Measuring Organizational Capacity to Accelerate Health Care Innovation in Academic Health Centers.

In an era of rising clinical costs and shrinking federal research dollars, the survival of the academic health center may depend on its capacity to cultivate high-impact innovations in care delivery on an accelerated basis. Yet, the health sciences literature offers little guidance regarding the key organizational determinants most likely to facilitate such innovation. We report on the conceptualization, development, and preliminary testing of a new 21-item Accelerated Healthcare Innovation Capacity scale for addressing that knowledge gap. Instrument development followed a standardized process, including expert panel testing of the new scale's content relevance validity. A sample (N = 53) of academic health center administrators, clinicians, and faculty affiliated with a single organization volunteered to complete the Accelerated Healthcare Innovation Capacity scale in survey form. Data were analyzed to evaluate scale reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity. High-expert agreement (overall S-CVI of 0.91) was obtained on content relevance validity. Cronbach α for the scale was 0.941. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the theoretical soundness of the scale's conceptual framework, which showed high-impact health care innovation support to be a complex, multidimensional concept involving key facilitating factors across 3 major constructs-that is, Culture, Structure, and Policy-with implications for future research and managerial practice, particularly for staff development educators engaged in evaluating quality management and organizational change strategies.

Language Sensitivity, the RESPECT Model, and Continuing Education.

Some words and phrases used by health care providers may be perceived as insensitive by patients, which could negatively affect patient outcomes and satisfaction. However, a distinct concept that can be used to describe and synthesize these words and phrases does not exist. The purpose of this article is to propose the concept of language sensitivity, defined as the use of respectful, supportive, and caring words with consideration for a patient's situation and diagnosis. Examples of how language sensitivity may be lacking in nurse-patient interactions are described, and solutions are provided using the RESPECT (Rapport, Environment/Equipment, Safety, Privacy, Encouragement, Caring/Compassion, and Tact) model. RESPECT can be used as a framework to inform and remind nurses about the importance of sensitivity when communicating with patients. Various approaches can be used by nurse educators to promote language sensitivity in health care. Case studies and a lesson plan are included. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(11):517-524.