: http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/78638/002487.pdf