Religious Healthcare, Strategies to Improve Public Image and Increase Market Share - Essay Example

?Religious Health Care Human civilization has walked millions of miles through the pathway of time. Scientific progress turned health care into a much more effective means to combat the existing diseases. However with the advent of new medicines, vaccines and innovative technologies directed towards the proper detection and cure of the illness; new form of diseases evolved as well through evolution of newer viruses and bacteria. Moreover scientific progress brought speed in the daily life of every human being and that often stressed them out leading to stress related psychological disorders and health related problems like hypertension. Introduction of fast foods as well as junk foods also gave rise to obesity; root of several health related problems. By far it is crystal clear that with time demand for health care related amenities as well as personnel are at a high. At this juncture the Religious Health Care and to be precise Samaritan Hospital and Protestant Hospital is playing a crucial role as far as the health care is concerned by providing health care service to approximately 0.225 million people who hail from Middleville (given data). These religious health care institutions have their roots strongly grounded in their religious belief and do not accept their work as a profit making initiative; care for humanity with all their resources are their sole motto and light of inspiration. Religious background of the patients has never come across the care and attention that they receive from their care givers who are beyond any doubt religious and that only to a particular faith. In other words humanity is valued over religious values and serving an ailing human has been considered as the most important form of worship of god. This is secularism at its best. Considering the number of people that are served through religious health care system its existence along with smooth functioning becomes extremely important. Success though sweet; it also renders the responsibility to be successful again. To be successful in a sustained manner compels an organization or a system to review its operation and to indulge in self criticism in order to find the loopholes how small they might be. The same often seeks an external help in form of a vibrant Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who might not be religious in nature but knows his/her works well. Ushering changes within an institution specifically a religious one that is often rigid to its belief is not an easy task to accomplish. The process demands flexibility on behalf of the existing human resources regarding their acceptance of a change that would eventually augment them to provide even better service. However, too much stringency on behalf of the CEO and lack of elasticity of the existing human resource to accept a change might ignite unnecessary rebellious outbursts. This will ultimately result in loss of time translating into high opportunity cost and many sufferers would go away unattended. A careful consideration of the Religious Health Care along with two of its most important health care service providers namely the Samaritan Hospital and the Protestant Hospital indeed reveals certain not so satisfactory facts that needs to be immediately addressed. A discussion on these possible changes that the institutions might embrace to become more efficient have been discussed below. Participatory planning while considering the augmentation of human resources has often yielded positive results. It has two benefits. When the employees are able to convey their feelings regarding a certain change they feel at par with the CEO; that is there is no inferiority complex or they do not feel that something is imposed upon them against their own will. Again often they are with much more on hand experience than the CEO and can share their knowledge regarding a necessary change that might be needed at once to bring any short or long term change in operation. The same also reduces the possibilities of a resistance that might pop up while initiating a change that comes out of the blue to the employees. The discussion refers to the importance of a both way communication and mutual respect between the CEO and the employees while introducing a change in operation specially directed towards the human resource augmentation (Stroh et al, 228-229). Intra organizational conflict is a common phenomenon; yet it can deliver devastating outcome. First of all it involves huge opportunity cost in terms of lose of man hour, secondly it leads to loss of social capital one of the primary ingredients for the smooth functioning of an institution. The concerned organization lacks in terms of a body addressing an issue that might arise out of intra organizational conflict such as a rumble between two or a group of employees. Initiation of a body addressing such issues could be highly beneficial for the smooth functioning of the organization (Collins & O'Rourke, 33) Each human being religious or non religious is a different entity and with diverse beliefs and opinions. A peaceful culmination with adherence to all the opinions is of utmost importance to reach a unanimous decision. To address this problem all the differences should be addressed behind a closed door beyond the knowledge of the common people; otherwise they might think that the torch bearers of the morality are themselves riddled with doubts. A pioneering agency might be formed within the concerned institution to address such conflicts of ideologies and difference in interpenetration of beliefs. Whatever be the methods or techniques to augment the existing operation; unless it provides any positive outcome it is fruitless. A continuous exchange of ideas and grievance between the CEO and the employees brings positive outcome as far as the operational efficiency of the organization is concerned. Furthermore the employees feel en-boosted if they happen to meet the CEO at least once a week. Apart from the psychological positive catalyst; a meeting with the CEO also enshrines possibilities of sharing ideas or at least communicating issues deserving immediate attention. This is much more effective than a written document addressing employee grievance and suggestions. An authoritative board entrusted with the assessment of the performance of both the CEO and the employees might be much more effective than the conventional method of communication regarding institutional problems. Feudalism and slavery has long been gone, mingling with the employee yields much better results in terms of efficiency and quality. Domination gives birth to opposition either in silent protest or through vocational or action oriented outburst. Blending of the so called top level of the management with the people belonging to the downstream would eventually yield positive results; beneficial to the entire organization. Mutual respect among employees leading to a healthy working ambience would eventually lead to much more efficient, coordinated outcome. A strict monitoring body ensuring the same should be set up. These steps will at the long run evolve into much better selfless services as far as health care initiatives are concerned on behalf of the Religious Health care system. Performance dimensions that Religious health care can use- Together with the aforementioned performance augmenting measures; efficacy regarding performance should be held with high esteem. This will improve the health care quality provided by an organization; extend its reach to greater number of people seeking health care attention and will also optimize resource allocation in such a manner that will lead to the best possible results regarding health care. Safety measures regarding health care should also receive utmost attention to avoid any unnecessary mishaps. Measuring nurse staffing performance in the Emergency Room An efficient health care system seeks for the appropriate availability of nurses to look after the patients. Nurses should be well trained and in plenty of numbers to make sure no ailing patient remains unattained at the time of need. The Religious Health care institution should take proper measures to augment the quality of services provided by the nurses through proper training and also opt for adequate number of nurses to fill reduce the patient per nurse ratio. Patient appraisal of nurses should be documented and given proper importance to achieve optimum results. This will also reduce additional monitoring cost and put the care givers under a constant vigilance. Nurses entrusted with the emergency room care should be provided with a healthy working ambience that will bring out the best of their skills and eventually lead to much less number of casualties. Managing specific patient groups- Each patient group is with specific needs and mingling them together might result into catastrophe. To manage specific patient groups the Religious Health care should opt for a series of steps in a sequential manner to reach the optimum outcome. Each group of patients is with different and specific needs and those have to be identified at first in order to meet their requirements. Proper ways to meet those needs should be framed to avoid any patient grievance. Methods should be at par with the available man power and financial resources of the organization; otherwise implementation of the framed plans would never be possible. Implementation of the plans should be strictly mandatory and monitored to ensure their proper functionality. In case monitoring of the implemented plans reveals that they are failing to meet their specific goals; proper adjustments should be made to make them come on track. Strategies to improve public image and increase market share- The present era might be termed as the era of media and media can be used effectively to build a public image that will eventually help Religious Health care to attract public attention and add to its patient pool. The organization can also foster social awareness through media and demonstrate its social concern through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. A culmination of the mentioned strategies will not only increase its competitiveness and market share but also send positive vibes to the common people Decreasing the patient per doctor and patient per medical staff would also facilitate the concerned organization to increase its market share as this would be a positive message to the potential patients regarding better care. The same policy would help Religious Health Care to reach out beyond its present capability regarding access to patients. There are various methods that Religious health care can use to increase access. Added efforts towards primary care development, occupational and corporate health services would also provide better access to Religious Health Care. In critical situations patients often suffer from the non availability of ambulance that can transfer them immediately to the hospital, hence a round the clock ambulance service would always be beneficial for the concerned organization to become the first choice for the patients and their families at time of urgency. Adoption of improved technology and implementing innovative practices would increase the competitiveness of the concerned organization and it might be able to leave behind the other players within the same industry. Religious Health Care should also try to provide its services in a very cost effective way. Day by day health care is becoming a costly affair and within this environment if it can stand away from indulging into the same that will definitely attract patients towards them. This will also be a iconic example for the rest of society and specifically to those concerns belonging to the same industry. Technology based data collection methods that can be used in auditing the organization- Auditing for an organization is very important as it portrays the financial clarity of the same. Adopting technology based auditing practices would on one hand reduce the time of data collection and on the other will bring more accurate results. An efficient chartered accountant might be hired in order to get valuable advice. Technical safety measures are needed in order to build audit controls related to data protection and errors need to be corrected. Technology used to allow different users to log into the system need to be composed of three parts – a password, a log-in number which alters every half minute and a thumbprint (Bull 48,121). Various survey based methods might be used to conduct a complete evaluation. This might comprise opinions of employees as feedbacks and interaction between leaders and employees using emails and questionnaires or an overall feedback exchange system where employees give opinions on their management and vice versa (Oleske, 33-57). Works Cited Bull, Sheana, Technology-Based Health Promotion, California, Sage Publications Inc, 2010. Collins Dean Sandra, Managing Conflict and Workplace Relationships, Mason, South-Western Cengage Learning, 2008 Oleske, Denise. Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services, New York: Springer, 2009 Stroh, Linda K., Northcraft, Gregory B. and Margaret A. Neale, (Co-author) Mar Kern, (Co-author) Chr Langlands, Organizational Behavior, New Jersey, Taylor & Francis, 2001. Read More