Deficient crisis-probing practices and taken-for-granted assumptions in health organisations

The practice of crisis-probing in proactive organisations involves meticulous and sustained investigation into operational processes and management structures for potential weaknesses and flaws before they become difficult to resolve. In health organisations, crisis probing is a necessary part of preparing to manage emerging health threats. This study examined the degree of pre-emptive probing in health organisations and the type of crisis training provided to determine whether or not they are prepared in this area. This evidence-based study draws on cross-sectional responses provided by executives from chiropractic, physiotherapy, and podiatry practices; dental and medical clinics; pharmacies; aged care facilities; and hospitals. The data show a marked lack of mandatory probing and a generalised failure to reward crisis reporting. Crisis prevention training is poor in all organisations except hospitals and aged care facilities where it occurs at an adequate frequency. However this training focuses primarily on natural disasters, fails to address most other crisis types, is mostly reactive and not designed to probe for and uncover key taken-for-granted assumptions. Crisis-probing in health organisations is inadequate, and improvements in this area may well translate into measurable improvements in preparedness and response outcomes. Keywords: probing; signal detection; resilience; high-reliability; preparedness (Published: 18 April 2011) Citation: Emerging Health Threats Journal 2011, 4 : 7135 - DOI: 10.3402/ehtj.v4i0.7135