The OHA’s new Healthy Workplace Model suggests that the quality of the work environment for staff and physicians is a key determinant of a high-performing health care organization. While the OHA has kept the “healthy workplace” label it has used since launching its Healthy Hospital Initiative in 2002, its thinking about healthy workplaces has evolved considerably.
The model marks a significant step beyond employee wellness, which focuses on individual health and program-based interventions. The new model is more comprehensive and systemic, providing an organizational perspective on health and performance that reflects the direction taken by a growing number of OHA members. So the model integrates healthy workplace, human resource, quality and patient safety goals within a performance-focused framework
The model guided the development of the employee and physician surveys. The model itself is evidence-based, drawing on a wide range of published research on health care work environments, staff quality of work life, quality improvement, and organizational outcomes. One of the key practical insights flowing from recent studies is the need to better understand how factors related to people’s job, work environments and organizational contexts can influence their overall wellbeing and their capacity to provide high-quality patient care or client services.
Please click here to view the OHA Healthy Workplace Model.