Liberating Structures in Strategic Planning: Methods to Foster Engagement.

This paper describes the innovative approach of using liberating structures to the development of the AUR 2023 strategic plan, and lessons learned in their application. The 2023 strategic plan built on the results and approach of the prior 2015 plan. Similar to the 2015 strategic plan, traditional tools such as a SWOT analysis and strategic retreat were used. In addition, the 2023 process included tools called liberating structures and was iteratively co-produced through a series of virtual meetings over 18 months. Advantages of liberating structures included increased creativity and speed in moving through meeting tasks, increased number of meaningful contributions from AUR members and increased engagement from participants during discussions and meetings. The 2023 AUR strategic plan is provided along with examples of completed goals and those under early implementation. Lessons learned from using these tools for strategic planning can be applied to other society and group meetings. Moving forward, the 2023 strategic plan will be a living document, which will be reviewed at each Board of Directors meeting and periodically adapted.

Lanzamiento de la campaña Choosing Wisely Argentina: primeros pasos hacia la desimplementación de prácticas de bajo valor / Launch of the Choosing Wisely Argentina campaign: first steps towards the de-implementation of low-value practices

En esta editorial, la autora aborda la problemática de las prácticas de bajo valor en la medicina contemporánea: aquellas intervenciones terapéuticas o diagnósticas carentes de respaldo científico, que aumentan la probabilidad de daños, generan desperdicio de recursos y amenazan la eficiencia del sistema de salud. En un contexto de preocupación global por el exceso médico y las consecuencias del sobreuso de intervenciones inefectivas, resalta la relevancia del concepto de prevención cuaternaria en la atención sanitaria, y señala la iniciativa internacional Choosing Wisely como una estrategia para identificar y revertir las prácticas de bajo valor, destacando la importancia del cambio cultural y la participación activade los pacientes. Finalmente, la autora presenta el lanzamiento de Choosing Wisely Argentina, una colaboración entre asociaciones científicas locales con el compromiso de transformar la práctica médica en este país, priorizando el bienestar del paciente y adoptando un enfoque integral hacia la atención sanitaria. (AU)

In this editorial, the author addresses the problem of low-value practices in contemporary medicine: those therapeutic or diagnostic interventions that lack scientific support and increase the probability of damage, generate waste of resources,and threaten the efficiency of the health system. In a context of global concern about medical excess and the consequences of the overuse of ineffective interventions, she highlights the relevance of the concept of quaternary prevention in healthcare, and points to the international Choosing Wisely initiative as a strategy to identify and reverse low-value practices, highlighting the importance of cultural change and active patient participation. Finally, the author presents the launch of Choosing Wisely Argentina, a collaboration amongst local scientific associations with the commitment to transform medical practice in this country, prioritizing patient well-being and adopting a comprehensive approach to health care. (AU)

Understanding the connection between hospital goals and patient and family engagement: A scoping review.

The person-centered care movement has influenced hospitals to make patient and family engagement (PE) an explicit commitment in their strategic plans. This is often reflected in mission, vision, and value (MVV) statements, which are organizational artifacts intended to influence the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of hospital teams and employees because of their saliency in organizational documents and communications. Previous research has found that organizational goals for PE, like those articulated in MVV statements, can lead to effective and meaningful PE. However, a deeper understanding of how and under which circumstances MVV statements encourage and promote PE practices is needed. A scoping review was conducted to understand the connection between hospital PE goals (such as MVV statements) and PE processes and practices. The research question was: what is known about how hospital MVV statements relate to PE processes and activities? Following Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review approach, 27 articles were identified as relevant to the research question. These articles revealed five strategies that help realize hospital PE goals: communicating organizational goals; aligning documents that convey organizational goals; aligning organizational processes to support PE; providing employees with resources and support; and motivating and empowering employees to integrate PE into their work. We discuss the implications of misalignment between hospital goals and practices, which reduce team and individual motivation toward hospital PE goals.

Strategic Planning: Moving From Plan to Implementation.

Successful organizations depend on strategic thinkers who understand strategic planning and strategic management. These strategic leaders can proactively manage the constant environmental changes to position their organizations for a competitive advantage and avoid acting in a reactive and defensive manner. However, while organizations are often adept at developing extensive strategic plans, implementation of the plan is often poor or without a definitive strategy. This article addresses key strategies for successful implementation of changes to bring about sustainable cultural change in an organization to meet the organization's overall strategic goals, specifically through the use of implementation science.

Trends in The Importance of Amplifying Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Academic Health Sciences Libraries.

Formalizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles and practices in health sciences libraries should be an organizational goal. Organizations should strive to build and sustain a culture of equity and inclusion in which diversity is integrated into their core operations. Health sciences libraries should design systems, policies, procedures, and practices that align with and support these principles in collaboration with partners and stakeholders that share these values. The authors used DEI terminology to search the websites of various health sciences libraries for DEI-related job posts, committee work, and activities as a source of information on the present level of DEI activity in health sciences libraries.

Serving organization goals by organizational information dissemination: An empirical study from the Communist Youth League of China.

From the perspective of news topic modeling, this paper investigated how the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) uses organizational information communication to serve organizational goals-"Keep the Party Assured and the Youth Satisfied" (", "). Using the Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) algorithm, we performed a topic analysis on 1898 news articles published on the CYLC website. We discovered that nearly all of the CYLC's news centered on the achievement of its organizational goals, reflecting the characteristics of information dissemination that is highly supportive of organizational objectives. We discovered distinct differences in the dissemination of organizational information between the central, provincial, municipal, county, and school league committees through cluster analysis. The various league organizations have distinct positioning and distinguishing characteristics. In addition, correlation analysis reveals that higher-level league organizations prioritize the dissemination of "Keep the Party Assured" information. While lower-level organizations gradually implement "Keep the Youth Satisfied" initiatives. This paper fills a gap in research on mass organizations in the field of information dissemination and serves as a resource for other political organizations involved in public information dissemination.

Words matter: Tracing the implicit meaning of diversity language (and its absence) in medical school mission statements.

Despite recent attention to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion within medical education, little is currently known about whether and to what extent that attention has translated into the language of formal documents articulating organization purpose: medical school mission statements. Mission statements are the marquee declaration of a medical school's identity and purpose, and a recommended tool for applicants to determine "fit" when applying. This study examines whether and to what extent social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion have made it into the formal public statements of organizational purpose and identity over the last several years. Mission statements were extracted manually from the 2007, 2017, and 2021 AAMCs Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) database for both U.S. and Canadian M.D. granting medical schools. Then each mission statement version was coded for the presence and degree of diversity language including words like social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion using an agreed-upon lexicon. Frequencies and within school changes over time were analyzed. Among 139 medical schools with discoverable mission statements from 2007, 91% (n=127) changed their MSs between 2007 and 2021. In 2007, 24% (n=33) of MSs contained diversity language. By 2017 nearly half of MSs; 47% (n=65) contained any reference to such language. But by 2021, despite 46 school having changed their MSs again, only a few more included diversity language in their MSs (56%; n=77). The most common terms used were "diversity," followed by the increasing presence of words like "inclusion," "equity," and "justice" by 2021. Curiously, a few schools redacted diversity language from 2007 to 2021. A Diversity Thesaurus of 22 terms was iteratively identified, with all terms searched in all MSs. Overall, mission statement change was quite common with most medical schools making changes across the 14 years covered in this study. And despite a doubling of the number of medical schools MSs mentioning diversity over a 10-year period, that increase seemed to slow in recent years even among schools who had a chance to change their MS. As of mid-2021, two in five US medical schools still have no mention of diversity related language in their most formal, said articulation of organizational purpose.