Examining Gender and Enjoyment: Do They Predict Job Satisfaction and Well-Being?

Within organizations, happiness of employees is of key importance, and researchers have theorized that work happiness is comprised of positive well-being and job satisfaction (Sgroi, 2015; Wright & Cropanzano, 2000). However, women experience the workplace differently than their male counterparts (Clark, 1997). In the present study, we examine how female leaders and non-leaders (compared to male leaders and non-leaders), experience well-being and job satisfaction, as well as how work enjoyment predicts well-being and job satisfaction. Participants (286 women and 255 men) completed a demographic measure, the Subjective Vitality Scale (Ryan & Frederick, 1997), the Job Satisfaction Survey (Macdonald & McIntyre, 1997) and the ENJOY (Davidson, 2018). Results showed that being in a leadership position, not gender, determined well-being and job satisfaction with those in leadership positions experiencing higher levels of both variables. For women, number of individuals supervised and leadership experience did not predict well-being or job satisfaction. Last, for women, the work enjoyment variables of pleasure, relatedness and competence predicted well-being and job satisfaction. Results were similar for male participants. Unlike earlier research, the results of the present study found more similarities than differences between women and men. Differences in well-being and satisfaction were more influenced by whether one was in a managerial role than by gender. Future research would do well to focus on exploration and understanding of how female leaders versus non-leaders experience the workplace

Error Reporting Behaviors

Although patient safety is a focus with medical care, it has been influenced by the lack of safety culture in the environment (Vincent et al., 2000). Preventable medical errors continue to plague healthcare and cost close to $1 trillion annually (Andel et al., 2012). Despite the prevalence of medical errors, only one of seven errors are reported (Levinson, 2010). Understanding the behaviors that influence reporting is imperative to developing patient safety reporting initiatives. Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior identifies behaviors as based on a combination of beliefs, intentions, and social control (1988). Applying this model to error reporting, we hypothesize that error reporting behaviors are shaped by different variables. Personality and expertise as well as age and sex impact error reporting attitudes and behaviors, and individual differences pertaining to culture, such as the extent that an individual submits to authority or status and hierarchy affect error reporting. Likewise, organizational factors can influence the extent to which errors are reported (Uribe, et al., 2002; Wakefield et al., 2001). Surveys were collected longitudinally from senior medical students’ with little to no previous experience as a professional. The survey tool includes items that were pulled from the validated Attitudes toward Patient Safety Questionnaire, a validated measure of power distance, previously reported items measuring reporting behaviors and demographic items. Understanding error reporting behaviors guides healthcare providers to develop protocols or initiatives. Knowing what particular constructs predict the intent to report, healthcare providers can successfully implement structure, change workplace culture, and education

Human Factors Applied to Perioperative Process Improvement

Human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) is its own scientific discipline that can be applied to understanding performance in perioperative medicine. Humans are not perfect decision makers and are affected by a variety of factors that can greatly harm their ability to perform, including attention, bias, stress, and fatigue. HF/E has a unique perspective on human error, and HF/E can illustrate how moving away from blame can enhance safety. HF/E offers strategies for undertaking a systematic approach to assessment of work processes in perioperative medicine that can be used to increase safety and wellbeing of patients and providers

Teams in a New Era: Some Considerations and Implications

Teams have been a ubiquitous structure for conducting work and business for most of human history. However, today’s organizations are markedly different than those of previous generations. The explosion of innovative ideas and novel technologies mandate changes in job descriptions, roles, responsibilities, and how employees interact and collaborate. These advances have heralded a new era for teams and teamwork in which previous teams research and practice may not be fully appropriate for meeting current requirements and demands. In this article, we describe how teams have been historically defined, unpacking five important characteristics of teams, including membership, interdependence, shared goals, dynamics, and an organizationally bounded context, and relating how these characteristics have been addressed in the past and how they are changing in the present. We then articulate the implications these changes have on how we study teams moving forward by offering specific research questions

Applying a Team Performance Framework to better Understand the Handoff Process: Part 1

Handoffs require critical information transfers that are clear, comprehensible, and correct from receiver to sender. There are many factors that influence the reliability of the information in a handoff procedure, and impact the subsequent choices that are made that affect patient care. Using the Input – Mediator – Output – Input model multiple factors that influence the information transfer process have been identified to better handoff communication and in turn, lead to better patient care. The IMOI model is a recently developed theory that claims the productivity and value of interaction among team members can be influenced by cognitive, affective, and external factors (Weaver et al., 2013). This clarifies that the output affects the future performance of a group through a feedback loop, as well as reflects variability in mediational influences. This paper focuses on the first two parts of the IMOI model; input and mediators. Individual characteristics affect the handoff process for both the sender and receiver, including attitudes, expertise, experience, expectations, and fitness for duty. The inputs of a handoff are the individual characteristics of the providers and the patient case, where mediation is the shared process to develop an outcome. The attitudes, expertise, experience, and fitness for duty influence the composition of the team, but are moderated by factors such as interventions, communication, resources, team monitoring, and team orientation. By understanding these factors, providers can create a safer environment and provide safer patient care

Utilizing Human Factors to Improve Perioperative Adverse Event Investigations: An Integrated Approach

Objective: Apply Human Factors (HF), systems engineering, and high reliability organizational principles to improve adverse event investigations in a regional hospital system. Background: Given the complexity of medicine and healthcare systems, innovative thinking is required to ensure these systems are resilient to error. Understanding the work system and its constituent parts is fundamental to understanding how errors begin and propagate. Method: This paper provides a discussion on employing a systems-based approach to improve perioperative adverse event investigations within a hospital system. Results: Data was collected across 13 investigations. The findings are summarized into 16 contributing factors, with 10 specific examples of critical/serious risks that were addressed by the hospital system. Conclusion: Modern medicine needs to look to HF to improve safety and reduce errors. This manuscript provides a systems-based approach grounded in HF and organizational theories to improve how investigations are conducted and the approach to human error within a large hospital system. Application: This work provides practical guidance for those who want to improve postoperative investigations within their own units or hospitals. Precis: This article describes research that evolves the approach to accident investigation to improve perioperative adverse event investigations in hospital settings

Investigative approaches: Lessons learned from the RaDonda Vaught case

Accidental patient harms occur frequently in healthcare, but their exact prevalence and interventions that will best prevent them are still poorly understood. In rare cases, healthcare providers who have contributed to accidental patient harm may be criminally prosecuted to obtain justice for the patient and family or to set an example, which theoretically prevents other providers from making similar mistakes due to fear of punishment. A recent case where this strategy was chosen is the RaDonda L. Vaught vs. Tennessee (2022) criminal case. The present article discusses this case and its ramifications, as well as provides concrete recommendations for actions that healthcare organizations should take to foster a safer and more resilient healthcare system. Recommendations include placing an emphasis on just culture; ensuring timely, systems-level investigations of all incidents; creating and facilitating participation in a national reporting system; incorporating Human Factors professionals at multiple levels of organizations; and establishing a national safety board for medicine

The Template of Events for Applied and Critical Healthcare Simulation (TEACH Sim): A Tool for Systematic Simulation Scenario Design

Simulation-based training (SBT) affords practice opportunities for improving the quality of clinicians’ technical and nontechnical skills. However, the development of practice scenarios is a process plagued by a set of challenges that must be addressed for the full learning potential of SBT to be realized. Scenario templates are useful tools for assisting with SBT and navigating its inherent challenges. This article describes existing SBT templates, explores considerations in choosing an appropriate template, and introduces the Template of Events for Applied and Critical Healthcare Simulation (TEACH Sim) as a tool for facilitating the formation of practice scenarios in accordance with an established evidence-based simulation design methodology. TEACH Sim’s unique contributions are situated within the landscape of previously existing templates, and each of its component sections is explained in detail

Promoting Teamwork in Translational Medical Teams: Insights and Recommendations from Science and Practice

Translational medical teams are transdisciplinary, highly collaborative, and operate within dynamic environments to solve time-sensitive and complex problems. These teams are tasked with turning observations in the laboratory and clinic into effective interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public. The nature of the problems they seek to solve requires coordination among clinicians, scientists, and experts from various scientific disciplines. Characteristically, translational medical teams have complex compositions, structure, and pluralistic goals, which pose significant challenges and barriers to enacting effective teamwork, compromising team performance. Given these challenges, it is imperative to glean insights from teams research and the science of team science on how to execute efficacious teamwork. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to discuss specific teamwork processes (i.e., trust, communication, self-correction, backup behavior, shared mental models, and conflict management) that are critical to translational medical team performance and offer mechanisms to better equip such teams. Utilizing a theoretical framework of transdisciplinary teamwork adapted from the science of team science and tailored to translational medical teams, we describe each of these processes, their relation to translational medical team outcomes, and how they can be leveraged to improve teamwork. Such a discussion aims to provide practical guidance for conceptualizing and enhancing teamwork in translational medical teams