The quality improvement plan however also reveals a series of benefits, materialized primarily in the following:
Improved communication among the staffs leads to increased levels of operational efficiency as the information so necessary within the medical field is more efficiently transmitted from one medical staff to the other.
Improved communications between medics and patients lead to a higher rate of information collection, being possible for this to then lead to increased chances of diagnosing and treating the conditions at superior levels.
Improved communications with the patients ultimately enhance the levels of satisfaction on the part of the patients. At an organizational level, it could be argued that this satisfaction of the patient -- and of their families -- would materialize in a positive image for the hospice. Through world of mouth publicity, the patients and their family members would determine other individuals to access the services of the facility, which would as such enjoy higher levels of popularity, demands and would be better able to attain its objectives.
A final element which has to be noted -- and cannot be considered either as a cost or a benefit -- is represented by the increasing competition among medical care providers and the important developments characterizing the domain. These generate the constant need for evolution. Improved communications represent a mere part of the evolution necessary...
In light of this realization, and in spite of the costs, it is believed that the benefits are greater and that the facility ought to implement the quality improvement plan.
The analysis conducted at this stage has been a qualitative one and it is adequate due to the rather humane and sensitive nature of the operations as well as that of the expected implications. A final decision would however be based on a more complex analysis of the cost and benefits, which would be assessing elements such as the costs with training, the costs with reducing employee resistance (HRM strategies), actual measurement of outcomes, such as levels of patient satisfaction, treatment improvements, but also the overall managerial capacity (Mind Tools, 2011) and the implications for the price of the products and services delivered (Watkins). Overall, the cost benefit analysis is necessary as it supports a proper decision making process, essential in all organizations.
Reference:
Armstrong, M., 2009, Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice, 11th Edition, Kogan Page Publishers
Watkins, T., An introduction to cost benefit analysis, San Jose State University, Department of Economics, http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cba.htm last accessed on June 24, 2011
2011, Cost / benefit analysis, Mind Tools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_08.htm last accessed on June 24, 2011
