The Association Between Organizational Culture and the Ability to Benefit From "Just Culture" Training

Objective This study aimed to determine whether there was an association between the organizational culture and the hospital's readiness to benefit from "Just Culture" training. Methods The "Just Culture" Assessment Tool and the Competing Values Framework surveys were administered before and 6 weeks after a structured "Just Culture" training session to 172 care providers and administrators on similar units at two community for-profit hospitals of compatible size and offering comparable services in suburban communities. Data were analyzed for significance using IBM SPSS software. Results At baseline, there was a significantly higher percentage of problematic responses (PPRs) for hospital 1 as compared with hospital 2. Administrators and managers reported significantly fewer PPRs than frontline staff. In addition, the archetypal organizational culture for hospital 1 was found to be more hierarchical, whereas the culture for hospital 2 was found to be more group oriented. Six weeks after the completion of "Just Culture" training, there was a 0.02% overall reduction in PPRs at hospital 1 as compared with a 62.01% overall reduction in PPRs at hospital 2. There was also a significant increase in the Group Culture Score, a significant decrease in both the Hierarchical Culture and Rational Culture scores for hospital 2 as compared with hospital 1. Conclusions There was a significantly greater reduction in PPR on the "Just Culture" Assessment Tool in the hospital with the more group-oriented organizational culture. Given the cost and effort required to conduct "Just Culture" training in an organization, it seems to be important to address the organizational culture before the implementation of this type of training.