Mayo Clinic's integrated approach to patient care and medical excellence

¶ … Mayo Clinic has the reputation of being an internationally renowned medical practice and medical research group. They specialize in hard-to-treat diseases, and are well-renowned for innovative and effective treatments for diseases that had gone undiagnosed or under-treated in the same patients with other doctors. The Mayo Clinic is recognized for being at the top or near the top of most all accredited quality standard listings. It achieves high medical quality through values such as the needs of the patient always come first, by coordinating the efforts of its entire group of doctors, and by devoting over 40% of its resources towards research rather than just medical practice (About Mayo Clinic, 2010).

Company Biography

The Mayo Clinic is a non-profit medical practice that is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of virtually every type of complex illness. The staff members work together to meet the needs of the patients. Many doctors, specialists and other health care professionals as needed are available to provide comprehensive diagnosis, understandable answers and effective treatment. Mayo offers clinic and hospital services at its locations in Rochester, MN, Jacksonville, FL. And Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ. Every medical service that a person needs is available on their campuses, and physicians devote the time that is needed to be fully understood and cared for. The Mayo Clinic logo stands for the three things that promote their reputation as a pioneer and innovator in medicine. These things are patient care, medical research and academic education. It is part of the Mayo Clinic's mission to provide as a reliable source of health information on top of delivering care (About Mayo Clinic, 2010).

The Mayo Clinic is the first and leading integrated, non-profit group practice in the world. Doctor's from all areas of expertise work together in order to care for patients. They are connected by common systems and a philosophy of the needs of the patient come first. There are more than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and over 46,000 allied health staff who work at the Mayo Clinic. As a group, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year (About Mayo Clinic, 2010).

Why this Company Interests Me?

This company interests me because of the magnitude of its respect within the medical community. Whenever you hear about someone needed treatment for a devastating illness or injury this is the first place that comes to mind. It is very impressive to see how it is that they do what they do on a daily basis with such success.

Do they have an advantage?

The Mayo Clinic has one tremendous advantage that makes them so successful in the marketplace. This advantage is the fact that they are customer focused for high quality. Quality has the potential to give organizations in viable industries a competitive edge against their competition. By aiming to be the best in the category of experience, Mayo competes with a customer-focused, high-quality approach (Nelson, 10).

Quality often becomes a rubric for products and services of high status. Total quality is defined in many ways. Total quality management (TQM) is the total dedication to continuous improvement and to customers so that the customers' needs are met and their expectations exceeded. Quality is a customer-oriented philosophy of management with important inferences for virtually all aspects of organizational behavior. Quality cannot be optimized, because customer needs and expectations are always changing, but it is rooted in highly successful organizations (Nelson, 10).

At the turn of the twentieth century, when the Mayo Clinic was founded, it was relatively unusual for patients to survive a hospital stay. Quite often they gave way not to the underlying ailment but to an infection that resulted from surgery. The Mayo brothers along with Franciscan sisters pioneered aseptic surgical techniques which meant that many more patients lived to tell their stories. And when they went home, they talked about their experience. Even today word-of-mouth approvals are the most important source of information that makes Mayo Clinic the top choice for diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases. Stories in the news media rank second in authority, and physician recommendation, which is another kind of word of mouth, is third. With more than 90% of Mayo Clinic patients saying good things to their friends after a visit, it can be seen how quality is what makes them a market leader (How to Use Social Media: An Interview with Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic, 2009).

Conclusion

The Mayo Clinic is a well-known prestigious medical facility that specializes in treating hard to treat illnesses. They have gained such recognition by delivering high medical quality thru values such as the needs of the patient always come first and by coordinating the efforts of its entire group of doctors. Their main goal is to deliver high quality patient care. They have a culture in which the staff is trained to focus on delivering this very type of care. This focus on high quality is what gives Mayo the advantage that is has in the health care field. Those who receive treatment there have nothing but glowing reviews for the services that they received. Whenever you hear about someone needing treatment for a devastating illness or injury this is the first place that comes to mind because quality is very important in a time of great need. The entire organization is focused on providing the best medical treatment that they possibly can, which their focus being on the needs of the patient first and foremost.