Introduction
This paper provides a detailed analysis of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The report includes information about the organization’s mission, philosophy, and administrative structure, as well as explains its function. In addition, the paper offers a reflection on the hospital’s strengths and weaknesses. It aims to create a clear perspective on the care delivery system used at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, its operations, and patient outcomes.
Introduction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is one of the leading hospitals in the US (“Johns Hopkins Hospital,” 2019). Its type is a teaching hospital, as well as a general medical and surgical facility. The healthcare institution is located in Baltimore, Maryland, where it was founded in 1889 (“Johns Hopkins Hospital,” 2019). The hospital provides care in various fields, including oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, psychiatry, urology, geriatrics, orthopedics, rheumatology, neurology, and pulmonology. Some of the services are diagnostic procedures, plastic and reconstructive surgeries, pain management therapies, laboratory testing, emergency services, and rehabilitation interventions. The hospital does not have a particular target clientele as it offers care for all groups of the population, including children, adults, and seniors.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission and has received recognition in national and international hospital rankings (Johns Hopkins Medicine, n.d.a.). It is necessary to outline that the organization has positive and strong community relationships as it strives to contribute to its healthy state and development. For example, the Johns Hopkins Hospital supports local non-profit organizations and faith groups (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2017). In addition, it provides the community with enhanced access to care, establishing free-of-charge services and centers, as well as collaborating with volunteers, schools, and local government.
Examination of the Organization
The mission of the Johns Hopkins Hospital is to enhance the health of the community and the world by establishing a standard of patient care (Johns Hopkins Medicine, n.d.b.). The hospital’s goal is to provide high-quality services in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illnesses and become one of the world’s leading healthcare institutions. The philosophy of the Johns Hopkins Hospital is that all patients should receive personalized care, which is provided by the entire team (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2019). The medical facility strives to implement collaborative solutions in its practices to enhance its performance. Its administrative structure consists of the governing body divided into several groups based on the hospital’s specialties and departments and the medical staff including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.
Although the hospital is large, its organizational structure is functional because employees are grouped by tasks. In addition, the Johns Hopkins Hospital has many centers and departments, which shows the division by specialties as well. In hospital departments, there are groups of staff that are assigned particular tasks based on their professional capacities and areas of specialization. The functional organization of the Johns Hopkins Hospital allows for the enhanced efficiency of its services.
Strengths and Limitations
Several major strengths of the Johns Hopkins Hospital can be outlined. First, as mentioned above, the medical facility provides care in a vast variety of fields and specialties. It offers services for many kinds of medical conditions, including chronic and rare ones. Second, the Johns Hopkins Hospital works with all groups of the population and has separate departments for children, adults, and the elderly. It is also necessary to mention that the organization is ranked in fifteen adult specialties and ten children’s ones, which means that it is proven to provide an excellent level of care (“Johns Hopkins Hospital,” 2019). In addition, as the facility is a teaching hospital; it continues to perform research in various fields, such as oncology, and educated medical professionals on the latest technologies and treatment methods in health care. The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s contribution to the life of the community is also notable.
Some limitations of the organization can be identified as well. As the organization is large and has many departments, its management system has several disadvantages. For example, sometimes, there is a lack of coordination between nursing staff because their tasks are not properly assigned. In addition, occasionally, there is an enhanced level of the workload although there is no significant problem of shortages. The reason for this issue is that the hospital’s administration may not have enough time to resolve difficulties at all levels due to the necessity to control all departments at the same time.
Care Delivery Systems
There are two primary nursing care delivery systems used in the hospital. The first one is total patient care, in which nurses are responsible for a group of patients for a shift. They provide all necessary services for individuals and refer them to follow-up interventions, such as surgeries. The second system is functional nursing; care providers are assigned to a specific group of patients. For example, some nurses work with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC nurses) specifically.
Effective delegation is key to positive patient outcomes (Sullivan, 2012). The delegation processes in the hospital can be illustrated in the following ways. A care management coordinator, who works within the Care Coordination Department establishes a strategy for care that involves the utilization of appropriate resources at the right time and delegates tasks to a case manager. This registered nurse provides services directly to patients under the supervision of a nurse manager. Charge nurses are responsible for the overall quality of care during their shift; they delegate tasks to other personnel and establish communication between them and the hospital’s administrators. For example, in an emergency case, a charge nurse can assign tasks to staff nurses, such as diagnosing patients and providing medications. Licensed personnel can delegate tasks to unlicensed staff when such measures are necessary. For instance, registered nurses may ask unlicensed members of the team to assist patients with dressing or grooming, help to transport clients and specimens, and measure vital signs under the supervision of the nurse.
Outcomes and Measurements
One of the system-wide patient outcomes is the safety of care. To evaluate and monitor this factor, the hospital registers and analyzes staff’s performance in accordance with specifically developed safety measures. They include national standards of care, treatment processes for common conditions, the number of surgical volumes, the rate of prevented infections, and emergency department wait times (Johns Hopkins Medicine, n.d.c.). In addition, the Johns Hopkins Hospital monitors the number of readmissions. A nurse-sensitive clinical indicator that can be outlined is patient satisfaction with care. This factor is measured by surveys, during which patients are asked to rate their experience at the medical institution, including communication with care providers and the hospital environment. To monitor patient satisfaction, there are specifically assigned members of staff who control the implementation of care standards.
Summary
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is a medical facility that offers a high quality of services. Its mission is to improve the community’s health state by following the world’s standards of care. The hospital works with children, adults, and seniors in various specialties, including oncology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, orthopedics, and neurology. Its care delivery systems are total patient care and functional nursing. The performance of the organization can be considered effective as it is ranked in twenty-five specialties.
References
Johns Hopkins Hospital. (2019). Web.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2017). Community benefit report. Web.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2019). Care philosophy. Web.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.a.). Awards and recognitions. Web.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.b.). The mission of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Web.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.c.).Patient safety and quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Web.
Sullivan, E. (2012). Effective leadership and management in nursing (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.