The Importance of Accountability

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Importance of accountability in a health industry
Measuring the employees accountability
Checks and balance process
Affection of the organization culture by accountability
Maintaining a positive culture
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Accountability is defined as an act of person(s), organization/ institutions being responsible of the tasks assigned. Accountability is therefore, a culture that is critical in determining the success in institutions in their mandate to deliver on the assigned tasks. Health sector in this regard is mandated with the welfare of citizens’ health. For this sector to succeed in taking care of the people health, accountability has to prevalent. However, this is not the case, as the sector has failed to achieve its objectives due to lack of accountability. Below we shall look at accountability in health industry.

Importance of accountability in a health industry

In almost all aspects of life, accountability is very essential, although in some sensitive areas like a health facility it can save a life. In a health facility, everything carries a cost starting from doctor’s time, the prescriptions, patients’ beds, office expenses, and the staff salaries among others (Scott, 2003). In the health facilities, if any commodity is wasted, misused or may be stolen there is someone who will carry that burden, and that is either the consumer or the insurance company that is offering the cover.

If everyone becomes accountable for what he or she is using, the operating costs of the overall institution would be low. In addition, the accountability is very crucial in a healthy facility, because a slight error especially by the doctor or the patient may cost someone’s life. Slight errors in a healthy facility should be reported as quickly as possible especially errors concerning the medicines and other prescriptions. The fear of being embarrassed or denying an error in a healthy facility should never be an issue as everyone can make a mistake.

Measuring the employees accountability

The employees’ accountability is seen in a healthy care industry through his or her working procedures. For instance if an employee can start a project with a certain patient and he or she fails to follow that project until the end, this is a show of lack of accountability of that patient (Savage, 2010). For any employee who is accountable to his or her actions, there is a regular feedback of the course of actions between him and the supervisor. The work of a committed employee has some set objectives and he or she ensures that the objectives are accomplished and the report made to the supervisor. There are those employees in healthy facilities who like delegating most of their duties to others, not knowing that their duties are very sensitive, as they are dealing with people lives. Such employees who are very fond of delegating show a quality of a person who runs away from his or her own accountabilities. In a healthy facility, there is no need of any employee to do something he or she is not sure of, as mistakes be turn to be very expensive, the employees who are held accountable and very aware always seek for clarification from the relevant people before they perform such actions.

Checks and balance process

In any successful organization, there must be a reliable process for performing checks and balances. The first process is by establishing measurable goals. If for instance is a healthy facility where the management has established a coding compliance program, the reasons of establishing that program are made available to the users. The organization should ensure that the employees are aware of the reasons like improving the quality of coding, and easy documentation (Dekker, 2007). The organization should also set some measurable objectives such that beginning with the status and setting the level of expectations. The next step is for the management to choose the right team to work with.

This process will involve the employees and the top management. As the employees perform their duties at the ground level, the top management should be waiting for the results of all the performances. The third step is to have a layered approach, for instance a healthy facility may have to put some extra efforts to ensure there is a coding manager who is an expert to be ensuring that all the coders records are accurate and perfect. The fourth step is to define the audit especially during the times when there are some new team officials whether they are experienced or not. When a new team member is working, he or she may not be able to point out the differences. The auditor should be ready to work on a coder-by-coder basis. The fifth step is for the management to equip its employees with the right tools that will enable them to perform, and after which the management should do some follow ups and educate the team (Ledlow & Coppola, 2010). After achieving the set goals, the management should widen the goals for more improvements within the organization.

Affection of the organization culture by accountability

The accountability affects the culture of the organization greatly because some employees’ attributes keep of recurring. In history, there are some companies where unless there is some threats and intimidation no actions of delivering results may happen. In addition, some employees only act through the presence of the supervisor and with much pressure (Savage, 2010). Therefore, the accountability or failure of the employees sometimes becomes the culture of the organization. In some cases, there are some organizations where employees have a culture of timely and perfect deliveries, and this becomes the culture of the organization.

Maintaining a positive culture

A positive company culture can be through selection of facilities, creation of communication channels, and the general way of how employees treat one another on daily basis (Scott, 2003). The management should concentrate on how to improve the relationship among the employees, and how they fell about one another. An organization can improve a positive culture by making the employees happy, energetic, secured and friendly. Through participating in the activities of the employees, the management would define their general mood. If the management realizes that the culture of the organization is not pleasing, it should work on improving it towards the positive side.

Conclusion

Accountability is therefore key to success in any given institution. As seen in the health sector, the employees and the management should embrace the culture of accountability. This will in turn translate in to better service delivery to the patients due increased efficiency.

References

Dekker, S. (2007). Just Culture. London: Ashgate.

Ledlow, G., & Coppola, N. (2010). Leadership for Health professionals: Theory, Skills, and Application. New York: Jones & Barlett Learning.

Savage, G. (2010). Strategic Human Resource Management in Health Care. New York: Emerald Group Publishing.

Scott, T. (2003). Healthcare performance and organisational culture. New York: Radcliffe.

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