DDHA 8801 Week 8 Reputation Response Example

Building Healthcare Brand and Alliances Walden University Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

This DDHA 8801 Week 8 reputation response example is a public statement from a composite health system after five patients developed serious joint infections following replacement surgery at its outpatient center. Walden DDHA 8801 asks DHA students to write the paragraph that follows the apology, and the statement runs four short paragraphs written to be read aloud. It names the event and apologizes to the people harmed, separates what is confirmed, five infections among 212 operations, from what is unknown and names the state health department and an outside physician as reviewers. It then describes a dated change, moving all joint replacements to the main hospital, with the chief medical officer accountable, and commits to an October 30 update with a nurse line. A drafting note explains the choices using Gallagher and colleagues, Mazor and colleagues and Coombs.

CourseDDHA 8801 Building Healthcare Brand and Alliances
WeekWeek 8
Paper typePublic reputation response statement
LengthAbout 510 words, 3 pages
FormatLetter, APA 7 citations
SchoolWalden University
ProgramDoctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA)
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for DDHA 8801 Week 8

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October 9, 2026

 

Statement from Bayshore Health

For release to patients, staff and the public

 

To our patients and our community:

Between August and September, five patients who had hip or knee replacement surgery at the Bayshore Outpatient Surgery Center in Ashwaubenon developed serious infections in their new joints. Each of them has needed more surgery, and some are still in the hospital. We are deeply sorry. These patients came to us to get back to their lives, and instead they are facing weeks or months of more treatment. We have spoken with each of them and their families, and we will keep doing so.

What we know is this. Five infections occurred among the 212 joint replacements performed at the center between August 1 and September 20. Laboratory tests found the same type of bacteria in three of them. What we do not yet know is how the infections happened. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and an independent infection prevention physician from outside Bayshore are reviewing the center's operating rooms, the cleaning and sterilizing of instruments, and every step of care for these patients. Until that review is finished, we will not guess at a cause.

We have already made one change. Since September 25, all hip and knee replacements that were scheduled at the outpatient center have been moved to the operating rooms at Bayshore Medical Center, and the outpatient center's instruments are now cleaned and sterilized by the hospital's sterile processing department. Dr. Elena Varga, our chief medical officer, is responsible for this change and for the review, and joint replacements will not return to the outpatient center until she and the outside reviewer agree it is safe.

We will give our next update on October 30, here and on our website, whether or not the review is complete. If you had a joint replacement at the outpatient center this year and have questions or any concern about your surgery site, please call our nurse line, which is staffed every day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., or send a message through the patient portal. A nurse will call you back the same day. We have also written to every patient who had surgery at the center since August 1.

What this page is doingCommitting to a specific date and a reachable channel tells affected people when and how they will hear more.
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Note on the Drafting Choices (for the course, not for release)

The statement follows four choices. It apologizes plainly and early, because research on disclosure has found that patients want an explicit apology and an account of what happened, and that vague expressions of regret satisfy them poorly (Gallagher et al., 2003). It separates what is confirmed from what is not, because health plan members surveyed about error disclosure valued honesty about what was known, and their responses depended on how fully the organization disclosed (Mazor et al., 2004). It puts an operational change and an accountable role after the apology, since Coombs (2007) argues that when an organization bears clear responsibility for a crisis, accommodative responses that take responsibility and offer corrective action protect reputation better than defensive ones. And it commits to a date, because silence after a first statement reads as concealment.

References

Coombs, W. T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate Reputation Review, 10(3), 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550049

Gallagher, T. H., Waterman, A. D., Ebers, A. G., Fraser, V. J., & Levinson, W. (2003). Patients' and physicians' attitudes regarding the disclosure of medical errors. JAMA, 289(8), 1001-1007. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.289.8.1001

Mazor, K. M., Simon, S. R., Yood, R. A., Martinson, B. C., Gunter, M. J., Reed, G. W., & Gurwitz, J. H. (2004). Health plan members' views about disclosure of medical errors. Annals of Internal Medicine, 140(6), 409-418. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-140-6-200403160-00006

The Walden DDHA 8801 Week 8 instructions

Reputation response tasks usually ask you to write a public statement after a reported failure. Open by naming the event in ordinary words and acknowledging the people affected, without falling back on formulas such as "regret was expressed." Separate what is confirmed from what is still under review, and say who is conducting the review. Name an operational change already in place, with its date and the role accountable for it, because a change with no owner reads as an intention. Commit to a specific date for the next update and give affected people a channel to reach someone. Keep the statement short enough to read aloud. If your course allows, add a brief note explaining the choices with evidence. Avoid speculating about causes before the review is complete, and avoid legal language that sounds evasive.

Inside the DDHA 8801 Week 8 example

The statement opens with a dated header and an address to patients and community. The first paragraph describes the five infections and their effect on patients and apologizes directly. The second gives the confirmed figures, notes the shared bacteria in three cases, names the state agency and outside physician conducting the review and declines to guess at a cause. The third describes the move of joint replacements to the main hospital and of instrument sterilizing to its department since September 25, naming the chief medical officer as accountable. The fourth commits to an October 30 update and offers a nurse line, the portal and letters to every recent patient. A drafting note links each choice to research on disclosure and crisis communication.

Reading the DDHA 8801 Week 8 rubric

Reputation responses are graded on honesty, action and accountability. Markers expect the event named plainly and the people harmed acknowledged early. Separating confirmed facts from open questions earns credit, as does naming who is reviewing. The paragraph after the apology is decisive: a dated operational change with an accountable role shows the organization acting. A specific next update and a reachable channel demonstrate commitment. Defensive language, speculation and vague regret lose credit. Where a drafting rationale is included, evidence on disclosure and crisis communication should support it, cited accurately. Statements that would make sense to a patient hearing them on local radio tend to score best.

Common DDHA 8801 Week 8 mistakes, and how to avoid them

Students often write an apology and stop, which reads as nothing changed. Say what has already been done, when and who owns it. Another common mistake is guessing at causes to sound in control; say what is under review and by whom. Avoid passive voice that hides responsibility. Give a date for the next update and keep it. Read the statement aloud to check that it sounds like a person speaking. If your organization faces a situation like this, we can draft a statement together with a short rationale for each choice. Ask someone outside health care to read it and tell you what happened, what changed and when they will hear more; if they cannot, revise.

Get a DDHA 8801 Week 8 example written to your instructions

Hand the desk the prompt, the rubric and whatever scenario the classroom has set out, and a public statement built on the acknowledgment, scope, action and update sequence comes back to you. First sample free, returned inside 24 to 48 hours. No sample reconstructs an actual incident an organization has lived through; those records are its own.

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DDHA 8801 Week 8 questions, answered

Where can I find a free DDHA 8801 Week 8 sample paper?

The public statement on joint replacement infections, with its drafting note, is free on this page.

What event does the DDHA 8801 Week 8 statement address?

Five serious infections after hip or knee replacement at a composite health system's outpatient surgery center.

What change has already been made?

Since September 25, joint replacements moved to the main hospital and the center's instruments are sterilized there.

Who is accountable for the change?

The chief medical officer, who leads the response and must agree with the outside reviewer before surgeries return.

When will the next update come?

On October 30, whether or not the review is complete, with a nurse line available meanwhile.