The Methodist San Jacinto Hospital - Essay Example

Workforce Focus

• Workforce Focus

The workforce of an organization comprises of the individuals who carry out the operations. They include: the permanent and temporary staff. Therefore, the workforce is the backbone of the health industry. The hard work of the workforce directly translates to positive results and good delivery of services on the part of the organization.

• • Baldrige Criteria

The Baldrige Healthcare Criteria for Performance Excellence has the workforce focus listed as a criterion. The program acknowledges the fact that for any organization to work, the organization has to have a good team. There are two main aspects that the program focuses on -workforce environment and workforce climate. Combined, these two aspects extensively look at how a health institution is managing its staff and whether the steps taken by the institution will be successful.

The Methodist San Jacinto hospital, located in Houston, Texas, is an institution that is dedicated to offering quality services to the clients who walk through its doors. The hospital offers numerous services to its clients and is among the leaders in service delivery in the area. The hospital boasts of numerous facilities that are used to offer quality services to its clientele. The hospital has more than 200 operating beds, three hundred physicians who are affiliated and thousands of outpatients in a year. The human resource that is required to operate all of these facilities is vast. Thus, the hospital has had to work hard to ensure that it is at the top of its game while delivering its services to numerous patients.

• • • Workforce Environment
      • Workforce Capability and Capacity

The Methodist San Jacinto Hospital has invested well in the workforce capability and capacity. The hospital gets health professionals from all over the country. The process of recruiting them is a local, national and international process. Thus, the hospital has the most highly qualified individuals. The hospital has hundreds of personnel. The large number of personnel in the institution uses a centralized staffing office in order to manage the staffing in the institution.

The hospital prioritizes the changes that occur in the health sector. Therefore, it has carries out change management. In order to ensure the smooth implementation and management of change in the institution, the hospital usually has an organizational development employee to manage the process. In instances when the employee is not available, the hospital uses a consultant. The hospital ensures that all staff are acquainted with the values of the institution before they start working there. Thus, all new staff are required to go through a two-day orientation. This orientation gives them a better picture of what the hospital is all about.

• • • • Workforce Climate

The hospital’s management strives to provide its staff with a safe working climate. The hospital takes the staff through code drills. This move ensures that the staff are always ready and know what to do in case of an emergency. The hospital provides security for all the staff and patients round the clock. Thus, anyone who walks through the doors of the Methodist San Jacinto feels safe. The emergency room (ER) has police officers. The ER can be hectic and confusing at times. The presence of the police officers communicates to the staff that they are protected. The hospital advocates for (Individualized Care) ICARE values. They highlight how the staff should relate with each other. In addition to this, the hospital has good policies for everyone.

• • • Workforce Engagement
      • Workforce performance

The organization has strong values. Thus, it ensures that all staff are well acquainted with them and ready to work towards the hospital’s common goal. At the moment, the hospital has a big engagement project under way. This project is to help the employees engage in the values of the organization. It is expected of every employee to go through a two-hour session at the end of the year. The hospital evaluates the performance of the new staff thrice after every month for three months. The other staff undergo an annual evaluation. Client satisfaction is an important factor when looking at what is used to measure the success of an employee. The ideal employee should have positive reviews from the clients that he or she has interacted with.

• • • • Assessment of workplace engagement

The hospital sets annual goals for its employees. The goals that the hospital sets for the staff are based on the goals that the organization has for itself. The employee goals are also correlated to the organizational goals. The employee undergoes an annual review where his or her performance is measured against the goals that were set in the previous year. When it comes to the managers, their performance is judged based on the reviews from clients and the opinions of the employees about them. This approach ensures that the managers remain courteous and considerate of the patients and fair to the staff.

• • • • Workforce and leader development

The hospital’s management appreciates the importance of leadership in steering the institution in a positive direction. It is for this reason that the hospital is developing a leadership academy. This academy is geared towards improving the growth of the management at the hospital and those that will be in management in the future. For the others staff, the hospital offers an online platform where they can learn management. For those who participate, the hospital reimburses up to four thousand dollars.

• • Strengths

The hospital has a good communication system in place. The system works well for all that are involved in service delivery in the hospital. The hierarchical system works well and is effective in the hospital. The management are able to communicate what they expect from the employees as often as possible. The staff at the bottom of the hierarchy are able to communicate with their seniors with ease. The different departments all have separate communication channels. This is to ensure that they are able to communicate effectively with each other. However, the nature of the work done in the hospital often requires interdepartmental cooperation in some patient cases.

This communication between departments tends to be tedious and confusing in some hospitals; not at Methodist San Jacinto! The management has established clear lines of communication for the various departments. There are individuals whose main task is to ensure that communication to the department from others is received and acted on immediately. Thus, with each department having such an individual, the rest in the department are free to deal with work that is intradepartmental. Work is never mixed up and messages are passed through faster and more effectively.

Methodist San Jacinto encourages staff to take professional exams in order to ensure that they are competent and are constantly reviewing the basics of their practice. Professional associations are also a means used by Methodist San Jacinto. The staff are members of numerous professional networks. These networks help them establish the right links to advance their careers in regards to competency. For instance, the nurses are members of the Texas Nurses Association. This association holds annual conferences and conventions where the nurses are updated on what is being done in their profession. Such information is vital in order to ensure that they are up to date and well trained to offer these new services being introduced in the industry. Professional development for Methodist San Jacinto has worked well for them and given them an edge over their competition.

A strength of the institution is that it encourages career development for its employees. Career development is vital for any professional. Research and development greatly contribute to the information that is used in the field on a daily basis. The findings from research and development are meant to be incorporated into the daily operations of the professionals. Thus, it is vital that the professionals are exposed to this information in various ways. In addition to this, they should be able to incorporate this information easily into their daily practices. Professional development is important to the management at Methodist San Jacinto. Making sure that the professionals are up to date and are current in their information regarding their profession is important to human resource at Methodist San Jacinto. There are numerous ways through which this is done.

• • Weaknesses

Methodist San Jacinto has had its challenges when it comes to the workforce focus. These challenges are in the innovation and compensation and recognition sectors of the workforce. Innovation is important for the development of the hospital. Innovation in the health sector allows for development of services by making them more effective and making work for the staff easier. Methodist San Jacinto is lacking in this sector. Not enough innovation comes from the hospital. Thus, it has to rely on the innovations of other hospitals in important aspects of service delivery.

Relying on innovations that are not organically made in the work environment has its challenges since it is not tailor made for that particular hospital. What might work in one hospital might not work in another hospital. Therefore, Methodist San Jacinto hospital has to ensure that it is innovative in the services that it offers to the patients.

The Methodist San Jacinto hospital has to improve on the compensation of and recognition of its human capital. Recognition and compensation go a long way in boosting morale of the people in an organization. It lets them know that their work is appreciated and encourages them to put in more effort in the future projects. Methodist San Jacinto staff have had this issue for a while since it makes them feel as if they are not working hard enough. It is important that the workforce is appreciated. In this way, the staff will work hard and ensure that they put in their best. One important way of recognizing them is to have award systems where the employee who posts good results gets a reward e.g. a promotion.

• • Area of Opportunity

Methodist San Jacinto can improve on the compensation of and recognition of its staff. It is an opportunity for improvement and should be taken seriously. Well compensated employees post more positive results than those who are not well compensated. The hospital is very productive at the moment. Therefore, if the staff is more motivated, then the results are bound to get better. For instance, by having a platform where a hard working nurse or innovative researcher are appreciated, the others will be encouraged and inspired to work hard so that they too can be recognized. A bonus can be a means of compensation. This move also works well since it will raise the standards of service delivery in the hospital (the main aim of the Baldrige awards).

In conclusion, the workforce is a key determinant for any hospital’s success. The health sector relies on these professionals to offer quality services and in turn end in customer satisfaction. The workforce focus at Methodist San Jacinto is vibrant with the hospital looking expansively at all of its aspects (i.e. workforce environment and workforce engagement) as highlighted by the Baldrige award system. The Methodist San Jacinto is annuallly reviewing and setting goals for the staff to keep them on their toes and ensure that they give their best services at all times. Securing the hospital has created a safe environment for the employees and the patients. The hospital has gone the extra mile to ensure that it gets strong leadership to steer the hospital in the right direction for the future. The staff in the hospital are the best qualified with the hospital recruiting globally. Methodist San Jacinto is looking to make sure that it has the best staff and provides them with an opportunity to grow and work well. This commitment is witnessed in the way that it has a strong communication system; one of its strengths. The hospital is also doing well in career advancement for its employees. Its weakness lies in the lack of innovation and compensation for the staff. The hospital should especially improve on the way that it compensates the staff to keep them well motivated.