Professionalism and Leadership in Healthcare - Assignment Example

of Curriculum A Research on Health Care Management 10, Nov. 2006 Introduction According to Shortell and Kaluzny (2003), organization design is illustrated in the manner with which the building blocks of a particular organization are arranged to ensure and or improved effectives and capacity (p. 275). These building blocks demonstrates the authority, responsibility, accountability, information, as well as rewards, all of which affecting both the internal and external stakeholders of an organization, thus insuring profitability and overall employee satisfaction. The organization design must meet the needs of the organization, which is why it is important to begin with the identification of its needs prior to setting up the building blocks. One of the important features in organization design highlight by the above mentioned author is the use of orientation strategy specifically employed by mostly the health care industry. Most recently it is a fact that because of the current trends and practices implemented in the business practice, the application of these well tested management techniques has likewise been adopted in many health care institutes to sustain their own future in the healthcare industry. Health Care Organization Strategize Strategic management according to Shortell and Kaluzny (2000) involves both internal and external functions of management where it oversees the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of strategy (p. 398). Furthermore, 10 schools of thought have been conceptualized by Mintzberg (1990) that advances the theory of strategic management, of which only three most relevant ones shall be mentioned in congruence with the central them to be discussed. The first would be prescriptive schools that involve design, planning, and positioning. The second descriptive school of thought entails entrepreneurial, cognitive, learning, political, cultural, environmental, and configurational. It is noteworthy that each set of schools has a different process. The third strategy formulation may be conceptual, formal, analytical, visionary, mental, emergent, power, ideological, passive, or episodic (Shortell & Kaluzny, 2000, p. 399). The rising cost of health care coupled with technological advances purports the idea of a managed in the American health care system where this program allowed private employers to limit the choices provided to their employees in terms of healthcare coverage and benefits. This managed care system allowed each organization to introspect on upon the need to employ strategies to boost their internal capacities for a quality performance to answer to the increasing competition. Likewise to resort to merger in response to current trends and issues such as the shortage of health care providers and most importantly the constant demand to improve the quality of service amidst the increasing cost. Al these aspects necessitated the employment of strategic management techniques, through developed quality scale to assess the implications of quality-based performance. Successful health care organizations develop a strategic quality orientation from the management level all the way down to its subordinate. It support the pursuit of quality at the contact level of which have already been a client at one point in time, as well as monitor external customers' perceptions of quality of service provision. The use of SWOT, otherwise known as the identification of Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats are now of common sop (Standard Operating Procedure) in the health care industry whereby both internal and external strengths are identified along with the supposition that should their be a need to booster its strength in response to the weakness and threats identified with out much opportunity from improvement. Using this techniques allow the company to work with in its scale for an effective decision making. When working on the internal capabilities and performance, it is very important that the management strength as well as that of its workers are assesses versus that of its weakness. The identification of these factors is necessary so that it will allow them the opportunity to work on this weakness and convert them into strengths thereby allowing them to improve those which are detrimental to their performance. By identifying the opportunities in response to their strength available for future employment or use allows them the options to decide upon sustainability and expansion versus the option or the decision to merge. By working on the all of the determining factors of SWOT, better measures can be employed towards better performance thus better provision of quality service. Keeping a close watch at the threats and opportunities in the external arena give them a better grip at restructuring their internal process to suite the demands of the business. The tool that has been talked about in the health care industry that serves to safeguard and ensure quality and safety to patients and health providers is appropriateness. Essentially it is a word that ensures the intervention provided for is the most appropriate response to the patient's need--that is: evidence-based, cost effective, necessary, good prognosis and scientifically tested, to achieve a positive outcome. For most people the question might seem surreal or ideal but they also need to be aware of the fact that many options and decisions relative to health that are made and taken which are not always consistent with best practice. Like in the case of the previously common practice of tonsillectomy 20-30 years ago is now no longer considered appropriate in any but the worst cases of tonsillitis. Old practice dictates that the rates of caesarean sections are an example of where measures of appropriateness could well be considered. However, appropriateness is not, and should not be, limited to surgical interventions alone even though this has been the focus of the appropriateness activities in the USA and to a lesser extent, in Australia to date where new emphasis are being brought to bear on appropriateness standards. This will have a greater impact on the leadership skills of management. "Leaders are people who administer a group and are able to express themselves fully through their strengths and weaknesses. They know what they want, why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others in order to gain their cooperation and support. Finally they know how to achieve their goals" (Ingram, 2004). Leadership is a difficult task because it impacts others to accomplish an objective. While this is a challenging situation in any field, it is of extreme significance in the healthcare setting, where quality of service, trust, and ultimately people's lives are dependant. Leadership, whether positive or negative a trait, will always have a direct implication on staff interactions, continuous quality improvement, and risk management. Therefore the ability to advance oneself as an efficient leader involves a process of successfully employing characteristics such as communication, trust, guiding vision, knowledge, equity, and ethics. In the healthcare settings, leadership has a direct impact on issues of continuous quality improvement and risk management, where it evaluates the institutional infrastructure, systems, outcomes and improvement systems and is measured by the external agency. Thus, quality management in such settings satisfies several goals of healthcare providers who wish to remain self-regulating and self-improving. This requires a sense of responsibility and focus of the manager as well as his views beyond current perspectives, and appreciating the interrelationship between sustained quality improvement and efficient management, as the process that constantly identifies and solves problem utilizing characteristics of effective leadership to ensure vision mission. At present, quality management exists in almost every type of organization and effective leaders who practice quality management emphasize cost control, teamwork, flexibility, interdependence, competence, a focus on primary care and outcomes measured by patient participation and satisfaction with care-all hallmarks of PA practice (Defachio, 1997). Within the quality management (QM) programs, several features help solve a problem. Problems are identified and prioritized through staff meetings, committees, patient interviews and surgeries, etc. As a clinician, you should expect a review of performance by and of the organization. As a professional participating in QM, you can develop skills in analyzing and solving organizational problems (Defachio, 1997). Quality management also reassesses and documents the resolution of problems. Some problems are resolved immediately while others require ongoing review, such as satisfaction surveys, implementing and monitoring safety measures to reduce risk factors. Reducing risk factors plays the greatest role in minimizing risk management issues in that one is actively seeking to minimize adverse patient outcomes, and maintaining a consistent and competent method of collecting and reporting all incidences. It verifies and formulates problems where quality is evaluated by measuring the conformance to standards. It resolves problems in a measurable, attainable manner with objectives set within specified time frames establishing solutions to poor performance and inadequate systems. Improvements are developed in ways beneficial to the patients, clinicians, the organization, and society in general (Defachio, 1997). QM involves the greatest number of personnel whose members require complete orientation to their responsibilities for participation in the process of continuous quality improvement. The success of the QM depends on the success of the group as it seldom works on an individual basis. For healthcare organizations to succeed, the people that compose the organization must understand that quality must be inherent with the provision of service. Through the employment and implementation of continuous process of developing one's skills; success is never a far fetched idea, which congruently promotes better staff morale, increasing the quality of patient care, increasing esteem within the community, and overall forming a powerful institution, that is constantly looking inward. A leader to become effective in the healthcare setting is the one who successfully manage ongoing quality management programs in a manner that leads in a way that rallies their team members to the causes. Ineffective leadership has negative impact on both employee and consumer satisfaction and it negatively influences meeting organizational goals. Adapting a positive effective leadership style will lead to the development of a culture of leadership excellence, and will promote the actualization of success of the organizational aim. Implications of Health Care Management Amidst the changes in the 21st century (cost containment, changing social norms, changing demographic composition/location, technology development, social experimentation, changing roles of physicians and nurses, organizational culture, and the incorporation of women and minorities into health care management positions. Today, the healthcare industry eats up the greatest share of portion of GDP as suppose to other industry in the Country, which approaches to about 15%. The United States is considered the front runners in healthcare treatment due to the innovation in technology and medical research. However, this industry is at a crossroads because of the existing multiple complicated issues. The "top two issues facing health care right now are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and patient safety" (Simpson). The reason lie in the manner with which these are priced, so to comply with HIPPA, major changes had to be made to information systems and technology costing millions throughout the industry. A big issue worth considering is that Americans are already fully extended when it comes to healthcare costs. In most industries, these new unexpected costs would have come at the expense of other areas throughout the industry, however, healthcare continues to advance where the wireless devices have already been significantly deployed in a more rapid manner in the medical field compare in the business world. Hospitals need to keep pace with the explosive growth of wireless technology in order to stay competitive like the case of the Personal Data Assistant. In general, wireless computing technology allows caregivers to access, update, and transmit critical patient and treatment information using radio signals instead of hardwired systems or paper-based records allowing for increased efficiency and patient safety. Due to the rising cost of health care coupled with the technological advancement, the American health care system have evolved into a good business opportunity which has consistently acquired a major stability through the idea of managed care. This program referred to provides for movement of services directly to the patient, instead of the usual in-house/institute treatment. The managed system allowed its subscribers to visit a group of certain healthcare professionals. In addition to collaborative care provision, this program limits the patient's access to specialist, promoting the use of certain technological advancements. This system dictates the brands of medicines that patients receive, at the same time gives the patient the option to choose from various brands of medicines under a specified generic system. Such system will answer the healthcare industry's crisis on shortage of staff as the system requires only those that are pertinent to treatment (Shortell & Kaluzny. 2000). This will also solve the problem on pharmaceutical monopoly which causes the expensive cost of medicines, since this increases the competition on the market thus lowering the price for people to afford and at the same time giving the people the freedom to choose the medicines that works for them. With managed, a sick individual need not travel far to receive treatment, as in the case of minorities who submits for treatment only when the case has worsened for schedule and distance reason. This will change the norm of the society to increase their awareness of preventive measures by frequenting their healthcare clinics for check up rather than submitting for treatment only during severe conditions. At present the healthcare industry invests quiet a sum of money to meet the demands of the 21st century in order to remain competitive in their field (p. 446). These investments can be seen in their adoption of computerized technology that enables to transmit information easily and quickly across the globe. This kind of system answers the pressures on backlogs and delays in the output promoting efficiency, on the broader scale, their improvements can be seen through the infrastructures they have created, like for instance the building of many hospitals and clinic to answer the demand on accessibility and availability. Another means to cut cost, is through the idea of affiliation with insurance company in their provision of post paid health care service or medi-care to employees, where companies need not hire and retain dentist for this kind of specific service as they only need to go to their affiliate clinics and avail of said service. The challenge in meeting the demands of competition today requires an immense and greater cooperation among the key personnel working with in the organization, even with the employment of technological breakthroughs, if cooperation can not meet the necessary vision of the organization, no amount of investment can cause a company to sustain its viability in the market. This requires the highly skilled people to man, supervise and run the organization to its desired destination. Management Skills and Competencies of a leader to succeed in the health care management Industry. One of the important characteristic a leader must posses is efficient communication, since this involves the transmission of pertinent information from a person to another. The skill to convey the vision mission of the organization ranks first among the key tasks of an effective leader, with all members depending on his capacity to sustain the existence of shared meaning and reality interpretations that facilitate coordinated action. The art of communication begins with a thought, transmitted through words then conveyed to a recipient through actions or statements. With a compelling vision and effective communication skills, a leader can inspire people to take action. Trust is another component in effective leadership, and it is built on consistency, dependability, and reliability. Your staff may be enticed to your vision and persuaded by the manner with which you communicate the mission, however, they can not uphold their dedication to the task of carrying out the mission if they do not have trust in their leader. If their subordinate does not share the belief and confidence in the person leading, the degree of determination would be weak causing the mission to likely fail. Leaders must be able to provide a guiding purpose for a particular task to overcome adversity (Ingram, 2004). Another imperative skill required in good leadership is academic proficiency that acknowledges one's own strengths and weaknesses. An effective leader is willing to take risks and recognizes errors and the learning gained from such erroneous act. Knowledge alone can not entirely solve problems, clinical skills, motivation, responsibility as well as emotional maturity is essential to become worthy of emulation and to be attributed with confidence. In order to maintain cohesion and loyalty within an organization, the leader must employ the qualities of fairness and equality, treating everyone without prejudice. This will decrease animosity amongst team members and increase their morale in facing the daily endeavors. He is likewise expected to be open-minded to diversity especially with a staff coming from various cultural or religious backgrounds. Finally, leaders must possess and maintain the ethical standards worthy of emulation by others should he want to establish and gain that respect from his subordinate. Unfortunately, leadership in today's healthcare setting is parallel to ineffective and inadequate role since not all practitioners fit the mould of an efficient head. This affects the kind of services provided by healthcare industry, as shown in the shortages of workers engaging in this kind of career. The impaired practitioner should not go unnoticed and it everyone's duty, and not just that of the leader to safeguard the standards of the services provided by the healthcare industry. Today, an effective operations manager must promote a physician-led organization, which implies physician involvement in all clinical arenas. However, physician-led means neither physician-controlled nor physician-dominated, led being the operative word. Operations managers deliver to physicians and all others who deliver care the tools necessary to deliver that care (Henderson. 1995). Without those tools, very little health care can be delivered (Ibid) Work Cited Defacio, L. (1997, February). Issues in quality care. Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, February, 1997. Retrieved August 26, 2004, from http://www.jaapa.com/be_core/search/show_article_search.jspsearchurl=/be_core/content/journals/j/data/1997/0200/j2a027.html&title=ISSUES+IN+QUALITY+CARE&navtype=j&query=quality+management Henderson, M. D. (1995) Operations management in health care. Journal of health care finance. New York: Vol.21, Iss. 3; pg. 44, 4 pgs Ingram, M. (2004, August). Professionalism and leadership in healthcare. Paper presented at the Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers Physician Assistant Program, Fresh Meadows, NY Rapert, M. & Babakus, E. (2006). "Linking quality and performance. Quality orientation can be a competitive strategy for health care providers". Australian Nursing Journal, Oct 2006 Vol. 14 Issue. 4, pages 1 - 17 Shortell, S. M. & Kaluzny, A. D. (2000). Health care management: Organization design and behavior (4th ed.). Delmar/Thomson Learning: Albany, NY. Read More