Staffing In Healthcare Organizations: A Case Study

Throughout this course I have learned about the various challenges that impede productivity and efficiency at today’s hospitals. These issues facing the modern healthcare organization come in varying forms from technological, staffing, and financial to name a few. There are no limits to what hospitals can face in these modern technologically savvy times. Below are the major issues that today’s hospitals are facing, though there are many facets to these topics it will be described as best as possible to meet overall challenges:

The internal resource which can support the change initiative is the employees of the healthcare organization. The employees will support this change because the change will have a positive impact on them. With the recruitment of new employees the work load of the existing employees will change. Thus they will favour the change. The external resource which can support the change initiative is competition. Since due to shortage of employees the quality of care will be reduced and other organizations make take advantage of this and draw patients to their healthcare institution. The healthcare organizations will be forced to bring this change so as to compete with other healthcare

Dr. Karen Buhr, PhD is the newly appointed Chief Operating Officer of Bellevue Hospital; a large, a not-for-profit hospital located in New York City. After two weeks of working in the public sector, she misses the benefits of a seemingly endless cash flow available when working in a world renowned, private academic hospital. Bellevue Hospital has been in deficit for the past two years and patient satisfaction regarding care is at an all-time low. Her first task is to develop and implement cost saving measures for the clinical services provided. She has met with clinical and administrative leaders to identify potential savings and other opportunities for improvement. However, she has hit a road block. How

The healthcare system in America started as a predominantly volunteer system where patients were required to pay little to nothing for treatment. Since it began, the healthcare industry has seen tremendous changes that have transformed it into a business entity which has operations like financial management, strategic planning and functional specialties to keep the industry viable. The industry is one of the largest in the country employing 15 million people with a projected increase of jobs with 3 million jobs annually. As the healthcare industry continues growing, services and personnel are changing, and various dynamics are coming into play to accommodate changes (Smith, Saunders, Stuckhardt, & McGinnis, 2013).

Per an agreement reached in 2006, the National Football League annual profit of $9 billion was to be distributed between the owner and players. With $1 billion going to the owners in the form of compensation for “cost credit.” These cost are expenses such as stadium enhancements, promotional undertakings and efforts to improve the NFL brand domestically and internationally. The remaining $8 billion will be divided with 59.5% being used to for players’ wages (i.e. Rookie salaries, free agency market, and veteran players). However, in lieu of the lockout that occurred at the end of the 5-year agreement, March 4th, 2011, the league and its players have come to a stalemate in the negotiation process moving forward.

In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen a significant decline in the quality of patient care it provides. This has been the result of reduced staffing levels, overworked nurses, and an extremely high nurse to patient ratio. The importance of nurse staffing in hospital settings is an issue of great controversy. Too much staff results in costs that are too great for the facility to bear, but too little staffing results in patient care that is greatly hindered. Moreover, the shaky economy has led to widespread budget cuts; this, combined with the financial pressures associated with Medicare and private insurance companies have forced facilities to make due with fewer

There are many ways one can maintain their marketability. For me, joining an association like the Association of Healthcare Administrative Professionals will help me maintain my marketability. This association provides the healthcare administrative professional with the specific education and tools. They offer free webinars on topics like office technology, organization and time management and important timely healthcare-related topics. They have an annual conference where a member can spent time investing in their career and networking with colleagues. They have a quarterly newsletter called “Notations” (AHCAP, 2017), that focus on helpful administrative topics. They offer tuition discounts to help one advance their education and keep their

The Importance of Proper Staffing Proper staffing within organizations is considered essential to business endeavors and management. By definition, staffing is defined as the “process involved in identifying, assessing, placing, evaluating, and directing individuals at work” (Ramasamy, 2009, p. 82). Upon researching an article related to staffing, some hospitals are experiencing a higher percentage of patient deaths that are linked to not having enough nurses scheduled, and the financial availability of the hospital institutions.

Nurses play important role in the financial performance of their organizations since they have direct patient contact. The financial cost attributed to an organization for losing a single nurse is estimated to be equivalent to twice the annual salary of the nurse. To put it in monetary terms, the average hospital is estimated to lose about $300,000 per year for each percentage increase in annual nurse turnover (Hunt, 2009). Losing these nurses not only affects the finances of the healthcare organizations, but also the excellence of care provided to patients’. Nursing turnover decreases the patient care quality by increasing the length of stay at hospitals and increased incidence of illnesses acquired at hospitals. In situations like these, some healthcare organizations have reported having to turn away patient to other healthcare facilities due to lack of available staff (Hunt, 2009).

People see hospitals as a place where one goes for healing and medical care, but hospitals are businesses that healthcare administrators have the responsibility of maintaining. Healthcare administrators’ responsibilities include many aspects related to patient care. Some of those aspects are social and public policy and the technical management of healthcare delivery in hospitals. Unfortunately, healthcare administrators are faced with many challenges as well. One of the growing challenges that healthcare administrators are facing is the shortage of healthcare professionals.

The study applies the systems theory of change. The model gives the relationship and the connection between the different parts of the organization. The study calls for the adequate measurement of the aspects of the organization such as the infrastructure, task, technology, and both the human and financial resources. According to Lozano (2013), the systems theory is applicable when there is the objective to provide quality improvement, patient satisfaction, and Medicare management. Therefore, the approach will facilitate the desired change by having the management assess all the system units and adjust them to accommodate the increase in the number of personnel (Thomas & Galla, 2013). Otherwise, it might be not possible to achieve the desired change if the administration fails to ensure that the facility would accommodate the additional professionals regarding the available offices and work equipment among others.

Within the last decade, health care has gone through drastic changes due to reforms that have impacted all levels of the United States health care system. From the 2010 enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the financial operations of many medical institutions have faced many improved and challenging transformations. Many of these transformations included the day to day administrative tasks, increased overhead expenses, and incurred costs brought on by practice and hospital adherence to new reforms. Currently, there is much debate on new reforms that would assist in improving the financial operations of the current health care system. Correspondingly, strong reforms have the ability to assist in making the health care system more efficient

Today’s health care organizations are complex, interrelated systems that must adapt to changing societal demands while working with an increasing need for cost containment. A shift from the antiquated linear model to a patient-centered, holistic approach is vital to address the complicated requirements. Advanced practice nurses with an understanding of organizational analysis and leadership are crucial to this conversion. The first step of this process is an assessment of the organization’s current climate. The purpose of this paper is to present an organizational analysis of an outpatient health care facility by examining the organization’s culture, readiness for change and by utilizing concepts recommended by Collins as the framework for evaluation.

A continuous concern that continues to present itself within the healthcare environment is adequate staffing on nursing units. Most hospital organizations try their very best to accommodate staffing needs, though many units remain understaffed for an unspecified amount of time. Inadequate staffing can negatively affect patient outcomes, lead to nurse burnout, and decrease patient satisfaction scores. Combating this issue will require a great deal of effort, as many geographical face nursing shortages when seeking new graduates and qualified candidates. Employees may begin to feel that they are unable to pursue personal goals within a healthcare organization, due to inability to transfer as a result of staffing shortages. This often results in nursing seeking employment or career advancement outside of the organization or geographical area, which further intensifies ramification associated with inadequate staffing.

Recent survey data found that only 36% of public health facilities offering delivery services had all the basic delivery room infrastructure and equipment needed, with rural areas and lower level facilities particularly unequipped.26 The Kenya Health Sector Strategic & Investment Plan (2012-2018) also estimates that current staff levels meet only 17% of minimum requirements needed for efficient operation of the health system.27 Kenya has only seven nurses per 4,000 residents, half the number (14 per 4,000) recommended by the World Bank.28 These health workers are also unevenly distributed across the country, with particular gaps in the North Eastern and Northern Rift provinces.29 These problems have been only further enhanced by the