Another key component of a hospital culture
conducive to quality improvement
is encouraging individual ownership and
accountability for patient safety and quality,
according to respondents. In one hospital,
for example, there were delays in notifying
physicians of critical lab results. According
to the hospital quality improvement director,
when nurses took ownership of the
process and started collecting the data,
they were able to determine the problem
and address it. Another respondent noted
that if nurses identify a problem and are
encouraged to take responsibility for fixing
it, it is analogous to “the difference between
reading the memo and getting it done and
writing the memo and getting it done,” the
latter of which is significantly more likely
to create and sustain needed change.