Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Introduction

            According to Watson et al., (2016), communicationfailure results in recurrent medical errors. Medical errors can potentially result in unexplained deaths and severe injuries.The Institute Of Medicine has cited poor communication and lack of communication as root causes of fatal falls, post-operative and operative events. Similarly, in the Surgical Unit of Cook County HHS, poor and lack of communication is the leading cause of treatment delays, medication errors, adverse drug events, prolonged hospital stays, additional healthcare costs and wrong-site surgeries (Schwind, et al.,2016). The World Health Organization emphasizes the significance of clinical practice that is free of errors and the maximum utilization of peer pressure to obtain perfection in health assessments, diagnosis, and treatment. Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

This, therefore, means that errors generally express failure and create an environment that impedes open and fair discussions of mistakes if organizational change must be realized. The World Health Organization published a report on the need for healthcare providers to have a communication system that is open to prevent medical errors. To date, this concept has insightful implications on the nation’s method of healthcare delivery as well as that of Cook County HHS. This paper presents aSWOT analysisof the Surgical Unitof Cook County HHSto facilitate the implementation of Interprofessional Collaboration in clinical practicewith the goal of improving communication processes between doctors and nurses in the surgical department.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

SWOT analysis of the Surgical Unit

This SWOT analysis will help to utilize the strengths of the surgical unit to maximize on the opportunities so that the threats are minimized and the weaknesses reduced.  The increasing demand for the surgical team to deliver high-quality healthcare services in Cook County HHS and the stagnating level of the healthcare providers has prompted the need for this SWOT analysis in the General Surgery Department. The Surgical Unit comprises of 20 doctors, 40 nurses, 6 auxiliary staff and 4 physiotherapists.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Strengths

The surgical unit of Cook County HHS is in a government institution whichserves a huge population of Cook County as compared to surrounding institutions which are privately owned. The department has highly experienced nursing and physician staffs that provide qualified manpower of surgical care to patients despite the nursing shortage issue. All staffs in this unit periodically undergo evaluations and it is a mandatory requirement for the physician and nursing staffs to comply with the hospital’s code of ethics in clinical practice(Schwind, et al., 2016). It is also worth noting that, the head of the surgical unit often avails in-service education programs for both nurses and physicians in this department, which is a rare occurrence for competing medical companies.

The unique capability of the surgical department of Cook County HHS is that it has different programs that purpose to improve skills, knowledge, and understanding of staffs in various topics in surgery. The hospital management provides a lot of support to the surgical department and this can be observed throughthe presence of advanced radiological and surgical equipment and infrastructure to support high-quality surgical care. The last strength is that the nurses and physicians of the surgical unit have informal communication channels with other departments.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Weaknesses

It is notable that physicians and nurses at the surgical unit lack responsibilities that are clearly defined and this brings about ambiguity and confusion in providing surgical care to patients (Liaw, et al., 2014). The lack of research continuity and improvement opportunities to train junior members of the staff contributes to the improper implementation of residency systems and care protocols respectively. There is also poor control and implementation of disciplinary actions of staff partially due to the influence of trade unions and politics and partially because of the lack of coordination between the administration and departmentalunits (Daft, 2018). The nursing shortage in the department leads to understaffing and high workloads resulting to minimal or no time to communicate to other staff on patient care, what has been done or waits to be done and work-related stress.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Opportunities

The hospital is centrally located and tends to serve a large population. This means that the connections and resources that are currently available are more. As a legally registered institution, Cook County HHS has the chance to engage in publication and research in international and national journals on issues that positively impact surgical care. As stated by Liaw et al., (2014), the outcomes of this research can be applied in the surgical unit to improve patient care outcomes. To add on, there is a political commitment of high-ranking state, trade-union and hospital administration officials regarding good health outcomes post-surgical care.

Threats

There is a lack of an advanced technology system to support the currently available EHRs system in the surgical unit as integrated into other departments. The nursing shortage causes brain drain to nursing staffs with some opting to go into private practice. High ranking positions in the facility’s administration areoccupied by people outside the facility hence making it difficult to understand the challenges faced by healthcare providers, the surgical department and the institution in general(McInnes et al., 2015).Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Impact of the Weaknesses on the Threats

Based on the thorough analysis of the internal weaknesses of the surgical department of Cook County HHS, it is probable that the external threats may escalate if the former are not timely and efficiently addressed. However, the external threats of the health care organization can be mitigated by capitalizing on the strengths to reduce the weakness of the facility.As noted by McInnes et al., (2015), having adequate knowledge on the weaknesses of Cook county HHS will promote the ability to embrace creativity and innovation to efficiently address potential issues and reduce the impacts of the threats. Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

For instance, lack of clear responsibilities is likely to escalate the threat of brain drain of nursing staff, most of who are currentlyopting to venture into private practice. Similarly, the lack of improvement opportunities and research continuity may worsen the need for an advanced technology system if not addressed immediately. The current systems also pose risks to the surgical safety of patients. If the poor control and implementation of disciplinary actions due to influence from politics, trade-unions and lack of coordination efforts from the administration will not be timely and adequately addressed, it can escalate the threat of having high ranking administrative posts continuously being given to people from outside the facility. As supported by Watson et al., (2016), this meansthat most of the challenges faced by the surgical unit team, healthcare providers and the organization will continue to take longer to be addressed.

Strategic Goal

Based on the comprehensive SWOT analysis of Cook County HHS, it is definite that the currently available physician and nursing workforce are highly trained, qualified and possess basic skills to provide surgical care. However, the nursing shortage, informal communication channels, lack of clear responsibilities, lack of an advanced information technology system and continuity in research present the need to improve communication processes between nurses and doctors.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Cook County HHS intends to improve communication processes between doctors and nurses in the surgical department by exploiting the connections and resources that are currently available. Currently, this can best be achieved by providing in-service education programs for both nurses and physicians in this department. This will help the facility to eliminate the lack of improvement opportunities and help to train junior members of the staff on the need of effective communication between healthcare providers in healthcare teams. This strategic goal will help facility to embrace interprofessional Collaboration in the areas of research, continuous education and clinical practice to achieve high-quality care.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay

Conclusion

The current processes of healthcare delivery involve a wide-range of patient hand-offs and interfaces among healthcare professionals with different occupational and educational training. During a patients stay in the hospital, it is probable that one may interact with various healthcare providers including nurses, physicians, and technicians. Efficient and effective clinical practice requires that vital information should be communicated accurately. Collaboration among healthcare teams is mandatory. In instances where there is no effective communication between healthcare providers, the safety of patients is at risk for a wide range of reasons such as the likelihood to misinterpret information, an overlook of status changes, lack of vital information to make care decisions and frequent unclear orders via telephone. In Cook County HHS, it is certain that, by embracing Interprofessional Collaboration practice it would be possible to improve communication processes between nurses and doctors.Strategic Planning Proposal Essay