Health care management needs appropriate scheduling systems. Effective management takes care of employees, patients and the facilities which are provided in a particular health care. Good scheduling system leads to higher productivity, while poor scheduling system leads to losses due to low productivity.
Patients, employees and facilities should be the main consideration while planning for a scheduling system. Failure to consider any of the above groups may lead to many disappointments and suffering to any of the group. Patients would have to wait for many hours before they are served and probably they would end up getting low quality services. Employees might also be overworked and thus lose their motivation (Wolper, 2011). Scheduling of patients can be challenging, and thus calls for good planning and organization. This is especially because one cannot predict the arrival time of the patients with precision. Though from research there is a pattern revealed which can be used to predict the time when patients go to health care providers; it is not always effective to predict their arrival (Wolper, 2011). People who had been scheduled for appointment may fail to turn up. Sometimes delays may be caused by traffic leading to lateness. The schedule should also be able to give room for emergencies (LaGanga & Lawrence, 2009). A management system should focus on serving the maximum number of patients while providing good services to them. This maximizes the use of facilities in hospitals and ensures that the workers’ potentials are well utilized and thus the patients will be served effectively.
Poor scheduling of employees may cause the health care clinic to have excess employees. Having excess of employees will likely lead to realization of losses through the wages paid out. Having an efficient scheduling system takes care of such losses (Wolper, 2011). Scheduling work for employees goes together with communication. The management should ensure that they make it clear to employees on what they are supposed to do, why, and by what time they are supposed to complete their work. They should also be aware of what they are supposed to consider in various situations by making their priorities clear to the employees (Wolper, 2011). Scheduling system should also take care so as to even the work of employees. When demand of health care services (the number of patients) exceeds the number of employees, the hospital is vulnerable to underutilize their facilities. Working in shifts takes care of the high demand of health facilities. Initially those who were supposed to work for night shifts were meant to serve early in the morning. However, working hours set for different individuals should be assigned with caution. The health care should examine how to schedule their employees effectively so as to maximize utilization of facilities while meeting the needs of the patients (Wolper, 2011).
When the clinic is concerned with maximum utilization of the health facility, it might take more patients. This helps to serve more patients. However, the patients may suffer by having to wait for more hours as well as the clinic employees having to work overtime (LaGanga & Lawrence, 2009).
The two articles are important in that they bring out the need of having an effective scheduling system in a healthcare setting. The patients and health workers are important and they must be considered while making a healthcare schedule. They are focused towards maximum utility of the facilities. The main emphasis is on time management, communication and good quality services. They also shed light on the negative effects of a poorly managed schedule system.
References
LaGanga, L. R., & Lawrence, S. R. (2009). Demand Management in Health Care Clinics with Variable Service Needs. Web.
Wolper, L. F. (2011). Health Care Administration: Managing Organized Delivery Systems. 5th Edition. MA, Massachusettes: Jones & Bartlett Learning.