Health services administration: concepts and practices

Health Services Administration

Developing an Action Plan

Imagine that you are the Director of the Admitting Department of a hospital, and your strategy to increase patient satisfaction is to hire additional staff to register patients. Outline the action plan (who, what, and when) that you would use in order to effectively implement your strategy.

The most effective way to implement this strategy is to bring in qualified personnel who can deal with the immediate challenges facing the facility. This is accomplished by working with a staffing service. They will provide people to address the short-term challenges impacting the hospital. (Parkin, 2009) (Suchman, 2011)

In the long-term, there will be an emphasis on hiring staff members to work part time. They will be trained in various procedures and can understand the most important aspects of the department. This strategy is addressing who will be utilized and what kind of approach will be taken. (Parkin, 2009) (Suchman, 2011)

In this case, these changes will take place over the course of one year. This will occur with temporary assistance helping to address the current challenges within one to four months. In months five through twelve, permanent personnel will be trained to address the long-term challenges. (Parkin, 2009) (Suchman, 2011)

From the scenario in part 1 of this discussion, determine two specific unit objectives that would help to ensure the success of your strategy. Provide a rationale for your response.

Two specific objectives that will ensure the success of the strategy include: accountability and transparency. These different areas are important; as they will make certain that everyone is performing their jobs to the most of their abilities. While at the same time, it will be open for stakeholders to voice their opinions on these changes. When this happens, the facility can identify critical weaknesses and be prepared for adjusting to them in the longer term. (Parkin, 2009) (Suchman, 2011)

Evaluating Action Plan

Determine three barriers that could disrupt an action plan geared towards implementing a new strategy. Propose solutions to these foreseen barriers.

Three barriers that could disrupt the plan include: resistance from staff members, cost overruns and poor quality. To address these issues, a committee could be created. They will include various stakeholders and can provide oversight for the new program. This will ensure that any critical issues are taken into consideration. Once this takes place, is the point these barriers can be effectively eliminated. (Parkin, 2009) (Suchman, 2011)

Suggest three factors that are necessary to the successful implementation of an action plan strategy. Provide a rationale for your belief in the importance of the three factors that you have suggested.