Reactions of nurses from the two units
The combination of the two units has implications for the nurses working in the two departments. The obstetrics unit is old in the firm and has been dysfunctional for some time since its location is old and dilapidated and requires renovation using financial resources. On the contrary, the pediatrics unit is located in the new buildings and it has the best facilities as well as services. Nurses from the obstetrics unit will feel relieved from working in poor working conditions that comprise old buildings characterized by inefficient and cramped delivery rooms. If the board of the hospital could resort to cutting costs by closing it down, all nurses would have lost their jobs. Therefore, consolidating the units would secure the jobs of the nurses. However, the nurses from the obstetrics unit would have to contend with the increased workload in the pediatrics unit.
On the other hand, the nurses from the pediatric unit are faced with much workload as compared to their counterparts from the obstetrics unit as the unit is newly established in a new wing of the hospital. The emergency section in the hospital is one of the two in the city and it serves patients coming from up to four states. Therefore, the workload for the nurses in the unit is much, and merging the two could ease the workload.
The departmental heads from both units will feel relieved with their feeling reflecting the feelings of the nurses. For instance, the departmental head of nursing in obstetrics feels that he or she can be relieved from working in a poor working environment. On the contrary, a departmental head of the pediatrics unit can feel that the workload will be reduced since he/she has a helper. On the contrary, the head in the pediatrics unit may feel insecure about his job especially when there is no position for his counterpart from the obstetrics unit.
Communication Plan
A communication plan entails a description of the objectives of the board of management for the facility. The communication plan for the merger project is outlined below.
Subject: Merger of the Obstetrics and pediatrics units in a community hospital.
Objectives
This project aims at merging the obstetrics and pediatrics sections of the community hospital into one. This follows increasing costs of running the facility in poor working conditions of cramped and inefficient labor and delivery rooms. This means that the obstetrics unit will be closed down with the facilities and human resources being moved to the pediatrics unit. The effectiveness of the merger would involve the establishment of the facilities and the human resources in the two facilities as well as establishing the role of every employee such that there is no role conflict.
Change manager for the consolidation
The change manager should be the manager who has a larger portion of responsibility. In this case, I believe that the consolidation manager should be the pediatrics unit department head. This is because it is the largest unit that is accommodating the old obstetrics unit. Although old, the obstetrics unit is now small and poor performing and it is only good that the large and well-performing pediatrics unit accommodates the obstetrics unit. The pediatrics unit departmental head should establish an obstetrics subsection in the unit that will be headed by the former departmental head of obstetrics.