Organizational Culture of Mississippi Hospitals as Perceived by Laboratory Professionals

Abstract

From 2006 through 2008, patient safety events cost the Medicare program $8.9 billion and were associated with 99,180 hospital deaths.¹ Of the $2.5 trillion spent on healthcare in 2009, 2.3% or $57.5 million was spent on laboratory costs.² Reduction of laboratory-associated errors to 3.4 errors per 1 million tests could save money and lives.³ The organizational culture of a facility has an impact on quality improvement implementation.⁴ Clinical laboratories in Mississippi were surveyed to determine the predominant culture type as perceived by the medical laboratory professionals. Of the 1200 surveys mailed to 90 facilities, 272 were returned complete. It was determined that although the individual participant return rate was 28.6%, 49 of the 90 hospitals or 54.4% of the Mississippi facilities were represented through one or more individual participant responses. The culture scores revealed the following distribution for the individual respondents: group/clan culture scores were predominant for 106 (39.0%), hierarchical culture scores for 94 (34.6%), rational/market culture scores for 36 (13.2%), and developmental/adhocratic culture scores for 24 (8.8%) of the individual respondents. The remaining 12 (4.4%) individuals reported blended or codominant culture scores with 50% claiming a group/clan and hierarchical split. The consolidation of the data to represent the 49 healthcare institutions revealed a different distribution, with 24 (49%) as hierarchical culture, 22 (44.9%) as group/clan culture, and 3 (6.1%) as rational/market culture. Mississippi hospital data parallels previous findings with either hierarchical or group being the predominant organizational culture.

ABBREVIATIONS: MLS - Medical Laboratory Scientist, MLT - Medical Laboratory Technicians