Abstract

Medication errors are a major healthcare problem in today’s high-paced, multi-faceted healthcare environment. A well-designed change model coupled with good care givers engagement is the best way to bring positive and sustainable change to the system. The aim of this study was to assess whether implementing a combination of Kotter’s change model and Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model will improve the self-reporting of medication errors (MEs) among physicians and/or nurses and to understand how physicians and nurses respond to Hersey and Blanchard’s behavior modification tool by analyzing ME self-reporting data trends, as determined at the end of the study. We have perused Kotter’s 8-stage change management model to roll out this behavioral change research study. Kotter suggested creating a sense of urgency to initiate change. To support the change, we used the recently released (March 2019) regulatory policy on ME reporting and disseminating, which created a need and urgency among team to imbibe the change and its acceptance. There were zero reports in the first month i.e. July 2019, which was a surprise and required further investigation. The second month (August 2019) noted three reports (one near miss and two self-reported MEs), which was a success in our research model. In the third month, two self-reported cases were noted and one medication error was reported. The current research study had created an opportunity to implement a unique combination of Kotter’s model and Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory model, which was not attempted before, nor was cited in the literature. Hence, further studies are warranted on a larger scale to solidify our results and the effective use of our proposed model in a healthcare management set-up to remove medication errors reporting.

Key words: Healthcare, Hersey and Blanchard, Kotter’s change model, Leadership, Medication errors, Modified change model