Creating complex health improvement programs as mindful organizations: from theory to action
L Michele Issel1, Kusuma M Narasimha
1University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois, USA. issel@uic.edu
Journal of Health Organization and Management
|August 24, 2007
Summary
Organizational mindfulness strategies can prevent failures in community health programs. Applying these strategies, like preoccupation with failure, helps avoid adverse client outcomes in health initiatives.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Organizational Psychology
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Complex community health initiatives often face challenges impacting client outcomes.
- Organizational research highlights the importance of high reliability organizations and error prevention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify strategies for complex, community-based health initiatives to avoid client outcome failures.
- To explore the application of organizational mindfulness in health programs.
Main Methods:
- Case study analysis of a US federally funded infant mortality and preterm birth reduction initiative and a local program.
- Utilized Weick and Sutcliffe's five strategies for organizational mindfulness: preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and deference to expertise.
Main Results:
- Mindlessness actions were observed at both federal and local levels within the analyzed health initiative.
- Despite opportunities, mindfulness strategies were not consistently enacted.
Conclusions:
- The application of organizational mindfulness strategies can prevent adverse outcomes in healthcare initiatives, such as infant mortality and preterm birth.
- Organizational mindfulness offers a valuable framework for improving the success of semi-autonomous health organizations.
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