The Method to Deal with the Emergency Cases in Emergency Departments between Dedicated and Pooled Queuing Methods - Coursework Example

Operations Management Improving the consumer experience and the efficiency of a company are the key aims of most managers including hospitals. This paper focused on a research done in December 2013 by the associate professors in the faculty of Technology and Management of Harvard Business School at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center’s Emergency Department (KP SSC ED). This research paper appeared as an article in the current events in hospitals at Harvard Business School since it defined the best method to deal with the emergency cases in emergency departments between the dedicated and the pooled queuing methods. Operational management is a term that generally deals with processes that involves operations, improving the production structures and designing all the structures of an organization. All these activities involve production of most goods and services that people use daily. People involved in the operation management are the bridge between the customers and the suppliers. They work from the production of goods using the inputs till the supplying of the outputs. Thus in a simpler term, the operation management team are very important in every firm. From this issue, the detailed case will be discussed in a case of Hospital that involved an article in January 2014 (Russell & Taylor2009). Operation is a word that defines the transformation process. This involves the conversion of inputs into outputs. Thus operation is a process that involves combination of other several activities that bring in the operation system. Creating value in the services and goods produced is the core function of operation. Thus the operation cannot define the operation system without the factors like the value chain. This term mainly means all the activities involved in the operation system. Thus, this can be calculated as from the time the input is changed into the various products till the final product is finally made. Like in the hospital this can be determined as from the time a patient makes an enquiry from the hospital receptionist, then she proceeds to the cashier to pay for the consultation fee, then she moves to the doctor who examines her and gives his prescription (Hill, 2012). The doctor may request the patient to see the laboratory technician who examines her and the results sent to the doctor. The medic makes the final judgment and prescribes the medicine. Thus the value chains in a hospital generally can be all activities that involve the special care, lab work, meals, medication and all the surgical processes. In this case of the hospital the authors’ article was to mainly investigate the queue management. This is a very fundamental issue in most hospital departments and specifically in the emergency department (Hill, 2012). The hospital had been struggling with the cases of emergency and it was time to evaluate a better method to end the tussle. The hospital was mainly aiming at introducing the dedicated queuing structure and forgoes the pooled queuing method. The method of dedicated queuing utilizes some of the skills presented in the operational management. This system will utilize the division of labor. This term refers to breaking of various tasks in the hospital for the different medics to enhance efficiency and quality in the terms of delivery of services. The management was proposing to introduce a technique that will facilitate maximization of time by the medics. This was via allocating them the number of patients each doctor could handle and the maximum period to complete the task. This would help the medics to work harder and smartly to achieve the goals of the hospital. This division of work also encouraged and facilitated further development in the areas one was supposed to tackle. This test was carried out and the results were overwhelming. The hospital has to improve its competitiveness through provision of quality services to the patients who seek the services from its employees. This is the ability of the company to position itself in the best rank among the companies as a means to attract the highest number of consumers. Through this the hospital can employ specialists and employees who are highly qualified. Besides, the hospitals human resource department should involve itself in a serious continuous training of its employees. The hospital should also focus on motivational events like promotions, team building, rewards that depends on performance merit. This will not only motivate the medics to work extra hard due to the good remuneration but the working conditions will also be conducive. Every institution in the world today measures its productivity in terms of the profits it makes and how well the company is thriving in the industry. The introduction of technology can be a breakthrough in the market. A company can increase its production if it invests in machinery and in the new technology. This will make the recording and processing of the documents faster and cheaper. This is a strategy that if well implemented the results will be overwhelming. A strategy refers to choosing a particular technique in which to implement a given task (Song, Anita &Karen2014). A good operational system must consider following a particular path for an outcome to be successful. Every strategy involves basic steps that must be followed to get the results intended. Firstly, the management must define the primary task that aims to be completed within the set period. This is like establishing the goal of the institution before taking the next step. Secondly, the core issues must be assessed to avoid implementing the wrong ideas. In addition, the task must be weighed so that its influence establish. The task must be based on whether it a winning battle and whether it qualifies as a good idea. From the task posted, then the company’s position should be viewed. The idea must be influencing the company positively and it should stand out among the proposed tasks. Finally, the implementation process begins with the aim of attaining the desired goal of the company as first listed. The deployment process involves bringing in all the stakeholders of an institution together in order to facilitate the achievement of the goals. In every well-established institution like in the case of a hospital, several departments exist that interrelate to bring success. The heads of departments like, operations, supply, marketing, customer service and information technology. It’s the duty of all departments to work as one unit and communicate effectively towards the development of the company. Thus, like in this hospital all departments must focus on the objectives of the hospital which is to deliver quality services to the patients. Defining quality, different terms are used to describe this word. Firstly the doctors must be courteous to the patients. This means that the doctors must relate with the patients in a friendly manner. A hospital that offers a friendly atmosphere is likely to receive more patients compared to other clinics. Secondly, the medics must be fast in providing services needed. This means that the physicians must be quick in delivering the services. How they handle cases must be a priority without considering whether it is an emergency or not (Song, Anita &Karen2014). The accessibility of the place must also be guaranteed. The hospital should be located in a place where the sick can easily reach without a lot of hustle. In terms of location, the road must be considered and how far the place is from the residential premises. As the management decides on the location of the hospital these are some of key factors they question and apply in order to achieve its goal. Also, the accuracy factor should be considered. As a hospital this is a key factor that should be prioritized. The accuracy of the physicians can affect the reputation of an institution and especially a hospital. Again, the issue of responsiveness to an issue detected as an emergency. This determines how fast the employees act to an issue that requires a fast attention. Consistency is another factor that most firms must consider as the management plan on making development. Consistency refers to whether the customer will still receive the services he needs as per the firm policy. This issue can be very important especially to some patients especially those who need urgent medical attention. The patients who suffer from diabetes require medical attention. Though some medication can be administered personally, it’s always fair for medics to make consultation with the patients and check on their progress. This will ensure that the prescribed drugs are taken and the patient continues to recover (Paton, 2011). As the company grows, it’s always wise to be innovative in the industry. Innovation is a term that refers to establishing of technology and including it in one’s business. Innovation involves introduction of machineries that can fasten and make work easier in the area of specialization. The main aim of machines is to reduce the work load and at the same time make the work be enjoyable and comfortable to work at. Improvement in the technology makes the workload lighter. A case can be considered like that of using the computers in the hospitals to keep the records. Hospitals are large institutions that require improved means of keeping records for the numerous numbers of patients that seek medical attention. Besides, I believe investing in the new technology is not a risky affair. This is because the computers and the machines make the productivity easier. Most hospitals are investing in the new machines especially in the surgery department. The machines are used in treatment for cancer, treatment of kidney diseases and others used during the transplant. Thus the machines have the highest capacity to produce if they are used properly and maintained (Paton, 2011). In conclusion, most machines are an advantage because they are used in economics of large scale production. This is a term that means production of outputs in large quantities at the same time maximizing the inputs. This means that there isn’t waste at the end of processing. It’s recommendable that the institution installs the technology. From the discussed case above, it is obvious that the operation management involves lots of activities. These activities involve investing in technology, producers, suppliers and the consumers of the goods and the services. Thus the supply chain to be completed all these factors have to be put in place. These factors are the cycle time, process layout and the procedure requirements. The cycle time refers to the time an output takes from one work station to the next or the time the output takes to be converted to the final product that the consumers need. While, the process layout refers to the grouping of all similar activities together that are to be used as a group to complete a particular task. Thus, it’s important to integrate all these factors together to achieve the goals of the operation management (Russell & Taylor2009). Operation management is thus a cycle of several activities that have to be completely meet to achieve the target of the operation management. From the view, it is important to incorporate technology, heads of all departments, all the factors that define quality, the stakeholders of supply and the inputs. Thus it is important to always consider all the factors necessary as one take a course in operation management. References Hill, A. V. (2012). The encyclopedia of operations management: A field manual and glossary of operations management terms and concepts. Upper Saddle River. Paton, S. (2011). Operations management. London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Russell, S. & Taylor, B. (2009).Operation management. United States. John Wiley& Sons. Song, H. Anita, T. &Karen, M. (2014). The Diseconomies of Queue Pooling: An Empirical Investigation of Emergency Department Length of Stay. Harvard Business School. Read More