Budget Management Analysis - Facility Redesign - Research Paper Example

? Facility Redesign s Introduction This paper highlights on an example of a capital purchases that a hospital canmake. The capital purchase to be discussed is a facility design that is posed to cost the hospital more than $5000. In particular, the research paper will mainly focus on budget management analysis for the hospital, and in this regard, it will first commence with a review of the budget of the facility redesign, and then identify management goals that the expenditure would support. Thirdly, the research paper will state the primary stakeholders of the hospital and their views towards redesigning of the facility and its associated budget. In the last section, the research paper will state the risks involved in pursuing the redesigning of the facility and the risks of not redesigning the hospital. Facility redesign According to the studies conducted by Sawyer (2009), facility is the space whereby employees of an organization carry out their respective duties while design refers to the layout or the architecture of the mentioned space. Sawyer (2009) further stated that facility’s design is an integral component of the operations of an organization because it determines the results of the production process and it goes a long way in meeting employees’ needs. Designing of a facility is usually aimed at ensuring that there is smooth flow of information, and work material within an organization’s space to enable operations to proceed smoothly. Sawyer (2009) stated that a good design of a facility is usually able to integrate employees’ needs, work materials, as well as machinery in a single and effective system. The designing and redesigning of a hospital facility usually takes into consideration various factors such as safety within the facility, the ease of movement and communication, space utilization, material handling, and the impact on employees’ satisfaction and morale. Redesigning of the hospital facility will mainly aim at making it more accessible, safer for patients and the employees, ease the communication process, and even integrate features within the facility that can be used by employees for their own development whilst boosting their morale and job satisfaction levels. The estimated budget for redesigning the facility is presented in the table below: Item Estimated cost($) Architecture’s fee 1500 Constructor’s fee 2000 Construction materials 3000 Purchase of new items 4000 Total 10,500 It is assumed that the facility to be redesigned is the general ward that holds patients with less severe medical cases and therefore the facility does not entail numerous complexities. Moreover, the nurses’ lounge is also located in this general ward. The construction fee is only $2000 and it includes the cost of labor. The amount is considerable small because the work involved will be less, as it will just involve a makeover. The hospital will separately purchase the construction materials listed by the constructor in order to avoid an excess or exaggerated budget arising from the inflated prices by the constructor. The materials will include things such as paints, timber, nails, pipes, cables, and cement, among others. Redesigning the facility will also involve putting in place new items that support the new design, and hence the $4000 budget, which will cover for items such as curtains, beddings that match with the new wall paintings. Other items that will be purchased include new computers, furniture, and communication systems that will be installed at the nurses’ lounge. The total budget for the entire project will be $10,500, which is a considerable amount but it is likely to give the hospital good returns on their investment. Management goals that will be supported by the expenditure It is of essence to note that the redesigning of the facility was implemented because of a management decision that was earlier made. Therefore, redesigning of the facility supports certain management goals that also have an impact of the financial performance of the hospital as well as quality of service within the hospital. First, redesigning of the facility is meant to ensure that the nurses become accountable. For example, in the nurses’ lounge the constructor will install an automated medicine cabinet that will require the nurses to record their individual numbers and the drugs they are taking out before the cabinet opens up. This new feature within the facility will increase accountability among the nurses in terms of drug/ medicine usage and it will eliminate wastage and improper use of drugs. According to Cama (2009), this new feature on the facility that supports accountability among the nurses ensure that they conform to the nursing code of conducts, which require that nurses be accountable on how medicine is used or distributed in the hospital. Another management goal that the facility redesign would support is quality and process improvement. By redesigning the facility, the management aims at replacing all the wooden handles with stainless steel handles in order to reduce transfer of germs within the facility and even cases of re-infections that could occur because of transfer of certain infections. Moreover, when redesigning the facility the management will direct that the nurses’ lounge to be relocated at the center of the wards in order to make movement and communication between the wards much easier. The relocation is also aimed at ensuring that the nurses attend to patients more quickly when there is an emergency. Another management goal that the facility redesign would support is the continuous development of the hospital’s employees. As part of the redesign, the nurses’ lounge will be fitted with computers as well as a small library that the nurses would use to conduct further research on particulars aspects of their roles and the general field of medicine. Moreover, these new features in the nurses’ lounge will be aimed at enabling nurses who are currently undertaking further studies to conduct their studies while they are at the workplace. In terms of the hospital’s bottom line or revenue, the facility redesign is aimed at improving the quality of service within the hospital and hence making it the most preferred amongst patients. Secondly, by fitting the automated medicine cabinet in the nurses’ lounge, there will be no wastage of medicine since nurses will be held accountable for any wastage, and therefore, the hospital would be able to minimize it operating expenses, which would improve its overall profitability. The hospital’s primary stakeholders and their view Among the primary stakeholders of the hospital, include the owners, who are private investors, and are thus, they are more focused on the profits earned by the hospital. They will support the facility redesign in order to increase the quality of service within the hospital to attract more patients and eliminate loopholes that are in the current process, which cost the hospital in terms of wastages of medicine. For a price of only $10,500, the owners are bound to fully support and finance the project. The management is also another key stakeholder of the hospital who will also support the project of redesigning the mentioned facility. They share the same perspective with the owners of the hospital; that the facility redesign would be more beneficial to the hospital in the long term surpassing even the cost of the redesign. The management will additionally support the facility redesign because it will also contribute towards continuous development of employees, meaning that the hospital will be able to gain additional competitive advantage because of their employees who have sharpened their skills through continuous development initiatives that would be facilitated by the resources located inside the nurses’ lounge. The other primary stakeholders within the hospital are the employees who included nurses, doctors, and administrative employees, among others. This group of stakeholders will also support the facility redesign because it will improve accountability in the usage of medicine within the hospital. Secondly, they will support the facility redesign because their movement and communication will be much easier and the computers as well as the books in the nurses’ lounge will help them to sharpen their knowledge and solve certain problems. Risk of pursuing the facility redesign By redesigning the facility, the hospital mainly risk getting closed down during the process of redesigning because according to Cooper (2010), the noises as well as dust generated from the activities of the redesigning are a violation of the health code, which requires hospital facilities to offer patients conducive environment that is free from any form of pollution. The hospital will further risk earning lower revenues because when redesigning the facility it will be forced to closed down the entire section meaning that it will not accommodate certain patients while carrying out the redesigning process. The risks of not pursuing the facility redesign If the hospital fails to pursue the facility redesign it will risk continuing recording shortage of medicine and even misuses, which will increase its operational cost and thereby lower the hospital profitability. Secondly, if the hospital fails to pursue the facility redesign it will be under risk of having employees who have outdated skills that will no longer be viable or useful in the modern practice of medicine and this will reduce the quality of service within the hospital. Thirdly, the hospital will risk having a complex communication and movement system if they do not pursue the facility redesign and this will lower the quality of service within the hospital. References Cama, R. (2009). Evidence-Based Healthcare Design. New York: Wiley Publishers Cooper, R. (2010). Wayfinding for Health Care: Best Practices for Today's Facilities. Chicago, U.S: AHA Press Sawyer, T. (2009). Facility Planning Design for Health Physical Activity, Recreation, and Sport. (12th edition). Chicago; U.S: Sagamore Publishing LLC Read More