lock-voiceoftheclinician-2017.pdf (396.07 kB)
Voice of the Clinician: the case of an Australian health system
journal contribution
posted on 2017-01-01, 00:00 authored by Mark LockMark Lock, A L Stephenson, J Branford, J Roche, M S Edwards, K RyanPurpose: The Voice of the Clinician project commenced during an era when practitioner burnout, dissatisfaction, and turnover became an increasingly global health workforce concern. One key problem is clinical staff not being empowered to voice their concerns to decision-makers, as was found in this case study of an Australian public health organization. The following research question informed the present study: What is a better committee system for clinician engagement in decision-making processes? The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The Mid North Coast Local Health District in New South Wales aspired to improve engagement between frontline clinicians and decision-makers. Social network analysis methods and mathematical modeling were used in the discovery of how committees are connected to each other and subsequently to other committee members. Findings: This effort uncovered a hidden organizational architecture of 323 committees of 926 members which overall cost 84,729 person hours and AUD$2.923 million per annum. Furthermore, frontline clinicians were located far from centers of influence, just 37 percent of committees had terms of reference, and clinicians reported that meeting agendas were not being met. Practical implications: In response to the findings, a technological platform was created so that the board of directors could visually see all the committees and the connections between them, thus creating ways to further improve communication, transparency of process, and – ultimately – clinician engagement. Originality/value: The breakthrough idea is that all organizational meetings can be seen as a system of engagement and should be analyzed to determine and describe the points and pathways where clinician voice is blocked.
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Journal
Journal of Health, Organisation and ManagementVolume
31Issue
6Pagination
665 - 678Publisher
EmeraldLocation
Bingley, Eng.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1477-7266Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
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