Case Study Life or Death

1. What values appear to be driving the doctors and nurses in the hospitals to treat heart attack patients?

Since heart attack patients should be treated without any delays, it is crucial for the doctors and nurses to work fast as a team based on well-organized hospital culture. Well-organized hospital culture reduces the chances of miscommunication between the doctors and nurses and enables them to deliver fast, effective treatment to patients. Moreover, other values such as flexibility in improving protocols, efforts to have better quality, real-time data feedback to measure success are also desired in treating patients.

2. Why must a person's work habits match the team culture in the hospitals depicted above?

As we know, the doctors and nurses are in charge of patients' lives. Even small mistake can lead to serious outcome. Accordingly, individual's work habits should match the team culture in the hospitals to work as a team harmoniously to guarantee patients' lives. For example, if a doctor has an attitude like his opinions are always right and does not listen to other people's saying, it would destroy the teamwork of staff in the hospital. The collateral damage of discord in teamwork would eventually cause bad influence on patients. Therefore, a person's work habits should match the team culture.

3. What types of events could change or alter the strong team culture in the hospitals depicted above?

Any kind of changes in above, such as, reducing delays throughout the process, senior management support for quality improvement efforts, and innovative protocols may affect the change or alter the strong team culture in the hospital. For example, if there is a policy putting emphasis on individual efforts and giving incentives to the doctors and nurses based on their solid work, this