Caring Angel Hospital is a health care facility in need of significant improvements to its operations because the organization currently suffers from annual financial losses and reductions in the number of patients. After examining the situation in Caring Angel Hospital for three months, it is possible to develop a plan of action to enhance the progress of the organization.
The purpose of this report is to propose specific actions that can be taken to achieve the goals set by Caring Angel Hospital: to increase the organization’s value, to improve the quality of care and employee morale, to develop a more efficient organization and a more effective team, and to create a competitive advantage. The recommendations will be proposed to reflect strategies designed to increase market share and value with a focus on the quality of provided services.
Major Steps to Take by Caring Angel Hospital
Caring Angel Hospital has faced many problems associated with the quality of care, weaknesses in employee morale, a lack of effective organizational structure, and the need to build a more effective team. Based on these serious concerns, it is possible to determine primary goals for the professionals of Caring Angel Hospital to achieve. It is important to develop a clear plan of action to reach each of the critical goals. To improve the quality of care, it is necessary to review the working schedules of the nurses as well as the standards according to which they perform their duties (Djukic, Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi, & Cline, 2013).
Nurses should be informed regarding the importance of smiling while communicating with patients. Also, it is necessary to improve the appointment scheduling and notification system to avoid situations in which patients show up on dates that were not scheduled for consultations. Furthermore, much attention should be paid to improving the environment and the waiting area of Caring Angel Hospital.
It is also of critical importance to add value to the organization. The major problem is in the fact that Caring Angel Hospital does not provide specialized services, which means that patients have to go to other hospitals to receive the required care. Therefore, it is important to organize the work of specialized departments in the hospital and recruit high-quality specialists to attract more patients (Baker, Bundorf, & Kessler, 2014).
The next goal is to improve employees’ morale. The most important steps in this area are to develop a training program to share the organization’s values and visions and to improve the quality of interactions between employees and clients (Price, Elliott, Zaslavsky, Hays, & Lehrman, 2014). The problem is that, currently, most employees are not in positive moods when they communicate with clients and each other; as a result, they do not smile at patients, and they often choose to blame each other for mistakes. Additional training is necessary to address these problems.
A more efficient organizational chart should be proposed for Caring Angel Hospital to guarantee improvements in the management of employees. Figure 1 represents the main units within the hospital. At the top, the Hospital Board includes directors and administrators. Several specialized departments such as cardiology, neurology, and gastroenterology should be opened in Caring Angel Hospital. Each unit and department in the organization also requires its directors and managers to coordinate operations.
It is also important to build a strong team in the organization because current employees do not cooperate and do not share important information about patients. To decrease the number of medical errors, it is necessary to implement team-building activities and promote the use of electronic medical records, as well as other devices that encourage the effective exchange of data (Price et al., 2014).
Furthermore, to add to the hospital’s competitive advantage, it is necessary to focus on providing more services at lower costs. Staff shortages are a problem for many facilities, but expanding the staff to provide more services should be regarded as an advantageous practice for Caring Angel Hospital.
Recommendations to Acquire a Larger Market Share
The financial situation in Caring Angel Hospital needs to be improved, and much attention should be paid to gaining a larger share of the market. Currently, the hospital has limited resources of its own to open new departments and provide the necessary specialized care, so administrators should take out loans to provide new services and acquire a larger market share.
The ultimate goal is to open new units, including cardiology, neurology, and gastroenterology departments. To receive the loan, it is necessary to increase the number of admissions and the overall number of patients to demonstrate the hospital’s stability (Cutler & Morton, 2013). For this purpose, Caring Angel Hospital should develop an advertising campaign throughout the community regarding the opening of new departments and the provision of specialized services.
The hospital should also revise its current policy related to hiring new employees so that more qualified specialists can be obtained. It is necessary to recruit qualified specialists who can provide services and consultations while working in other departments, and community members need to be informed regarding these new services (Baker et al., 2014). Such an approach will contribute to the hospital attracting more clients, gaining a more stable financial position, and increasing its market share.
Value-Added Services in Caring Angel Hospital
In hospitals, value-added services can be represented as new services proposed by the organization and as improvements in the provided care. To add value, Caring Angel Hospital can offer consultations from specialists in the fields of cardiology, neurology, and gastroenterology, among other areas. Also, another group of value-added services is associated with the improvement of patient care and safety.
While focusing on opening the new cardiology, neurology, and gastroenterology departments, it is important to note that the first advantage is the attraction of more patients who do not need to use services provided by other health care facilities (Cutler & Morton, 2013). This situation leads to increased revenues for Caring Angel Hospital.
Another advantage is the improvement of the hospital’s market position due to the increased competitive advantage (Baker et al., 2014). The benefits associated with these improvements in patient care are an increased number of patients who can be served per day and improvement of the hospital’s image in the market because, today, Caring Angel Hospital is concentrated on reducing costs instead of generating value, which leads to a lower quality of care for patients.
Conclusion
Overall, a thorough evaluation of the operations in Caring Angel Hospital demonstrates a lack of effective management to control the employees’ relations and their activities. Also, there are significant problems with the patient care and services provided by the hospital. The recommendations to improve the administration and finances of Caring Angel Hospital include an enhancement of the quality of care, a focus on value-added services, and the opening of new departments, as well as team-building exercises and employee training to improve data exchange and communication.
References
Baker, L. C., Bundorf, M. K., & Kessler, D. P. (2014). Vertical integration: Hospital ownership of physician practices is associated with higher prices and spending. Health Affairs, 33(5), 756-763.
Cutler, D. M., & Morton, F. S. (2013). Hospitals, market share, and consolidation. Journal of American Medical Association, 310(18), 1964-1970.
Djukic, M., Kovner, C. T., Brewer, C. S., Fatehi, F. K., & Cline, D. D. (2013). Work environment factors other than staffing associated with nurses’ ratings of patient care quality. Health Care Management Review, 38(2), 105-114.
Price, R. A., Elliott, M. N., Zaslavsky, A. M., Hays, R. D., & Lehrman, W. G. (2014). Examining the role of patient experience surveys in measuring health care quality. Medical Care Research and Review, 71(5), 522-554.