Develop a three year professional action plan - Essay Example

Health care would in fact be the number one industry in the United States. Operations research-type analysis and application for the complex problems involved would be of benefit to any health care system. The largest problem, there are not enough people considering careers in the health care industry. Currently, the health care industry in the United States faces many of the same issues confronting other industries, but there would be some significant political differences. Simultaneously, health care would be representative of a huge segment of the economy, and it needs our help.

The people working as part of the healthcare system are generally dedicated to providing the best possible service. The problem is, the workforce and, more importantly, management, do not possess the necessary training or knowledge to make the best use of the available resources. Under these particular circumstances, it would be doubtful that any private industry would survive with the level of waste and inefficiency commonly seen in health care. Healthcare is a business like no other known business model.

There would be multiple decision-makers with conflicting goals and objectives. The first consideration should be the acute care hospital. At this time, most hospitals in the United States, and in the case of Canada virtually all, are not-for-profit, independent corporations. Glouberman and Mintzberg would identify four different management groups for which they utilize the term four worlds within the hospital environment. Clinical operations are managed in a downward focus due to doctors and nurses and their focus on patient care.

Managers and trustees focus in an upward consideration toward those who control or fund the institution. Moreover, employees, in this case managers and nurses, would practice some management within the institution, while doctors and trustees would manage outside the hospital as from the outside in, since they are technically not employees and are thus independent of its formal authority. The world of cure, which is characterized by short, intensive and essentially non-personal medical interventions, would be considered a quadrant of this particular ideal.

Typically, North American doctors would not work directly for the hospitals. They are in fact private entrepreneurs who possess admission privileges at a hospital. There are a few who would consist as salaried hospital employees, but the majority would in fact consistently work on a fee-for-service basis with the hospital. To maximize their income, doctors would often make brief appearances whenever the patient requires a cure and intervention or treatment of some form. From this point they would move forward.

As a potential healthcare manager it is best to understand the political and other interrelationships between doctors, nurses, hospital personnel and administration. Health care managers face another sector, which represents the world of care. This is the world represented by nurses. Nurses are providers who work directly for the hospital on salary and typically account for the largest component of its operating budget. They work in their own internal management hierarchy and have a unique relationship with patients. They are