It is a significant issue for numerous medical establishments to improve their clinical operations. As for Blackwell Medical Center, this task is even more challenging since it has two lines of authority, including “the hospital line and the school of medicine line” (McAlearney, & Kovner, 2013, p. 270). The given case reflects this situation and introduces Dr. Bruce Percy, who is VP for the school of medicine operations and associate dean for operations at the medical center. He believes that the medical establishment faces some severe challenges. Thus, he should take specific efforts to facilitate a more meaningful relationship with both the chair and administrators to overcome these problems.
To begin with, Dr. Percy should change his attitude toward time management. According to McAlearney and Kovner (2013), this professional spends an insignificant portion of his time on human resource activity. Such behavior is not useful because Dr. Percy lacks have enough time to establish a strong relationship with the specialists above. Thus, the recommendation for Bruce Percy is to allocate more time to communicating and cooperating with both the chair and administrators.
Furthermore, Dr. Percy states that the present reporting system should be changed. He feels it wrong that none of the administrators reports to him, dealing with the chair (McAlearney, & Kovner, 2013). This fact eliminates close and timely connections between these specialists, which results in a worsened relationship. Rozgar (2019) stipulates that timely reporting is of significance when it comes to improving clinical operations. Thus, Dr. Percy should change the present reporting system to make the administrators cooperate more closely with him. If the new reporting method is implemented, Dr. Percy will have more possibilities to facilitate the relationship with these administrators.
In addition to that, Bruce Percy argues that departmental administrators do not have appropriate skills that could result in the successful management of clinical operations. That is why it seems reasonable for Dr. Percy to organize specific courses and programs to improve the administrators’ skills and experience. When this step happens to work, and the administrators start gaining the required knowledge, it will inevitably contribute to a better relationship with the chair, their bosses. In this case, the chair will see that Dr. Percy’s initiative leads to positive consequences, which will create a productive working environment.
Finally, Bruce Percy can introduce some changes to the administrators’ and their bosses’ roles within the organization. On the one hand, he mentions that the chair should serve as advocates. It means that these specialists should pay more attention to analyzing the actions and decisions of their subordinates. On the other hand, the departmental administrators’ primary responsibility is to perform their duties in a manner to avoid severe troubles for the medical center. Consequently, these changes should imply the revised compensation for the two groups of specialists. If Dr. Percy copes with this task, it will inevitably result in a better relationship and improved clinical operations.
In conclusion, it has been mentioned that Dr. Percy should take specific measures to achieve a more productive relationship with both the administrators and their bosses. These steps refer to managing time more usefully, changing the reporting system, educating the administrators, and reconsidering the roles of both the chair and administrators. Thus, one can say that these four simple measures are sufficient to overcome the present problems and improve the clinical operations at Blackwell Medical Center.
References
McAlearney, A., & Kovner, A. (2013). Health services management: Cases; readings; and commentary (10th ed.). Arlington, VA: AUPHA.
Rozgar, G. D. (2019). Legal aspects of health care administration (13th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Barlett Learning.