Culture Club
A health service or functions due to an inter-relationship between people and organisations, each of which affects the other. A simple model of an organisation is that it consists of a structure, systems and a culture. Of these, the structure is easiest to change and for this reason structural change is common, although the least important of the three components of an organisation. Health systems are being developed and will be modified in the light of experience. The culture of the organisation, of at least equal importance to its systems, is, for many people who manage , the most difficult part of an organisation to influence.
Culture is, in the words of Edgar Schein one of the leaders in this field
“the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration and that have worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems”.
The Oxford Healthcare Culture Programme has been designed to help people create a common culture,
For a common culture to evolve not only a common vocabulary but also a common set of concepts and a common evidence base are required. Concepts are derived from books, and it is important that both those who manage, pay for or deliver healthcare understand both prevailing and classic concepts, for example Avedis Donabedian’s concept of optimality, or Pawson and Tilley’s concept of realistic evaluation. Furthermore, there are papers, either published papers, such as Richard Lilford’s paper on the contribution of process and outcome measures in evaluating healthcare, which contribute to the common set of concepts and the common evidence base.
The Oxford Healthcare Culture Programme delivers key books, key words and key papers using different media, including five minute podcasts and web sites which the recipient can store and to which they can add a commentary on what they have heard or read to their personal development folder.
The Book of The Month (BOM) – key books analysed in audio book reviews with those who manage large organisations able to mobilise a Book of the Month Club which they think all their key staff should read, reflect on and discuss to create a set of common concepts
The Word of the Month (WOM) – a jargon buster unravelling the meanings of the terms that fly about 21st Century management and delivered for reading and listening to create a common language – ensuring that the frequently used terms are used with a common meaning;
The Paper of the Month (POM) – key pieces of evidence, both new papers and classics, presented as one line quotes with easy links to the abstract, to be read or listened to
The engagement of the community will occur by making the experience an interactive experience so that the individual person receiving the podcast and linked web site would also have the opportunity of reflection and recording their thoughts; Each episode will be accompanied by a learning record, a word file that individuals can complete and file in their continuous professional development folder.
Off the peg or bespoke
The Oxford Healthcare Culture Programme can deliver these resources off the peg, namely completed and delivered to the mobile phones or computers of the managers within the organisation identified by that organisation. As with any off the peg service, a choice is possible, the team responsible for developing the common culture within that organisation selecting from a long list of terms, books and papers with which they want to be presented.
The bespoke service requires greater commitment on behalf of the organisation and allows the organisation to tailor the service and engage its own managers to a greater degree, for example by having some or all of the Book of the Month choices being chosen by the management team or individual researchers who feel particularly strongly that their colleagues should read a book or an article. In addition there may be a particular issue within that organisation which demands urgent action to ensure that a particular key word such as “safety” or “efficiency” or “sustainability” is the focus of attention at a particular point in time.
