Fictional Hospital Create Imaginary Health Care Organization

Fictional Hospital

Create imaginary health care organization (hospital). Evaluate organization basis Baldrige National Quality Program Health Care Criteria Performance Excellence listed. (1) Leadership: (a) Describe senior leaders' actions guide sustain organization.

Healthcare organization: XYZ Hospital

Leadership

The senior leaders of XYX Hospital are notable for the breadth and depth of their experience in the field of healthcare. All senior leaders have experience in the field as practitioners or as former leaders of public healthcare organizations that are committed to putting people first. This informs their decision-making when setting policy. Senior leaders routinely meet with doctors and nurses as well as administrators to set organizational goals which are patient-focused, rather than exclusively focused on finances.

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is conducted by consulting with providers as well as in consultation with managers. Goals are set regarding such objectives as reducing mortality rates, improving outcomes, reducing return visits for the same complaint, and integrating new forms of technology into the hospital that have been proven to improve patient outcomes. Outcomes are measured by comparing hospital performance against competitors and against national averages.

Customer focus

Patient outcomes are measured objectively and subjectively: objectively regarding patient health data, compiled in the form of statistics, and subjectively based upon patient's impressions, as gathered through surveys and focus groups. Measured patient satisfaction through straightforward questionnaires, while a source of general data, cannot be used alone, given the haste with which patients may fill out such surveys, if they fill them out at all. Speaking with patients and asking what makes them satisfied vs. dissatisfied in focus groups, and segmenting patients according to the types of care they are receiving provides higher-quality data and allows the Hospital to more carefully target areas of needed improvement (Tarantino 2004).

XYZ Hospital periodically conducts outreach efforts to the local community by offering wellness fairs, where members of the public can be screened for obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. This encourages patients to participate in-house activities such as fitness classes, support groups and wellness seminars offered by the facility. Preventative health is the focus of XYZ Hospital just as much as treating sickness. There are also periodic studies of the specific needs of the community, to ensure the Hospital is using its finite resources wisely.

Measurement, analysis, and Knowledge Management (KM)

Gathering data about patient outcomes is an integral part of KM and quality improvement. The Hospital has created a reporting system regarding patient safety events to analyze the reasons why patient safety may be compromised and to recommend improvements (Dotan 2003). Satisfaction, outcomes, and financial data comparing different treatments for patients with similar conditions are also tracked and analyzed with a new computer system. Technology has vastly improved the ability of the Hospital to analyze outcomes. "Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the integration of knowledge-based systems (KBS) and expert systems (ES). KBS provides computer-based automation of logical reasoning. It uses AI techniques to perform deductive and inductive reasoning... [the use of technology can] maximize the power of discrimination between good and bad events (pattern-related enhancement)" (Dotan 2003).

Workforce focus

One critical problem XYZ Hospital is facing, along with many other healthcare organizations, is a deficit of highly-qualified nurses. To rectify this, the Hospital has worked to compensate nurses more fairly: it has offered sign-in bonuses and continues to reward nurses who show better patient outcomes than the minimum requirements. It has partnered with local universities to encourage a more effective transfer of top nursing students to the hospital on graduation. Student nurses who have positive experiences during their education through the Hospital are more likely to consider it for employment later. "Compensation must be considered a comprehensive concept that includes not only money, but also other tangible and intangible assets that are often included in the work contract. Non-monetary compensation includes benefits such as time off, insurance to protect income (health disability, social security, etc.), incentives, and others" (Compensation as a Function of Retention of Nurses, 2003, Maryland Statewide Commission on the crisis in nursing).

Given the intense competition for highly-qualified nurses in the area and the fact that nurses are assuming a wider range of duties than ever before, compensating nurses fairly throughout their careers is essential. The Hospital must ensure it pays nurses a competitive salary and benefits, commensurate with the nurse's level of experience. Although all efforts must be made to ensure that nurses are not overworked and that undesirable shifts are accorded fairly, when this is not possible, nurses should receive additional pay. New nurses are also paired with 'mentor' nurses to improve their transition into XYZ and to increase provider satisfaction. This has improved morale on the unit and reduced the phenomenon of what has been called the tendency of nurses to 'eat their young' or to haze new nurses. Encouraging nurses to feel empowered by reporting problems directly to nurse-managers, rather than to allow them to fester below the surface has improved relationships horizontally between staff members (Rowe & Sherlock 2005).

In terms of scheduling all Hospital employees, including residents, there is an effort to ensure that hours are limited to minimize the risk of errors due to fatigue, as well as to compensate them according to market rates. All employees are made aware of overall organizational objectives as well as individual departmental objectives through the performance review system, in which employees meet with supervisors to discuss their performance and also to give input about how to improve standard operating procedures at the Hospital.