Identification of Threads
Issues Impacting Healthcare Facilities
The management of a healthcare facility is a task that requires understanding and consideration of the administrative, financial, technological, and medical aspects affecting its operation. For this reason, most hospitals and institutions face the same problems and challenges that affect their performance and quality of services. The most common challenges are staff shortages, ineffective payment models, and the need for an implication of technologies.
The staff shortage is one of the most common problems for hospitals as it is a national trend. This issue became critical during the pandemic, since with the increase in the number of patients, many staff members were also unable to work due to infection with the virus. In addition, while the shortage of medical professionals is noticeable, it could increase due to the retirement of a significant number of nurses and doctors (Gubar, 2020). Overall, the shortage of staff means that hospitals need to offer better conditions for workers, but the lack of employees affects the quality of care due to staff’s high workload. Another issue faced by many institutions is the implementation of technology in employees’ work, more specifically Electronic Health Recording Systems. Most often, problems arise due to the high cost of systems, complex and incomplete functionality of the software, limited databases, employee resistance to changes, and lack of collaboration between hospitals and industries (Reisman, 2017). All these disadvantages slow down hospitals, although, with the right approach to the implementation of electronic systems, they increase the efficiency of working with data, employee performance, and reduce costs.
Another aspect that affects the operation of hospitals is the payment for services model. Today, there are several payment models that are based on a prospective or retrospective provision of funds and different approaches to determining the size of payments (Park, 2018). However, all models have their advantages and disadvantages, and their choice depends on the hospital’s goals and the skills of their managers. For example, the fee-for-service model does not encourage hospitals to save money but enhances the use of underutilized measures (Park, 2018). In contrast, traditional capitation allows hospitals to save money and redirect them to the necessary areas, but it can lead to savings that are harmful to patients, for example, by avoiding expensive tests (Park, 2018). Therefore, the choice of the optimal payment system affects the hospital’s available resources and the quality of patient care.
Internal and External Threats to the Hospital
Determination of external and internal threats to the hospital requires consideration of its characteristics and organization of work. For this purpose, the SWOT analysis will be used. The facility’s strength is that it is aimed at working with all categories of the population, which ensures its constant admission of patients. In other words, the hospital serves people of different social statuses, gender, age, and insurance coverage. Therefore, patients who are not accepted by other more specialized clinics will be able to receive care, and the hospital will be able to participate in national and state funding programs. Another strength is the hospital’s developed infrastructure, as having a laboratory, cafeteria, and pharmacy within the facility allows the organization to save money by avoiding intermediaries and third-party providers.
At the same time, the main weaknesses are the lack of specialization of the facility and its large size. Both of these weaknesses will complicate hospital management due to the need for complex interactions between staff. Firstly, since the hospital does not have a specialization, for example, psychiatry or oncology, and all staff members consist of 90 people, they must be professionals in several issues, as well as constantly collaborate to provide quality patient care. This structure complicates the hospital’s work, as there must be precise coordination of all departments. In addition, since the hospital is designed for a significant number of patients, this also increases the workload on both medical professionals and the administration, which must monitor the placement of patients and the provision of all necessary materials.
However, the hospital can participate in national and state funding programs to bring profit to the facility and allow it to expand its staff. A clear organization of the hospital’s work together with an organic and convenient design of the facility’s building will ensure high-quality patient care, which is a necessary factor for participation in government funding programs. Simultaneously, the additional funds will allow the hospital to hire more staff, which will reduce the employees’ workload, improve the quality of their work, and, therefore, attract patients.
Simultaneously, weaknesses demonstrate that there are internal threats such as staff turnover and external threats to competition. Staff turnover can be caused by a high workload of specialists, poor communication, and organization of interaction. This threat, in turn, leads to increased costs of hiring and training employees, as well as reducing the quality of service due to a temporary shortage of one or several workers and the need for adaptation of new employees. In addition, since the hospital is located in a geographical area where 30,000 inhabitants live, there is competition from other smaller hospitals and private facilities. If the quality of service is insufficient, patients will choose competitors. Consequently, in the long term, there is a threat of lack of funding and inability to maintain and update the facility’s internal infrastructure, such as beds and medical equipment. Thus, any of the threats lead to a deterioration in patient care quality and, hence, material losses to the facility.
References
Gubar, S. (2020). The nursing shortage is threatening our care.The New York Times. Web.
Park, B., Gold, S.B., Bazemore, A., and Liaw, W. (2018). How evolving United States payment models influence primary care and its impact on the quadruple aim.The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 31(4) 588-604. Web.
Reisman M. (2017). EHRs: The challenge of making electronic data usable and interoperable. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 42(9), 572-575.