Riverbend City: Public Relations Mission - Essay Example

? Riverbend - Public Relations Mission al affiliation: Essay one Overview on how to assess the external environment of a community both social and economic Assessing the external environment in which an institution or an agency operates is a critical factor in success and operations of an institution. The external environment comprises of everything that affects an organization, and which the organization has little or no control over. Riverbend city clinic can assess the social and economic environments of the community through the use of surveys. The survey may be administered to patients once they visit the clinic, as well as house-to-house interviews. A survey is a self report data gathered from the community residents. A survey uses questionnaire to get information regarding to population and demographics, knowledge, beliefs, perceptions, economic conditions and health beliefs. The survey should be structured in a manner that describes the social and economic needs and concerns of the populace in the community (Hitchcock, Schubert, & Thomas, 2003). Self administered questionnaires and face to face interviews should be used in the assessment, but telephone and mail surveys can be used. The structuring of the questionnaire should incorporate both open ended and close ended questions. The use of both open and close ended questions is useful in identifying community members’ social and economic needs. Open ended questions seek to ask the community members on information that requires specific answers. For instance, a question on the economic condition may ask a patient or a community member on the source of funding for their healthcare. Application of appropriate theories that apply to community wellness There are numerous theories that give an insight as the interrelationship between the family and the wider community. The theories are essential as they provide direction to the nursing care of families. It is essential to understand the fundamental precepts of the theories, in spite of the verity that no one theory highlights all dimensions of the family. Some nursing theories and conceptual models address the family implicitly and explicitly. Most theories begin with the focus on an individual, and the family is considered a fraction of the patient’s context. Other nursing theories have broadened their conceptual bases to incorporate the entire family as the client. Application of various theories that relate to the community wellbeing requires the commitment of the hospital’s leadership. However, some of the theories may be complex for the clinic’s leadership to handle, thus requiring the help of an expert or consultant. Members involved in the application of community wellness theories will have other duties and responsibilities such as community education (DIANE Publishing Company, 2004). Internal coordinators in the application process help in supporting team efforts to avoid communication problems. Outside consultants help to optimize the application process as they will often gain access to all levels of the organization more easily than the internal clinic staff. External consultants bring a wealth of experience to the application process, including information and suggestions on gathering pertinent information from the community. Application and analysis on how evidence-based medicine can best be applied to diverse communities and cultures. Evidence based medicine has been motivated by the need to deal with information load, cost control, as well as by the general public that is impatient for the best diagnostics and treatment. Care maps, outcome measures and clinical guidelines are some of the improvement tools for the suitability, success and efficacy of services for health. The value of the three enhancement tools boosts the quality of evidence they incorporate. Laboratory experts have to put more effort in establishing the effect of laboratory examinations on a extensive assortment of medical outcomes (McQueen, 2013). Clinical practitioners have to be familiar with diverse tools such as paper and electronic tools for looking for proof. Comprehensive epidemiologic information and knowledge, decisive assessment skills and a proficient comprehension of the strengths and limitations of systematic review are essential in dealing with diverse cultures and communities (Hitchcock, Schubert, & Thomas, 2003). Emphasis on diversity should be accorded utmost importance, as well as the need to acknowledge time constraints in order to overcome obstacles in translating evidence based medicine into a daily routine and practice. Overview on how developing a community wellness program for a specific community can improve relations between the hospital and that community Each organization including health organizations has stakeholders who affect and are affected by the acts of the entity. Stakeholders to health organizations are such as customers (patients), financiers, regulators and the community. Developing community wellness program implies working with and through constituents to attain a certain goal. Developing community wellness programs requires implementers to communicate with leaders and community members who have diverse foundations and backgrounds, priorities and values. Developing a specific wellness program for a community is significant in developing trust and establishing an affiliation with the community (Ivanov & Blue, 2008). In addition, developing a specific program for the community such as help for disabled people in the community will help in enhancing the social lives of the community members. Developing a specific program also shows that Riverbed city clinic will be exercising its moral social responsibility, which helps to create and enhance loyalty from the community. Essay two How the hospital administrators should respond to the incident The Riverbend city clinic should have responded to the disaster in an approach that respects the rights of all, including that of patients, as well as regulation needs. Once the accident happened, the hospital administration should have officially contacted the government emergency health workers to assist it in handling the crisis. The government emergency health workers are already approved for credentialing, such that the hospital does not have to conduct credentialing when victims were suffering. The hospital should also contact other health providers such as its peers or other hospitals that are renowned for their efficient handling of emergency services. Riverbend clinic will only have made an official call to its peer or a bigger organization that it and the staff would start rescuing the victims without having to go through the credentialing. On another note, one may take hat Riverbend was justified in taking a rushed action without credentialing Mary Jackson for the sake of safeguarding patient and victim’s life. One of the principles guiding the nursing practice is the ethical principles. Ethical principles are the foundations of the nursing practice. In the nursing professions, decisions must be taken depending on ethical principles as nurses have to consider the consequences of their actions while making clinical judgments. The most integral of nursing principles is the respect for persons (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, 2009). By looking at the victim’s lives, probably the chief nursing officer and the nurse supervisor bypassed the credentialing step in a bid to safeguard and save the lives of the patients. Should disciplinary actions be taken? The hospital administration should take disciplinary action to the individuals responsible for ignoring the regulations that necessitate for credentialing. People who should be disciplined are Carl Lauderback and Edmond Yee due to their actions. Disciplinary actions need to be taken as bypassing the credentialing process is an indication of carelessness. This is against the nursing ethics and principles that specify that nurses and doctors should exercise due care in discharging their duties. The hospital may incur liabilities incase; a patient dies under the attendance of Mary Jackson. The reason is that the litigant may take Riverbend to court on the basis of negligence. If an examination can be conducted with regards to such death and it is established that an outsider nurse was the one in charge, the hospital will face serious consequences. Who should be disciplined and how Carl Lauderback and Edmond Yee are the individuals who should be disciplined for their actions. The reason is that the two are the ones responsible for ensuring due regulation in their department. However, they opted to ignore the credentialing procedure and went ahead to assign responsibility to Mary Jackson in charge of the victims in spite of the risks that carried. The two heads should be negatively and positively reinforced. Negative reinforcement entails instilling punishment to ensure that a negative act will not be repeated. Suspension for the two persons can serve as a negative reinforcement for their negligence and carelessness. Positive reinforcement can be such as taking the two individuals for training on legal issues in nursing. The training may be helpful in eliminating the negligence and increasing awareness of their deeds in the future (Griffin, 2012). Essay three Marketing plan to promote PM and its new programs The market for health services is increasing at a rapid pace, signifying enormous potential for growth in the future. In the recent past, a number of diseases and chronic diseases have continued affecting people of all ages. Illnesses such as asthma, chronic illnesses, infectious diseases, lifestyle diseases such as obesity and blood pressure, mental complications and technological diseases are on the rise. All these present an excellent opportunity for PM to capitalize on the existing opportunities to make the hospital the best in the area. Market planning starts with a strategic audit that seeks to assess the internal and external factors that would affect PM in its operations. The marketing plan looks into fresh marketing strategies and tactics, as well as how the marketing strategies would lead to achievement of the resident focused corporate philosophy. Marketing audit The first step in the marketing plan is carrying out a marketing audit in order to assess the PESTEL factors. These are the political and legal, social, technological, economical and environmental factors that affect the success of PM. Political and legal factors are the forces from the government in terms of regulation and licensing. Health institutions are highly regulated and licensing takes a longer time. Since IHCS has already ventured into the health industry, regulations and licensing will not be an obstacle in the new PM operations. Economic factors are the financial factors of the clients. Patients and the community in general are the clients to the hospitals (Griffin, 2012). In the recent years, the economic conditions around the globe have not been promising, and consumers are left with little or no allocations to cater for emergency health issues. Others depend on national hospital insurance funds where hospital cost is deducted from an individual’s salary. In order to ensure that PM is sensitive to the economic hardships of the community members, it can ensure that its health services are affordable and tailor-made to meet the economic needs of various strata in the community. It can also offer some programs at a subsidized price in order to increase its market share. Social factors are the demographic and population characteristics of clients to the hospital. There has been an increase in the number of old citizens in the population. PM administration has to make sure that there are sufficient programs and health services for the aged, such as the outpatient therapy programs for elderly paper who may not be in a position to physically come to the institution. In addition, the young populations are increasingly looking for diversity. In order to capitalize on the need for diversity, PM has to offer dynamic heath programs, as well as ensuring that the entire administration responds to emerging issues in diverse manners. Since the advent of globalization, there world is characterized by an increase in the internet coverage and penetration. In addition, there have been increases in the number of social media users. Social media are such as facebook, twitter and blogs. PM administration can take advantage of the technological advances to propel its services further. For instance, the administration can involve itself in offering online treatment to the young generations who are in high need of dynamic services. By having its presence online, the hospital administration will be diversifying its services, reducing costs, increasing market share, as well as enhancing its competitive edge. SWOT analysis PM has strength in that IHCS is renowned for turning around falling institutions. IHCS has an experienced team, which gives it an advantage of offering efficient services. One of the weaknesses is that space may prove a constraint to the hospital in case it wishes to expand its operations. Opportunities exist for PM in that it can use the technological advances to capture new markets from different places around the globe (Stonehouse et al, 2007). Another opportunity for IHCS is that there are increases in the number of ailments due to various factors such as lifestyle influences causing obesity. Some of the threats that IHCS has to grapple with is increased competition, as there are a high number of hospitals offering similar services. In order to implement the results from the marketing audit above, PM has to employ porter’s generic strategies in a bid to attain and sustain a competitive merit over its rivals. Porter’s generic strategies are cost leadership, cost focus and differentiation strategy. In terms of cost leadership, PM should strive to offer its services at the lowest cost while offering quality services in a manner that its competitors cannot imitate (Eldring, 2009). Differentiation entails offering services for different segments of the populations at cost considerate prices. The hospital administration also needs to keep offering diverse and dynamic products to community members to ensure that its leadership in healthcare provision is sustained. References Daly, J. Speedy, S. & Jackson, D. (2009). Contexts of Nursing. Sydney: Elsevier Australia press. DIANE Publishing Company. (2004). Understanding Community Policy: A Framework For Action. Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing press. Eldring, J. (2009). Porter S (1980) Generic Strategies, Performance and Risk. Munich: Diplomica Verlag press. Grace, P.J. (2009). Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers press. Griffin, R.W. (2012). Management. Connecticut: Cengage Learning Press. Hitchcock, J.E. Schubert, P.E. &. Thomas, S. A. (2003). Community health nursing: caring in action. Connecticut: Cengage Learning press. Ivanov, L.L. & Blue, C.L. (2008). Public Health Nursing: Leadership, Policy, and Practice. Connecticut: Cengage Learning press. McQueen, J.M. (2013). Overview of evidence based medicine: challenges for evidence-based laboratory medicine. Retrieved on 26 May from< http://www.clinchem.org/content/47/8/1536.full> Stonehouse, G. et al (2007). Global and Transnational Business: Strategy and Management. NJ: John Wiley & Sons press. Read More