Administrative concepts and applications

The Palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation

The palm Gardens Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is one of New York's most prominent facilities of this kind. The center was established in 1970 and is located in Brooklyn. Since its establishment, Palm Gardens has continuously developed its services. As a consequence, the center has become a proof of excellence and innovative activity in the health care field. The Palm Gardens Center's organizational mission is "to provide comprehensive services for restoring maximum functional abilities to individuals recovering from medical and surgical interventions/injuries. The program is dedicated to providing patient centered, outcome driven, cost-effective rehabilitation services" (The Palm Gardens Center, 2005). The center is Medicare and Medicaid certified. During the 1990s, the Palm Gardens Center developed its range of services by adding a Short Term Rehabilitation Unit. This unit covers the full spectrum of rehabilitation care. The main objective of the program consists in improving the health state of individuals recovering from surgery or hospital stay. After following this program, patients are supposed to regain their strengths and functional abilities. The issues addressed by this unit include: . Neurological . Orthopedics . Other Neurological issues include: stroke, brain tumors, mild traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, other diseases or disorders of the nervous system. Orthopedic issues include: degenerative joint diseases, fractures, joint replacement, spinal surgeries. Other issues addressed by this unit include: recovery after surgery, recovery after acute illness, pain management issues. The center's facilities are quite impressive. The Short Term Rehabilitation Unit offers 40 beds, private rooms, and semi-private rooms, and a rehabilitation gym modernly equipped. Each room has its own bathroom, fully automatic beds, and special decor. Patients' comfort is very important at the center. The gym's equipment includes: kinetron, paraffin bath, ultra sound, electric mats, parallel bars, electric standing box, electrical stimulation, hot/cold treatment, computer technology, kinetic exercise equipment. Specialized clinical services include: 20 bed ventilator unit, step down unit, pain management services, wound care management, respiratory therapy, hospice care, I.V. therapy, EKG and laboratory services, adult day healthcare. In order for the rehabilitation program to be successful, the patient must have a completely comfortable stay, from all points of view. This refers to medical comfort, Physical comfort, and mental comfort. The Palm Gardens Center's staff is consisted of: one medical director of staff, one full time director of nursing who responds to the director of staff, the dietary staff consisting of 3 full time dietitians, 1 part time dietitian, 18 fill time food service employees, housekeeping staff consisting of 12 full time house keepers, social services staff consisting of 3 full time social workers, occupational therapy staff consisting of one full time occupational therapist, 3 contracted occupational therapists, one full time occupational therapy assistant. The physical therapy staff is consisted of one full time physical therapist and one full time physical therapy aid. The Medical Director responds to the Board of Directors, the Director of Nursing responds to the Medical Director, the dietary staff, the housekeeping staff, and the social services staff responds to the Director of Nursing. The occupational therapy staff and the physical therapy staff respond to the Medical Director (UCompareHealthCare, 2009). The Palm Gardens Center also employs: 13 lpn/lvn full time nurses, 15 full time registered nurses, 5 full time activity professionals, 12 full time administrators, 66 full time certified nurse aides, 12 part time certified nurse aides, 4 part time lpn/lvn nurses, one nurse with administrative duties under contract, 3 full time nurses with administrative duties, one part time nurse with administrative duties, one speech pathologist, one full time therapeutic recreation specialist (Hospital-Data, 2009). Interdisciplinary collaboration is a sine qua non condition for Palm Gardens Center's well-functioning. The Center's staff is very much aware of the fact that each patient suffers from a series of medical issues that combine and determine a unique behavior for each individual. Therefore, each individual must be addressed with a specialized care program. The care program is based on interdisciplinary activities. At Palm Gardens Center, the interdisciplinary team is led by a psychiatrist and it includes: physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech language pathologist, social workers, discharge planners, dietitians and other health care professionals. All these professionals work together in order to establish a rehabilitation plan that works best for each individual. The component members of the team are subject to change in accordance with each individual's needs and requirements. Also, the center holds interdisciplinary conferences. The Palm Gardens Center does not use volunteers in its activity. The reason behind this choice relies on the fact that this center is a for profit organization. All the individuals employed here are paid. Most of them work full time, but there are also part time employees. In management's opinion, it is not a good idea to use volunteers, because people that are not financially motivated tend to not perform their tasks as good as they are supposed to. Basically, if one wants something done properly, the activity in cause must be remunerated in accordance. The Palm Gardens Center is very involved in the life of the community in which it activates. The center is not oriented only towards increasing profits or increasing the number of clients it serves. The center is focused on the quality of the services it provides. Regarding the community, the center is trying to develop a price range that anyone can afford for the medical services. The center has suffered a series of modifications in the last period of time. For example, the center's interdisciplinary team has expanded by hiring a physical therapist and a nutritionist. Both of them work full time. The physical therapist that was recently hired brought his experience to the patients' service. He has a different view on physical therapy that combines with the traditional view, creating an improved experience for our patient. The new dietitian is also very experienced. He will collaborate with the other dietitians in order to improve the diet currently used in the center. The center provides ethnic diets in cases where this is required. The center also hired a few nurses. This is because the number of patients increased and it required extra personnel. The center is also trying to renew the medical appliances used. The Palm Gardens Center is well known for its innovative activity. This means that the center's activity is constantly improving and evolving. This requires improved appliances. Human resources are the most important resource the center has. Therefore, it is very important for the employees to be motivated, given the importance of their job. But it is not possible to have only completely satisfied employees at all times. In the center's activity there are cases of employees that are not satisfied with their remuneration. For example, some of the part time working nurses have complained about their salaries. They claimed their salaried were too small in relation with their duties and the importance and implications of their jobs. In the center's opinion, their complaints were not justified. There will always be cases where some of the employees are not satisfied with their work conditions, especially with their salaries. But this does not mean they are right. The work conditions at the Palm Gardens Center are considered to be optimal by other employees. There were no complaints from this point of view registered among medical staff. Even more, the center has a very clear policy regarding human resources motivation. The center rewards its employees financially and morally. The center's patients are very satisfied by the care provided by the employees, given the fact that there have been no complaints registered so far. The center is continuously improving the quality of its services. This can be observed also from the fact that the center's occupancy rates is increasing.