Medicine As A Business Essays

Medicine As A Business Essays Medicine As A Business Paper Medicine As A Business Paper Hospitals and health care facilities were originally established as volunteer schemes to help those that were in need of medical attention. They were therefore government organizations where by most facilities were provided for by the government. This system of government had its own challenges where the health care officials were offering poor quality services. There was minimum supervision from the government and the workers were less motivated due various factors (Haux, 2004). The medical sector has gone through various changes where it is now being managed as any other business organization. Such system of management ensures that the patients receive quality health care facilities to guarantee them a quicker recovery. Hospital institutions have been encouraged to form organizational structures that will ensure quality supervision and motivation among the workers. Functional and Dysfunctional Control Systems within the Organization As the hospital institution functions as any other business unit, it is important to note that not every tactic applied by other business organization will work. Other organizations mainly deal with products as their basis of transaction, but the hospital deals with patients. The entire management criterion is therefore based on satisfying the needs of the patients. The results are usually reflected on the response of the patients to their medication and how much they appreciate their services. Good services will make the patients run to such a hospital when they are in need but the opposite will be experienced if their services are of bad quality (Hoyle, 2007). A hospital needs to employ people who have a desire to help them that are in need, it is not a career that one can simply make mistakes that can be corrected through undoing the mess. Life of a human being is precious considering the number of people that may be relying on them for support. Any simple mistake that may be made by the nurses or doctors in administering treatment to the patient may be very costly. Therefore, they are required to maintain a high level of responsibility knowing that they are dealing with life rather than commodities. The hospital management team should ensure that apart from employing a team that will be dedicated to their work, they need to employ motivational measures that will encourage them to perform their duties with diligence. Top managers should be careful on how they treat their subordinates as they may pass it on the same manner in which they treat their patients. Compared to other business organizations where the employer can act harshly on the employees and care less about their reaction, workers in the hospital may decide to redirect their anger to the patients. The destruction that may be caused due to such behavior may not be irreversible even if the worker is sent away. When the patients and their relatives learn that their condition has stagnated or grown worse due negligence on the part of the employees, they will move out of the hospital with a bad report (Gerber, 2002). Such reports usually spread faster than it can be imagined and slowly, people will start withdrawing their patients. Such incidences should be avoided at all cost as they may negatively impart on the operations of the hospital. A hospital organization needs to have a dynamic human resource department that is skilled in selecting employees who will be willing to work for the good of the organization. The human resource department should also know how to effectively take care of the workers needs so that they are motivated into high productivity. The workers attitude towards their work should be frequently monitored to ensure that whatever they are offering to the patients is not out of force but willingness. Right procedures should always be taken when correcting a worker over the mistakes they may be making and urgent measures taken upon a worker who seems not to comply with the laid down regulations. A good relationship should always be maintained between the top management and the subordinates. This will enhance the system of communication where they will be free to share about issues that will improve their services. A medical organization being composed of staff that is trained in almost similar field may have a lot to share in terms of knowledge. It may not matter the level of training they have gone through, a subordinate may be endowed with skills in a certain area that may be beneficial to the entire organization. If such skills are not utilized by sharing, the organization may miss out on important resources. Every employee should always be given an opportunity to exercise the skills that they acquired. With the new developments in the medical technology, the workers need to be regularly trained and updated. Hospitals should also strive to ensure that their laboratories and theatres are adequately equipped to handle the current medical needs. The equipments should always be updated and upgraded to ensure that they are in good condition. Equipment failure has been one of the challenges that has faced many hospital organizations and hindered its progress. There have been reported cases of either inadequate facilities that has lead to congestion and long waiting hours or equipments that give unreliable results. A hospital that desires to succeed in its operations has to make sure that it adequately handles the number of patients that come. In case the patients happen to be more than the facilities, the management should not hesitate to refer them to other hospitals that it networks with. Most hospitals fear referring their patients to other hospital thinking that their reputation will be ruined; they therefore keep large number of patients than they are able to take care of. This reduces the quality of services they offer which may subsequently reduce the number of their clients. A hospital organization should always be genuine about its facilities and avoid detaining patients unnecessarily when they can not meet their needs. There should also be good organization in the manner in which records concerning the patient are kept. Some patients prefer that their records be kept secret; the management should ensure that such requests are well taken care of. The same way another business organization strives to meet the demands of their customers, the same should be done by the hospital management to their clients. Doctors and nurses should always respect the decisions that the patients may want to make concerning their health. It has usually been assumed that a patient is at the mercies of the doctor who has to implement all the decisions that he feels are right for the patient. Such an attitude usually makes them to administer certain kind of treatment without consulting the patient. If the patient is in a position to reason and make decisions, doctors should never take it for granted that they will appreciate the treatment offered to them. Patient to doctor/nurse relationship should be maintained and communication enabled. Proper communication between the patients and those attending to them will enhance the services that are shared between them. It will make the patients be open about their conditions which will help the doctors in determining whether the medications are working for their good or not (Hoyle, 2007). Communication between hospital managers that may not be interacting with patients during treatment will enable them to understand whether the services being offered to them are appreciated or not. Through such direct interactions with the patients, the managers are able to know the kind of treatment being offered by the staff to the patients. The response of the patients towards the care being offered to them will reflect to the management how effective or ineffective their staff is. Criteria for Developing and Evaluating Control Systems There are several control systems that may be used depending on the kind of services being offered by the organization. It is important for an organization to carefully evaluate the different systems at their disposal so as to implement the best that will work for them. A control system can be evaluated through research that should be carried out to find out the organizations that have used such a similar system. Once such organizations have been identified, the organization will evaluate how such a system worked for that particular organization and subsequently make their decisions. A hospital organization will therefore look at the various organization systems used by other hospitals and evaluate their positive and negative impacts. If the positive outcomes outweigh the negative ones, then the organization can think of implementing such a system. A hospital organization may also develop its own control system and test it for applicability. This may be done through various studies carried out by the hospital staff concerning the needs of their patients. Such a control system is the best as it is aimed at satisfying the needs of their clients rather than meeting other objectives that may be personal (Haux, 2004). Before a particular control system is fully implemented in the organization, it is put to test for some time to see how the clients and the staff will react towards it. It will only be implemented if it shows commendable results. Essentials of Quality Management and the Techniques The progress of a company is determined by the kind of management that is applied to it. Quality management techniques are therefore of great importance if the company wants to experience growth. There are five key areas of an organization that will determine the quality of the management skills applied as explained below. Leadership Process and Accountability A hospital organization needs to have leaders that understand their role in the organization. They need to be dedicated to their work and be able to account to the management the progress of their work. They are supposed to know and understand their responsibilities and the role of every employee that is working under them. Competent and Capable Workforce Employees are the main determinants of how many clients the organization will receive. Clients are always looking for a place where their needs will be well taken care of. A hospital organization should therefore employ a workforce that has a clear understanding of their role towards expanding the organization and perform their duties willingly. They should be endowed with skills that are necessary for their various responsibilities. Safe Environment for Staff and Patients The organization should ensure that the hospital environment is safe for its employees and staff. It should be a place where the employees will feel at ease when working and the patients comfortable as they undergo treatment (Gerber, 2002). Safety will motivate employees to work effectively which will in turn increase their productivity. The patients will also be guaranteed a quick recovery when the environment around them is clean and fresh. Clinical Care of Patients Maximum care should always be ensured when taking care of patients, the medical staff that is responsible for carrying out various tests should label the samples well and avoid any mix up. This will ensure that the patient’s are given treatment according to what they are suffering from (Huber, 2006). Correct measures should also be observed to ensure that correct dosage is given to the patients at the right time. Improving Quality and Safety Quality and safety should not only be maintained but improved. This can always be done on a daily basis where the organization has to identify areas that need to be upgraded. This may be done by getting modern equipments for the laboratories and theaters and high quality materials for wards. Constant improvement of services in the hospital will attract more clients and retain the old ones. The hospital will become a place where patients will desire to come and be served with high quality services. Benchmarking and knowledge management Benchmarking is a technique employed by various business organizations to compare their management system with other organization. This is usually done with the aim of identifying the best technique that will realize results. It enables the organization to carry out its activities with knowledge and information. A hospital organization will compare its progress with other hospitals and identify the areas in which they perform better or otherwise and different aspects that bring about the difference. This enables the organization to strategically improve on its operations for maximum growth. (Hoyle, 2007) Conclusion Hospital business has become an area that can earn an organization a substantial amount of income if the right management skills are applied. It should always be noted that just as consumers in other business organizations need to be pleased and satisfied, the hospital organization should also ensure that the clients who are mostly the patients are taken good care of by the hospital. Clients will maintain their loyalty to the hospital if they are accorded quality services at the right time. The hospital should ensure that it is adequately equipped to handle the number of patients that visit them on a daily basis. Incase the hospital receives more patients than it can handle, it should always feel free to refer them to other hospitals. This will prevent the patients from having to wait for long hours which may in turn worsen their states. It will also maintain the good name of the hospital and thus attracting even more clients. With increasing number of people in need of medical attention, the hospital business will not miss its place in the market. (Gerber, 2002) REFERENCES Gerber P. (2002): Nursing management secrets, New York: Health Sciences, pp51 Haux R. (2004): Strategic information management in hospitals, New York: Springer, pp3 Hoyle D. (2007): Quality management essentials, United Kingdom: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp20 Huber D. (2006): Leadership and nursing care management, New York: Elsevier Health Sciences, pp259