Introduction
The Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) is a non-profit organization affiliated with the American Hospital Association (AHA) in conducting research and educational programs involving areas of critical significance to the healthcare sector, communities, and the business world. Accordingly, HRET has been involved in fostering change within the healthcare systems through providing evidence-based research and education regarding emerging trends in healthcare, using theoretical knowledge in solving practical issues in healthcare, and providing tools for improved health care delivery. Conversely, HRET’s activities focus on four major areas including quality and safety, community health, health care access/coverage, and leadership/Governance (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, p. 2). In this essay, we will look at quality/safety and leadership/governance focus areas relative to their importance to healthcare administrators, HRET’s role in addressing the two focus areas, and finally, the impact of HRET’s activities in the two focus areas.
The importance of the focus areas to healthcare administrators
Quality and safety
Studies note that the primary goal of healthcare institutions and systems entails delivery of timely, adequate, effective, efficient, safe, and quality healthcare services to clients (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002, p. 1419). Therefore, considering that the main objective of HRET entails conducting research projects with the aim of assessing and improving the safety and quality of care services, there is evidence to suggest that this focus area is beneficial to healthcare administrators in terms of guiding decision-making processes across the healthcare systems. Here, studies note that HRET’s activities aim at eliminating disparities in service delivery while improving quality through collecting and analyzing data regarding language, race, and ethnicity, which are known to influence healthcare delivery in many hospitals. While armed with such important analytical information, healthcare administrators will be in a better position of reporting to stakeholders, providing patient-centered care, and making informed decisions (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, p. 3).
Leadership and governance
It is a fact that good leadership and governance form an integral part of the success of many organizations. However, studies note that since the American healthcare sector has shifted into a market economy, there is the risk that many healthcare leaders will be forced to use out-dated transactional leadership styles and organizational hierarchies due to lack of information regarding good leadership and governance styles (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002, p. 1420; Mindtools, n.d.). Therefore, HRET’s role in providing research and educational programs on leadership and governance allows healthcare administrators to practice a wide range of leadership behaviors and styles relative to different situations in their organizations. Here, further studies show that successful leaders should demonstrate transformational, servant, and situational leadership tactics in organizing the human resource in their organizations (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002, p. 1421).
HRET’s role in addressing the focus areas
Quality and Safety
As indicated earlier, HRET is the leader and major participant in research projects aimed at eliminating disparities and improving the quality of healthcare services. For instance in 2001, HRET in conjunction with six hospitals developed a framework that guides collection of data regarding patients’ language, race, cultural predispositions, and ethnicity (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, p. 3). Further, HRET has been involved in research projects aimed at showing the relationship between race/ethnicity data and the quality of healthcare services. Conversely, HRET in partnership with the Institute for Diversity in Health Management, AHA, and the National Center for Healthcare Leadership has developed the Cultural Competence Leadership (CCL) fellowship program. In this program, fellows (participants) play a pivotal role in terms of identifying and using data on health disparities and racial/ethnic diversity data among other factors in their respective organization to design action plans and strategic tools important for the delivery of safe, quality, and multicultural-based healthcare services (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, p. 5).
Furthermore, HRET has designed various tools such as Patient Safety Leadership Walk Rounds Guide, Pathways for Medication Safety Tools, and Physician Practice Patient Safety Assessment (PPPSA) tools, which are aimed at improving the quality of care and ensuring that the safety of patients and their families is guaranteed. Conversely, HRET has developed Action Learning Labs for teams engaged in improving the quality and managing the safety of patients. Here, the learning labs bring together different healthcare leaders with a track record of success in delivering safe and quality services to share their experiences with junior leaders (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, pp. 5-6).
Leadership and governance
HRET’s role in leadership and governance entails partnering with other research organizations in order to track current evidence-based practices, issues, and trends regarding leadership and governance in healthcare. Here, HRET and other partners review current leadership and governance issues, trends, and practices besides correlating them to various clinical and financial results, and thus HRET allows healthcare leaders and other stakeholders to apply evidence-based practices in running their organizations. To achieve this, HRET and other partners survey different healthcare organizations besides convening meetings on leadership and governance in order to relay their research findings to the target audience. For instance, in 2005, a survey involving CEOs and Board Chairs in different American hospitals was conducted by HRET with the aim of linking different governance practices to healthcare outcomes. Further, HRET convened the Blue Ribbon Panel on Health Care Governance in 2006 with the aim of identifying CEOs, board members, and healthcare systems to be used as role models/references in the research and educational programs entailing leadership and governance at the national level (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, pp. 16-17).
The impact of HRET’s activities in the focus areas
Quality and safety
Studies show that HRET’s researchers have played a major role in terms of introducing and training different healthcare providers on the available methods of collecting patient data, and putting it into use to improve the quality of care services and patient safety (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, p. 3). Here, HRET staff has been prominent in advocating for quality and safety of healthcare services in different advisory panels at the national level. Furthermore, through the CCL fellowship program, HRET produced 43 fellows within two years since the program was implemented. These fellows have been involved in implementing HRET’s activities in more than 30 healthcare organizations across the U.S. Conversely, studies note that since 2006, the Pathways for Medication Safety Tools have been used in different organizations, and thus less error-prone processes have been reported. Finally, relative to the PPPSA assessment tool, studies note that many organizations have used it and reported positive improvement in healthcare service delivery and the relationship between physicians and their patients (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, pp.5-6).
Leadership and governance
Relative to HRET’s contribution to research and educational programs on leadership and governance, the organization has been affiliated with AHA’s Center for Healthcare Governance over the years. Here, HRET has been involved in conducting surveys and convening leadership and governance meetings, which have produced a great deal of information used in every educational meeting in various centers at the national level. Furthermore, through the Blue Ribbon Panel, HRET has provided most healthcare leaders with the opportunity of transforming their leadership styles for the better of healthcare organizations (The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007, p. 16-17).
Conclusion
The essay looks at HRET’s major focus areas with a keen interest in quality/safety and leadership/governance. The foregoing discussions review the importance of the two focus areas to healthcare administrators, the role of HRET in addressing the areas, and finally, the impact of HRET’s activities in the two areas. Here, it is notable that HRET plays a pivotal role in terms of providing evidence-based research and educational programs aimed at improving the quality of care services and ensuring the safety of patients. On the other hand, HRET is engaged in ensuring good leadership and governance within the healthcare sector since studies show that the two influence different healthcare outcomes. Overall, despite that HRET has done a remarkable job in the two focus areas, more needs to be done to ensure that the healthcare sector follows the core rules of the 21st Century healthcare system.
Reference list
Mindtools. (n.d.). Leadership styles: Using the right one for your situation. Web.
Schwartz, R. & Tumblin, T. (2002). The power of servant leadership to transform health care organizations. Archives of Surgery, 137, 1419-1427.
The Health Research and Educational Trust. (2007). Biennial Report 2007: Innovation and Impact. Web.