Healthcare Problems at the Tufts Medical Center - Essay Example

However, there is a major concern regarding the performance of Tufts Medical Center in matters relating to comprehensive record-keeping for employee injuries while on duty. Also, there have been allegations from nursing bodies that this hospital lacks concern for the health and safety of its employees. These are indeed serious charges since employees bulwark services, and for the most part, form the backbone of this institution and are perceived detriment to their health and safety. This could hurt the quality of the medical service which they provide to care-needy patients.

In a recent case, it is believed that “Following complaints filed to OSHA by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, Tufts Medical Center has agreed to pay $5,000 to settle issues in record-keeping. OSHA cited the hospital for failing to properly record employee injuries that occurred on the job, including back strains, broken thumbs, needle-stick injuries, and cuts from sharp objects” (Altman, 2010, para.1).

Perhaps, it is necessary to take a good look at the present system of archiving and recording proceedings relating to injuries of employees while on duty at the Tufts Medical Center. It is necessary to isolate those interventions or healthcare activities that could jeopardize the health of caregivers like lifting crippled heavy patients onto wheelchairs, exposure to chemicals, fear of contracting serious infections, and the emotional stress involved in dealing with patients having psychological and mental illnesses.

In this context, it is also necessary to understand and appreciate that the entire skyline of modern medical services has undergone severe paradigm shifts. There has been an increased need for state-of-the-art specialized novel, expensive medical possibilities and a whole new array of medical interventions that need to be put to effective and productive use by healthcare professionals and caretakers.

With increased qualitative and quantitative demands on care providers; tension, stress, and fatigue levels of doctors and nurses are often higher. This could naturally also lead to greater possibilities for injuries and accidents in the workplace. There is now a crying need for the safety and protection of the workforce attending to patients in health care centers, especially those segments of health care workers who are exposed to injuries of various kinds and intensities.

Thus, it is necessary that this work needs to be “often organized in self-managing teams, who are facing increased pressure to optimize both efficiency of their work processes and quality of the service they provide to clients. Projects linking team performance management and psychological well-being of team members, service quality and client satisfaction can assist healthcare organizations in optimizing individual and team contributions to organizational performance” (Operations management in healthcare, 2010, para.5). “At Tufts Medical Center in Boston we provide compassionate, patient-centered care. We practice a team approach to ensure complete and thorough consideration of all of your treatment options” (For patients and families, 2010, para.1).

Thus, under such circumstances, medical teamwork must be in full cooperation, coordination, and cohesion with each others. All decisions could be based on convention or consensus, involving the combined efficiencies of all concerned healthcare units. While the ultimate objective of medical care is indeed the ‘best medical and health interests’ of patients, it is also necessary that health care professionals and care providers are also able to deliver it consistently through careful and sound practices which simultaneously take care of the safety, welfare, and security of their beings.