An Empirical Case for Culture Change in Healthcare Delivery

Quality of healthcare delivery is a long-standing issue that concerns every individual member or group in society. The purpose of this paper is to identify problems with HRD functions in healthcare delivery and to suggest ways to improve and sustain quality healthcare delivery in Ghana. Using the FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital as a case study, data were collected using a qualitative research design. The following HRD functions: Program effectiveness, operating efficiency, service quality, financial stability, long versus short–term impact, tangible impact, client satisfaction, community support, publicity, employee satisfaction and commitment to the organization, trust in leadership, and altruism assessed as core indicators of high performance at the organization level, as well as the epitome of quality healthcare delivery. The results indicated that these factors presented different levels of importance to employees of FOCOS. However, there is universal agreement that the composite of these HRD functions and contextual performance indicators enhance quality healthcare delivery. FOCOS’ adherence to best practices in healthcare delivery presents a case for future research to adopt the culture espoused by FOCOS to help bridge gaps in healthcare delivery in Ghana. Unlike the traditional sectoral reforms that characterize healthcare delivery in Ghana, this paper proposes a holistic approach to culture change in healthcare delivery.