Executive Summary
Chris Smith, Executive Assistant, of the Faith Community Hospital has just been newly appointed to his docket. After being briefed on the current position of the hospital by his immediate boss, Pat, he is charged with a task to prepare a report that highlights the current position of the health organization and the possible remedies.
Chris works at providing a case background, current problems, and recommendations to the CEO of the hospital for an informative all-member staff meeting. This work brings out the observations, problems at hand, and proposed solutions.
Case Background
Chris is a young man who has just completed college. He is facing many decisions and responsibilities that require him to make sound decisions. He has been engaged, is planning to bid on a given house as he awaits graduation after a short time. Besides, he has been accorded the position of the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer, Pat.
As he arrives to his new place of work on one Monday morning, his boss, Pat calls him for what appears to be both an executive induction and a thorough orientation to his duties as the Executive Assistant. Throughout the interaction, Chris is able to learn some traits about his new boss like he discovers that Pat is a humorous person and so on. Pat then discloses a lot about the Faith Community Hospital.
The meeting revolves around this and it is towards the end that Chris realizes that he was being briefed on the challenges affecting the hospital and that he is to use this information in coming up with a comprehensive report that is to cover three main areas pertaining to the situation at the Faith Community Hospital. These areas include organizational processes, communication systems and ethical aspects. And to come up with a report that reflects tenable solutions to these challenges, Chris is supposed to employ critical thinking.
Problems in the case study
Organizational Processes
There are some entities at Faith Hospital that are not in conformity with the hospital mission. If this goes on, the hospital may end up becoming a place that is not liked by the community and as such, it will be drifting from its mission and purpose upon which it has been founded.
From Pat’s explanation, there are several aspects at the hospital that reflect this. The religious heritage and commitment of the hospital are known to the entire community. The openness has led to the hospital attracting numerous people such as patients, employees, and board member among many others. These people have different perspectives.
Although most of them may appreciate the diverse laws, ethics, and vows that define the hospital’s operations, their application of the same is based on different foundations. There is a reported case of some patients refusing to accept medical services and some employees who do not want offer services to the patients. There is also a reported increase in patients’ daily costs from $217 to $240 with constant fixed charges.
Moreover, the hospital has been insured with so many insurance companies. There is no accountability on how Faith hospital benefits from this. It should be noted that the company pays premiums to these companies, which as the Chief Executive Officer reports, have been rising.
Ethical Aspects
The term ethics means inquiry into the state and basis of morality. Morality refers to right decisions, principles, and rules of demeanor. Ethics has in some cases been termed as the discipline that deals with the human behavior, with an emphasis of verifying right and wrong. The distinction between a normal choice and an ethical one is that the latter requires one to exercise the duty of weighing virtues and arriving at a judgment in a case that is totally unique from the others that he or she has encountered prior to this.
Another distinction relates to the amount of accent placed by decision makers on their own principles and accepted ways of doing things in their own company. Accordingly, values and principles play a significant part when people or organizations have to make decisions that are ethical in nature. It is an agreeable fact that elevated ethical standards are determined by the ability of both persons and businesses to ascribe to sound moral values (Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell, 2009, p. 6)
There is a series of ethical scenarios that constantly appear in the hospital, and most of them are being reached at from a basis that is not clear. When it comes to applying ground rules for ethical decisions, the hospital draws value lines at varied junctures. With this rule not being applicable the judgment is subject to the assumptions and the ethical values of the past and discretion of the one making a decision.
The refusal of some patients to accept health services is as unethical as that of health providers refusing to give services to the patients. This is because such decisions are contrary to the hospital mission that is supposed to govern the action, decisions and behavior that should be undertaken by either staff members or the patients. Pat reports on the case of the hospital being charged by the Child Protection Services for not providing services that meet the acceptable standards.
There is also another case of some staff members in the Intensive Care Unit initiating Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) directives. This took place without any written orders. Additionally, some staff members at Faith hospital are reported to be so much concerned with the survival of the hospital at the expense of that of patients.
By refusing to offer certain services to the patients simply because they are uninsured does not bring out a heart of a caring and concerned health provider who has the interests and life of the clients (patients) at heart. Such health providers are more concerned about their survival of the hospital rather than that of the ailing patient. They forget that for the hospital to survive, it requires more of patients than insurance.
Communication Systems
One of the issues that bedevil Faith Community hospital is the report regarding the presentation of headlines in the media on medical errors. The recent media reports that tens of thousands of deaths are caused by medical errors annually. This is close to 100,000 in hospitals alone. This problem does not encourage admitting new patients to the hospital.
The predicament can have various consequences, for instance, facing a reduction in the number of patients being admitted to the hospital and in turn affecting how the hospital is perceived by the entire public besides paralyzing its operations.
Within the hospital setting itself, there is a way in which the communication system is still wanting. First, there is no clear communication regarding how the hospital obtains insurance cover from the various insurance companies available. Either communication link between the hospital authority and the insurance companies is faulty or there is slackness on the hospital department dealing with related issues.
The diverse perspectives and views of patients, staff members and board directors that may at times lead to divergent when it comes to implementing some of the hospital laws and mission could be as a result of improper communication from the top authority. As he delegates to Chris the responsibility of preparing a report that reflects the situation at the Faith hospital, Pat affirms that the report will form a basis of his presentation in an all – member staff meeting that is the first since the ten years he has been at the hospital.
This shows a clear cut-off between the Chief Executive Officer and the rest of the staff members that is in itself an indicator of communication breakdown between the two parties. This is likely to keep the hospital staff in dark on what is going on at the hospital.
Recommended Solutions
In addressing the above described categories of problems that Faith Hospital is undergoing, there should be a critically thought out set of solutions to these issues.
Solution to problems in Communication Systems
In addressing the issue with communication systems, some measures ought to be put in place. First, given that the hospital is a non-profit institution that is responsible for the wellbeing of the public, there should proper feedback from the accounting department on how much the hospital uses on insurance.
The number of companies that insure the hospital is also supposed to be reduced to minimize on expenses in terms of premiums. Secondly, both Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors should always be prepared to communicate with the patients and staff members in the event of a crisis.
There should be a regular demonstration of a sense of accountability to the stakeholders of the health organization. It is imperative to prepare in advance regarding everyone’s role and how communications should be managed. This will enhance an appropriate and swift action incase of a crisis. During any crisis, the Board of Directors is supposed to be honest, transparent, and responsible regarding any organizational breakdown (Oliver, 2009, p. 61).
Taking responsibility may not necessarily mean that the board has to start managing the organization. It rather means that the Board ought to seek clarification from the CEO regarding when it is supposed to be engaged in solving a crisis. Therefore, in doing this, all board policies are supposed to be complied with.
Thirdly, the CEO should always be on the fore front to guard the image of the hospital incase of any attack from the media or any external party. This is because reports that medical errors are causing deaths annually may not go down very well especially if this gets to the community.
However, if it is true that such errors are committed at Faith Community hospital then the CEO ought to move swiftly and correct this through staffing or any other suitable means. In addition, the CEO ought to agree with the board of directors regarding the interval of time he should take before holding a meeting with the staff to make relevant updates regarding the running of the hospital.
Solutions to ethical Issues
In solving the emergent ethical issues, the hospital management should adopt some structural mechanism. There is a structure that can be used by an organization to aid in solving and exposing ethical issues. Having a statement of organizational philosophy is one way of doing this.
The philosophy of an organization is in the context of its mission, and should therefore come before the mission. The moral values and principles that reflect what is right and wrong for the organization are what an organizational philosophy constitutes. It is a reflection of what the organization accepts or rejects (Schulz and Johnson, 2003, p. 311).
The philosophy statement may entail how the hospital relates to its clients (patient), employees and the community. The philosophy should be reviewed by the leaders first who may either accept or reject it prior to its enforcement (Martens, 2001, p. 19). This will help deal with all the ethical challenges such as staff denying patients some services and some patients rejecting some medical services.
Apart from introducing a philosophy statement, ethical dilemmas can also be solved through establishment of a committee structure. Like other contemporary health institutions, Faith hospital should consider coming up with an Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC).
The membership of this committee should be broader, comprising mainly doctors and the clergy although nurses, social workers and laymen can also be part of it. Moreover, designing the hospital code of ethics will also help solve some of the ethical problems at hand (Schulz and Johnson, 2003, p. 311).
Solution to problems in organizational processes
Most of the organization’s work is coordinated by organizational processes in various ways. These include formal meetings, accounting and management systems, assessment systems and labor concessions. To solve the existing problems within its organizational framework, the management of Faith hospital is supposed to be involved in frequent meetings that will in turn be used to come up with strategic plans that are important to its success (Bolman and Deal, 2003, p. 278 – 279).
Conclusion
The problems facing Faith hospital are threefold: communication systems, ethical issues, and organizational processes. In addressing the problem of organizational processes, there ought to be strategic planning and frequent meetings among the management officials. In solving issues within the communication system, the CEO and the board should maintain a communication link with the staff and patients incase of a crisis.
There should be interdepartmental transparency and coordination and the CEO among everybody else should always strive protect the hospital’s image from media attack. On the other hand, three approaches should be adopted in solving ethical problems. They include introducing an ethical code, a philosophy statement and forming an Institutional Ethics Committee.
References
Bolman, L. and Deal, T. (2003). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and leadership, Part 6. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
Ferrell, O., C., Fraedrich, J. and Ferrell, L. (2009). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. New York: Cengage Learning.
Martens, R. (2001). Directing Youth Sports Programs. Windsor: Human Kinetics.
Oliver, C. (2009). Getting started with policy governance: bringing purpose, integrity, and efficiency to your board. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
Schulz, R. and Johnson, A. (2003). Management of hospitals and health services: strategic issues and performance. Washington DC: Beard Books.