Strategies for Culture Change

Abstract

The subtitle of this book, Where Technology and Caring Meet, reflects the next stage of challenges for nursing and other health professions in the midst of a rapidly growing need for health information technology (HIT) innovation and implementation. Significantly different cultural perspectives on the meaning of caring and technology for many health care professionals contribute to challenges related to implementation, acceptance, and meaningful use of technology and informatics in the provision of care to patients and consumers. Why should we have a discussion about culture and cultural change as a major part of this 4th edition? In 2006, a group of nursing leaders organized an invitational meeting of nursing leaders across the profession to create a vision and shape strategies to implement technology and informatics within the nursing profession. This initiative was called Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER). In the preparation for the invitational symposium, TIGER leadership identified seven pillars which would frame the discussion of strategies for change: management and leadership, education, communication and collaboration, informatics design, information technology (IT), policy, and culture. Consensus was reached regarding themes and initial action steps for all the pillars except one, the pillar of Culture. As defined at the TIGER summit, culture is “a respectful open system that leverages technology and informatics across multiple disciplines in an environment where all stakeholders trust each other to work together towards the goal of high quality and safety.”1 The summit recommended the following actions as strategies to impact culture: Institute a national marketing campaign to promote the value of technology in a multidisciplinary way that supports an accepting culture. Include HIT in every strategic plan, mission, and vision statement; use of HIT is embraced by executives, deans, all point-of-care clinicians, and students with goal of high quality care and safety. Establish multidisciplinary teams that embrace a shared vision and operate cohesively to push for broad technology integration within/across entire organizations. Develop mutual respect between/among clinicians who may bring different skills and knowledge, e.g., create/develop process in which experienced nurses can mentor new nurses, and also, the new nurses who are more technologically aware can mentor veteran nurses.