Health Care Entity
The Twin Mountains Medical Center (TMMC) is a private healthcare entity that has been operating in New York City since 1962. The hospital belongs to a nonprofit system that provides a variety of healthcare services to the local community. The TMMC facility has 300 beds and is equipped with enough tools for providing necessary healthcare services to its patients, yet further updates are required to maintain the quality levels high.
The entity in question has an emergency department where patients are provided with appropriate services. A team of experts operating in an interdisciplinary ICU environment addresses the needs of emergency patients, preventing the development of nosocomial issues in the hospital setting.
The current set of values by which the hospital is driven can be defined as the provision of high-quality healthcare services. However, the entity seems to lack the strategies for managing some of the current health disparities and meeting the needs of disadvantaged populations. The specified issue can be explained by the lack of communication between the entity and the community (Lundy & Janes, 2014). Furthermore, the introduction of an interdisciplinary approach would improve the quality of healthcare significantly due to enhanced communication.
Health Care Entity’s Successes and Failures
TMMC has been delivering health-related services to the target demographic rather successfully over the past few decades. Among the most important steps that the organization has made, the program for building awareness concerning the significance of vaccination should be mentioned. Because of the recent trend in refusing from vaccines, the local population has been put under a considerable threat. However, after a successful program performed by the TMMC, the local demographic started accepting opportunities for vaccination and ceased to refuse from vaccine shots. As a result, the threat of numerous epidemics reappearing in the specified community was avoided.
However, TMMC has also faced several failures, the most noteworthy one being the inability to cater to the requirements of diverse groups. Specifically, because of the lack of cohesion in the work of interdisciplinary teams, TMMC has failed to improve recovery rates among social and ethnic minority groups, thus subjecting them to a considerable threat. Because of the absence of cohesion in the actions of healthcare staff members, TMMC is unlikely to succeed in identifying threats to the well-being of vulnerable groups and preventing the emergent health concerns (O’Grady & Malloch, 2017).
Quality or Safety Area to Impact
Despite the current problems in the functioning of the hospital, it has the potential of influencing several areas and managing the needs of a sizeable population. For instance, by using the recent additions to the nursing science, one can improve the provision of healthcare services to the TMMC inpatients by reducing the number of medical errors within the facility and creating a system of data management that implies immediate transfer of information.
Specifically, the handoff communication process will be launched along with interdisciplinary cooperation and patient education. The latter should also be regarded as an important addition to the current set of strategies deployed at TMMC since it will allow for a safer transfer of patients to their home environment, with a drop in readmission rates among the specified demographic (Fong, Ng, & Yuen, 2017). The introduction of the principles of sustainability will allow using the available resources sparingly.
The specified measures are likely to result in a gradual rise in the positive patient outcomes. Particularly, it is expected that interdisciplinary collaboration will lead to the creation of a comprehensive patient education program and will allow making the operations in the ICU department more effective. For instance, due to a reduced number of conflicts in the emergency care setting, the number of medical errors will also drop, thus causing positive dynamics in the facility. Furthermore, the specified change will facilitate the environment for the next improvement, which will involve enhanced patient education. The variables such s patient recover rates, patient education techniques, and cross-disciplinary teams will have to be taken into consideration.
Potential Obstacles
The changes described above are fraught with several difficulties, the existing hospital hierarchy being the key one. Because of the presence of reluctance toward changing the status quo, as well as learning new roles and skills the process of promoting interdisciplinary cooperation in the healthcare setting may be hampered significantly. Indeed, there is a possibility that the emphasis on cross-disciplinary collaboration at TMMC will put significant pressure on nurses and healthcare staff members, thus creating tensions in the workplace. As a result, the quality of the current services may deteriorate even further, thus causing a rise in the rates of readmission within the facility and jeopardizing the well-being of patients (Oster & Braaten, 2016).
The shift in the relationships between nurses and healthcare staff members will also require redesigning the existing hospital hierarchy, which may create additional tension within the specified environment. By giving nurses the voice to suggest their solutions to the problems emerging in the setting of the operating rooms (ORs) and the TMMC ICU, conflicts may appear, hindering the provision of services and making the process of meeting patients’ needs nearly impossible (Rozovsky & Woods, 2016). In addition, the specified negative outcomes may affect the number of medical errors in the workplace, as well as lead to workplace burnouts among nurses.
Groups or Leadership Roles
To address the specified issues, one should ensure that the key groups within the hospital environment are informed and aware of the challenges that the staff members are about to face. Nurse educators should be the first to receive the specified information since they shape the communication process between healthcare staff members and patients. Specifically, a group of nurse educators for managing patient education will need to be formed (Niles, 2016).
Simultaneously, TMMC should consider creating an interdisciplinary team of nurses within which the active process of knowledge sharing will occur. In order to maintain the functioning of the group consistent and address the emergent conflicts in an objective manner, one will need to establish a system of control based on the principles of Transformational and Innovative Leadership styles (Davidson, Weberg, & Porter-O’Grady, 2016).
The specified approaches will assist nurses and healthcare staff members in addressing the conflicts that may occur in the workplace due to the shift in roles, priorities, and values. At the same time, the provided leadership models will work as facilitators of positive change in the TMMC setting since they will lead to the introduction of innovative approaches toward managing patients’ health concerns and increasing sustainability.
Conclusion
The process of redesigning the existing healthcare setting and especially the framework for managing the needs of vulnerable groups will need to start with redefining the hospital’s priorities. Thus, the TMMC will be able to increase the current recovery rates significantly. In addition, it is critical to deploy the principles of sustainability in the setting of modern healthcare entities. The proposed change will entail a rise in the efficacy of healthcare services. Thus, the overall level of performance within the TMMC will be increased.
References
Davidson, S., Weberg, D., & Porter-O’Grady, T. K. (2016). Leadership for evidence-based innovation in nursing and health professions (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Fong, B., Ng, A., & Yuen, P. (Eds.) (2017). Sustainable health and long-term care solutions for an aging population. New York, NY: IGI Global.
Lundy, K. S., & Janes, S. (2014). Community health nursing. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Niles, N., J. (2016). Basics of the U.S. health care system (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
O’Grady, P., & Malloch, K. (2017). Quantum leadership: Creating sustainable value in health care (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Oster, C., & Braaten, J. (2016). High reliability organizations: A healthcare handbook for patient safety & quality. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau.
Rozovsky, F. A., & Woods, J. R. J. (Eds.). (2016). The handbook of patient safety compliance: A practical guide for health care organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.