CULTURE AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP STRATEGY IS a critical responsibility for health system leaders. Understanding that culture is a dynamic and evolving process for development, we have included an article that describes the use of an innovative "Pause and Learn" action-learning process developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and adapted to the healthcare environment to capture timely, critical lessons learned in response to COVID-19 and apply them forward. [...]all of us bring personal and professional concerns to work each day and this may have important implications for our performance and the overall culture.

ROAD TO RECOVERY

In the United States, where the health system has been characterized by relative abundance, scarcity became the norm and challenged us as physician leaders to attempt to allocate inadequate resources, particularly those that may be lifesaving, such as ventilators and ICU beds. A field report describes how physician leaders can prepare for local disasters and how operational interventions, such as leading hospital incident command, securing housing, managing surge, and providing support to employees, helped Sonoma County manage through California's Kincade fire. [...]a research article that examines the role of patient education and communication in postoperative emergency department visits challenges us to think about the tools we can use to help our patients avoid unnecessary care.

LEADING THE WAY THROUGH COVID-19

SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE PANDEMIC, I talked about how "when this was over" we would return to all of the things that we took for granted: maintaining patient safety, implementing information technology systems, managing patient flow and throughput, going through the budget cycle, managing credentialing, or undergoing peer review. [...]we offer a discussion article that examines the role of drug use-associated infections and their financial toll on healthcare systems. The author suggests ways hospital administration leaders must adapt strategies to optimize the value of patient care given to those afflicted with both opioid-use disorders and their related infections and attempt to lower costs while improving quality of care.