Introduction
Various healthcare organizations have set themselves the goal of improving the quality of their facilities. An organization’s systematic approach to quality improvement in health care means that the quality of health care is constantly monitored, assessed, and improved. Continuous improvement in healthcare activities can update healthcare organizations from inefficient, old notions and use technology tools to function efficiently, resulting in better healthcare services.
As part of the quality improvement measures put into place by the quality improvement department at Johns Hopkins Hospital, essential processes like analysis, strategy, and implementation are utilized. The hospital is equipped with the most advanced surgical technologies, an intraoperative MRI, cutting-edge imaging and radiology capabilities, an automated below-ground supplies and trash transportation arrangement, and a highly sophisticated equipment and staff locating system (Kerzner, 2017). Since it opened its doors, the hospital has had a high rate of progress and has undergone consistent improvements. As a result, medical care delivery in the area has improved, and the facility has become one of the most reputable hospitals in the country (Martinez et al., 2018). The patient outcomes reports contain information about how patients are treated, how well they recover from the therapy, and how the hospital compares to others.
The safety of patients can be ensured with improved measures in a healthcare institution because of the increased accuracy and efficiency in service delivery. Healthcare organizations use quality improvement methods to improve patient care quality and safety, resulting in better outcomes (Kerzner, 2017). A systematic and organized approach to maximizing treatment for patients eliminates errors in the process are some examples of this improvement. Patients’ wants and expectations are at the heart of quality improvement in a healthcare facility. A methodology and effective equipment should be used in the therapy procedure to help attain this goal. As a result, better patient care is ensured by raising the facility’s standards and enhancing the equipment used to diagnose patients.
Communication Strategy
The communication strategy of Johns Hopkins Hospital is laid out as a framework for how the hospital engages with its workers and clients. Many patients receive their medical care from the hospital because it is the only facility of its kind in the area. There is a predetermined plan to enhance the level of care and service provided to patients and their families when they visit their institution for medical reasons. Maintaining a good reputation and ensuring patients receive the appropriate care requires clear and concise communication.
The Head of Communications and Reputation Management is responsible for ensuring that the organization’s communication and engagement are higher and delivering significant communication enhancements to the staff, patients, and stakeholders. The head of communication is responsible for developing novel approaches to collecting patients’ experiences in order to improve from one year to the next in the areas that are important to those patients (Martinez et al., 2018). The results of patient experience surveys provide the hospital with information regarding the aspects of care patients’ stays in the facility may have left them feeling less than satisfied. The third and last job of the department is to illustrate to the stakeholders the critical part that communication plays in assisting the hospital in establishing its values and achieving its goals. Because of this, the hospital is clear on its goals regarding communication and its purpose in doing so in order to deliver top-quality care.
An integrated marketing campaign ensures that the information is delivered to the target audience in some fashion by combining traditional and online advertising methods in the same campaign. Patients from the surrounding community are the intended recipients of this information (Kerzner, 2017). The next step is for the hospital to determine which communication channels they believe are most effective in informing patients about high-quality health initiatives. Because there is no upper age restriction on who can get ill, the hospital uses a wide variety of promotional methods to increase the likelihood that it will reach its intended audience. For the audience to begin to recall the hospital’s message and logos, they are consistently used across all of the many types of media that the hospital employs. This is accomplished through the placement of an advertisement in a local newspaper for a period of a few months. The hospital can reach out to people of middle age and older in the surrounding community by utilizing this method.
Planning Functionality
Both the hospital’s mission statement, which reads ‘to be your partner in health,’ and its vision statement, which reads ‘to create a community of healthier people,’ are examples of the planning function in action at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The achievement of any organization is the quality of its mission, what it envisions as its objectives, and the aspects in which it intends to accomplish them (Martinez et al., 2018). It also includes the team cohesion of its workforce in assisting and advancing this mission. At Johns Hopkins, the Nursing Supervisors are included in the planning process so that they may guarantee that their future goals with the medical staff are in line with the institution’s mission statement. When upper management produces a long-range plan asking for growth and expansion or other significant changes, this is an example of planning (Kerzner, 2017). The Chief Executive Officer of Johns Hopkins Hospital is responsible for ensuring that the hospital’s goals are adaptable to keep up with the expansion of the surrounding community and new medical breakthroughs.
Planning is essential for everything from the administrative and financial aspects of running an organization to the structural decisions that must be made within a hospital or clinic. No matter how large or small a practice is, having a hospital strategic plan enables you to manage it more efficiently from a business standpoint in every facet of the operation (Martinez et al., 2018). The Johns Hopkins Hospital has a solid foundation that the hospital is constructed upon, which is essential for ensuring that information and ideas flow freely while creating a strategic healthcare plan. Staff at every level, from administrators to physicians, can have the drive and enthusiasm vitally crucial in the medical industry when corporate goals and a path to reach these objectives are designed.
The Hospital Planning Office has access to the services of consultants and databases, which can help analyze and model data from the Health System to draw attention to relevant information, offer suggestions for conclusions, and support decision-making. It supervises the submission, tracking, and completion of all applications for a Certificate of Need (CON) submitted to the Department of Health (Martinez et al., 2018). When engaging in projects involving establishing, relocation, growth, or contraction of clinical services, departments are urged to contact the Hospital Planning Office. This request also applies to any project that requires construction or alteration of the building system.
Organizing Functions
One of the crucial parts of management that will determine the long-term prosperity of any firm is its organizing function. Not only does having well-established aspects of the organizing function help to cut costs and improve effectiveness, but it also helps to increase personnel happiness. Furthermore, when clients of an organization are treated kindly, it is often a sign that the employees of that organization are happy, which is a good sign for the customers of that organization (Kerzner, 2017). The Johns Hopkins Hospital maintains a database that assists in the hospital’s overall operation and collects, stores, organizes, and sorts the information on patients in a professional manner. The group of people who did the research into the hospital’s needs came up with specific standards that need to be included in the database for the hospital to be able to give good care (Martinez et al., 2018). The majority of hospitals keep a database that contains information on patient demographics such as patient name, age, insurance details, diagnoses, procedures, admission sources and reasons, discharge status, length of stay, medication administered, persons providing care and their notes, progress notes, doctor’s orders, charges, lab results, imaging details, and other relevant information.
Staffing Functionality
Organizational objectives are met through the efficient and effective use of human resources, which is what staffing is all about. The organization’s strategic plan is the foundation of the organization’s human resources. Human resource recruiters from Johns Hopkins Hospital visit job fairs and colleges, searching for new personnel. Referrals from current Johns Hopkins employees earn them rewards. Management personnel are paid a salary, whereas non-management staff are paid hourly and earn shift and weekend pay differentials (Kerzner, 2017). At Johns Hopkins Hospital, everyone who works more than twenty-four hours a week receives health and dental benefits. Employees collect vacation and sick leave time (PTO) each pay period. Each employee at Johns Hopkins receives a behavioral appraisal type of performance evaluation once a year (Martinez et al., 2018). The employee’s goals are established, and he or she is praised when appropriate. When employees reach a certain level, they are offered an annual rise. In order to keep new workers from earning more than senior staff, the company has implemented a ten-step process.
OSHA and Johns Hopkins Hospital closely work with the Occupational Safety and Health Act. When President Richard M. Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) on December 29, 1970, he mandated the US Department of Labor draft workplace health and safety standards to provide employees with the best possible health and safety protection (Martinez et al., 2018). Johns Hopkins employees handle hazardous compounds such as disinfectants and chemotherapy. Annual educational training is required for all employees exposed to such information. Violations of this regulation will result in sanctions.
Directing Functionality
Leadership is the ability to get ordinary individuals to perform at a higher level than they usually would. In order to meet established objectives, management at Johns Hopkins Hospital advises, guides, and monitors the performance of staff. All of the planning and budgeting, as well as the creation of the personnel schedule, are handled by my manager at Johns Hopkins, who oversees the oncology department. The input-output ratio of workers is equal according to Adam’s Equity Theory. There is a connection to Johns Hopkins Hospital because many staff feel underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated (Martinez et al., 2018). As a result, the nurse manager decided to implement an incentive scheme. A thank you note is delivered to each employee’s home, and an annual brunch is held to show our appreciation for their hard work. Pay discontent among Johns Hopkins Hospital medical staff is alleviated by using a 10-step pay scale. As recently as a few years ago, Johns Hopkins Hospital decided to provide a raise to all of its Certified Nursing Assistants because they were among the lowest paid in the US.
Controlling Functionality
To control, one must ensure that performance does not stray from the established norms. Setting performance standards, comparing actual performance to those standards, and taking remedial action are all parts of the controlling process (Kerzner, 2017). When it comes to operating the hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital’s upper management keeps a close eye on financial results, quality ratings, and state requirements before making changes. To avoid financial mismanagement, Johns Hopkins employs accountants to conduct regular audits of the hospital’s finances. Hospitals lose money if they take longer than the allotted time for each diagnostic. They must work with their managers and supervisors at Johns Hopkins to determine why these patients are not getting better as quickly as they were told they would (Martinez et al., 2018). Care New England has several committees, including financial, compensation, strategic planning, and quality, which all work together.
Conclusion
Planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and managing are all aspects of management that may be found in almost any workplace. For Johns Hopkins Hospital to grow from a ninety-bed hospital to the second-largest hospital in Maryland, the top management had to adhere to these five functions. Moreover, a quarter of the personnel at Johns Hopkins Hospital have worked there for more than twenty years. It is important to note that each function contributes to the success of a company and its efficient operation. Accordingly, the five managerial functions are present in many organizations since they emphasize a systematic approach to success.
References
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Martinez, D. A., Kane, E. M., Jalalpour, M., Scheulen, J., Rupani, H., Toteja, R., Barbara, C., Bush, B., & Levin, S. R. (2018). An electronic dashboard to monitor patient flow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital: communication of key performance indicators using the Donabedian model. Journal of medical systems, 42(8), 1-8. Web.