The role of the physician in transforming the culture of healthcare

When an organization’s culture does not support internal integration and external adaptation, it is the responsibility of leadership to transform it. Uses the Competing Values Framework (CVF) (Cameron and Quinn, 2011) to describe the current culture of healthcare and the ongoing tensions within it; and suggest how physicians acting in the role Schein (1985, 2010) labels as “culture leaders” can strengthen the caring components of the healthcare culture and help block competing values from the other components of the system. The centrality of professionalism in the delivery of patient services places a moral, societal and ethical responsibility on physicians to lead a revitalization of the care culture.