Managing Change and Team Working in a Hospital - Essay Example

Managing change and team working in a hospital of unit Introduction The key concern in the health care management is managing change.Changes in an organization are desirable and inevitable but, usually difficult and complex to bring out. Health care workers are obliged to both acquire and maintain their expertise required to undertake their professional tasks (Bellman, 2003; Boshoff, & Bone, 2005; Dzik-Jurasz, 2006). Additionally, they are obligated to undertake the tasks that are within their competence. Furthermore, change takes place continuously around us. We may want to support it, be passive, participate in it or be indifferent to it. Therefore, to lead changes successfully, leaders are supposed to be able to describe the process of change within the organization and how it can affect individuals within the firm. Thus, this paper will have a report on managing change and team working in the medical assessment unit. The change that I would like implement in my area, medical assessment unit, is to introduce a wall mounted that shows date, day, time and location. The TV will also display seasonal slideshows that are visual cues as to the time of the year, and they give enjoyable outside pictorial view that is often not available and can also enhance conversations. I want to carry out the implementation since it will help the confused patients and those with dementia with their surroundings and to make them be aware of date and time. Thus, my objective is to minimize confusion and prevent healthcare team answering repeated questions. To successfully implement the changes, I am required to analyze the policy drivers, internal barriers and drivers, anticipated benefits, the strategies work team engagement and measuring success methods following the changes in the unit. POLICY DRIVERS The policy drivers refer to the principle adopted by the organization or team management (Bellman, 2003). It is heavily influenced public opinion, objective information, and the media. In this case, the medical assessment unit has diverse policies that drive to the need for change. Firstly, the unit is expected to implement standing protocols or orders that facilitate prompt, accurate patient treatment and assessment. Mounting a TV that contain the time and date will help in having accurate patient treatment and assessment. For instance, the patient is able to take their medicine on time as instructed by the doctor. Secondly, the medical assessment unit requires the application of an estimated time and date of discharge on admission to improve timely discharge and care coordination (Boshoff, & Bone, 2005). Following that the TV will show both the date and time, it will be easy to record the estimated time of discharge and estimated date upon their admission; hence, improving timely discharge and care coordination. Therefore, according to the policies, the key drivers are having accurate treatment and assessment, and enhancing timely discharge and care coordination. Internal Drivers The change process is due to diverse internal drivers. The internal environment comprises of the events, factors, patients, care team, structures, conditions and systems controlled by the company (Bellman, 2003). The care team handles many patients in a day; hence, they cannot keep records well. Therefore, there is the need for accurate assessment and treatment in the medical assessment unit. Patients do not get admitted at the same time; thus, they have a different assessment, treatment and discharge time. Therefore, the TV will assist in managing the records and treat and assess them on time. The patients are sometimes confused where they are and the time; hence, the TV will give keep them updated on their records and the environment they are admitted. Additionally, the hospital environment does not seem to be very enjoyable. Therefore, having TV with a pictorial view will make the patients enjoy their stay in the medical assessment unit. Lastly, the hospital mission and culture of providing a good environment and appropriate treatment assessment to the patients also acts as the drive to mount the TV for both the patients and the health care team. Internal barriers Despite several drives towards the changes implementation, there are various potential internal barriers that can pull back the change management plans (Boshoff, & Bone, 2005). The main barriers to change include lack of an internal communications plan, difficulties in maintain support for long term changes and momentum and having a great planning culture, but weak implementation culture. The administration and development of the medical assessment are the centralized responsibility of every care team; thus it is difficult to implement the change (Bellman, 2003). It is because there are many patients, care team, departments and committees that should get involved in the process. Thus, a general need for awareness to everyone to towards the TV mount may pose a potential challenge. Resistance to change from the hospital members is also a potential barrier (Dzik-Jurasz, 2006). Some of the members of the hospital may oppose to the change since they do not understand the functions. Additionally some may be uncertain that the change might improve the services; hence be unwilling to corporate in extra work required for the planning process. Furthermore, they may not want to relinquish instructional time for the new change implementation. Resistance to change can also be as a result from other department member’s failure to understand the importance of the TV’s. The administration financial capability might create a challenge for getting the resources and funding the implementation process. The process requires funds for having the planning process, and implementation process (Boshoff, & Bone, 2005). Therefore, there are might be less income to find the process, thus making it difficult to have the TV’s and also the installation. Additionally, the TV increases the hospital bills such as electricity bills. Work team engagement strategies Every care team in the hospital, technicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals should coordinate their activities with the TV’s to make the patients comfortable. The health care workers do interdependent tasks as they are functioning in specific roles and share common goals of quality. Therefore, the changes are communicated to everyone so that they corporate in with the change to have the same goals and mission. Therefore, the change management will have to train the team together from every department. Hence, the main strategy is to have lessons to make everyone understand how the TV’s work and the importance of the change. As a result, there will be similar goal and mission from every department in the hospital concerning the changes. Anticipated Benefits Upon the implementation of the changes, there are certain benefits and outcomes that are anticipated. First, the TV’s are expected to reduce confusion in the medical assessment unit. The TV’s have date, time and location; hence, the care team will be able to remember the time they are supposed to assess the patients and the also to discharge them from the unit. Additionally, the patients will not get confused in the place they are since the TV’s provide the location. Secondly, the TV’s are expected to reduce the in-hospital length of stay for the patients. It is because the reduction of confusion will have the patients scheduled assessment done on time; hence also discharged on time. Therefore, the patients will not stay in the hospital for extra hours as they are expected to be in the medical assessment unit. The TV’s time also makes the schedule be carried out by the hospital care team as in time as per their schedule. Lastly, the TV’s will improve co-ordination with among the care team and the patients in the medical assessment unit. It is because both the patients and the workers will be aware of the time and date of the scheduled assessment (Boshoff, & Bone, 2005). For instance, the patient will not be reminded of the time they are needed for the assessment but instead avail themselves once it is time. Therefore, this saves time and improves good co-ordination of activities in the unit and other departments. Measuring methods There are several ways that I can measure the impact of the changes in the unit. Since the changes are expected to improve the medical assessment unit performances, I can measure the improvements in the performances. It will be carried out by determine if the patients are discharged on time and attend their assessment sessions on time. Improvement of these factors will indicate a positive impact of the changes. The changes can be measured by asking the patient to explain their stay in the hospital. The TV’s are supposed to create a good environment in the hospital due to the pictures. Hence, if the patients express a comfortable stay, it will show the positive impact from the television pictures. On the contrary, if the patients still complain about the dull environment in the hospital, it will indicate that the TV’s did not entertain them and did not provide a comfortable environment. Lastly, the changes are expected to reduce confusion to both the patients and the nurses or care unit. Therefore, an observation of nurses providing assessment and treatment to the patients according to the scheduled time and date will indicate the positive impact of the change. On the contrary, if the nurses still forget the time they are supposed to provide treatment and assessment will indicate that there is no impact from the TV’s mount. Bibliography Boshoff, G., & Bone B., 2005. Permeable Reactive Barriers. United States: International Association of Hydrological. Bellman L., 2003. Nurse Led Change and Development in Clinical Practice. United States: Wiley Dzik-Jurasz, D. 2006. Supporting sustainable change. Nursing Management Vol. 13 (4). Read More