Piney Woods Hospital Emergency Department

Company Overview

An emergency refers to a situation which causes an immediate danger to life or health of an individual. Emergencies require earnest intervention to protect the situation from worsening. Piney Woods Hospital is non-profit making community hospital located in Piney Hoods. The hospital has a population of 50,00o. It is valued for its easy access and assistance in times of emergency. The nearest hospital is 50 miles from Piney Hoods Hospital. The emergency department in this hospital is currently faced with several issues. It is becoming a hazardous environment instead of being the most resilient institution where the community can run to in case of a disaster or dangerous event. Zack Porter is the current CEO of Piney Woods Hospital and understands the situation of the Emergency department. The Emergency Department is suffering from inadequate space, staff shortages, and increase of uninsured patients, decreased reimbursement, and customer dissatisfaction (Institute of Medicine, 2007).

Problems

1.Customer dissatisfaction

Patients visiting Piney Woods Hospital have reported their dissatisfaction from entering the facility to the time they leave it. The dissatisfaction is as a result of long waiting at the waiting room with no communication. The patients are told to wait until they are called in to be treated. It takes them as long as two hours before they are called or further communication made. Additionally, they are not guided on what to do or even escorted out of the facility. This makes them more frustrated with the services they receive that the sickness they had. Over 2000 patients have gone home without any treatment as they cannot wait for the poor services which take hours to be provided.

2.Employees dissatisfaction

Current research conducted in the hospital show that not only patients are dissatisfied but also employees. 62% of the staff members are not comfortable with the services rendered in this institution. Between 2003 and 2005, customer satisfaction increased reasonably. However, the rate reduced to 68%. This reduction was as a result of work overload, poor working relationships, increased number of uninsured patients with annoyed patients. Additionally, the working schedule is fixed, and results to overwork. Unfortunately, there is no consistent leadership to take care of their needs (Crane, 2007).

3.Lack of morale in the Emergency department

The Emergency Department has faced several challenges in the past few years. This is as a result of poor leadership in the hospital. For instance, the hospital purchased an electronic health record system without consulting physician from this department. This has caused bad will and hatred in the hospital. The physicians are employed on a contract, where they are rewarded for patient satisfaction. This is lacking and is affecting their financial status (Institute of Medicine, 2007).

4.Wait times

The Emergency Department in Piney Wood Hospital has another weakness where patients have to wait for long hours before they get the treatment. The registration desk is poorly manned, and this makes patients wait for hours. The next stage only categorizes life threatening trauma and primary care. Patients take long hours waiting for nurses, physicians and laboratory results.

5.Financial Stain

The Emergency Department lacks enough resources for expanding and updating current services. The costs have risen beyond the normal rates. Home care business has enormously grown with 633 percent from 2005 to 2006 (Advisory Board Company, 2004). The financial situation is worsening as a result of poor management and inconsistency in leadership. The most alarming financial issue in the Emergency department is the increment of self-pay patients and especially those who are unsecured. The department is lacking proper collection and billing methods for the self-pay patients.

6.Community perception

The Emergency Department has a negative reputation among the employees, patients and the entire society. Patients, their families, friends, and workers pass the negative image of the department to other people in the society through the word of mouth.

Possible Solutions

1.Maintenance of high Quality Workforce

The Emergency deportment requires quality employees so that it can achieve its target. The personnel in this department deal with a condition where life or health is in great jeopardy or danger. Therefore, quality employees have to be maintained so that the facility can save the maximum number of lives possible. Therefore, Piney Hood Hospital has to do everything possible to stop losing workers. When the experienced employees resign, the facility will be left with inexperienced workers and the number of lives saved will continuously reduce.  The faculty should have the idea of saving maximum number of lives possible. Every step that can support this has to be taken. The nurses, physicians and other relevant employees are the one who save lives and need to be considered (Advisory Board Company, 2004).

2.Improving customer services

Clients visiting an emergency department are faced y threatening events or incidences which threaten their lives or health. They come with hopes of getting assistance as fast as possible. The main aim of this facility is caring for these clients who are frustrated by the illness. It becomes more frustrating when the patients find no one to care for them. It is important for Piney Hoods Hospital to improve customer services.

3.Increase Quality of  Health Services

It is crucial for the hospital to improve the health services they provide to their clients. Heath care services start when an individual enters a health care. There should be a warm welcome which gives the client hopes of getting well soon. This should be followed by a clear guidance on the steps to follow. The department should keep communicating with the patients as they move from one stage to another. Additionally, there is a need to reduce the wit times. Keeping the patents in the waiting room for more than one hour is not only unethical but also morally wrong. The department should employ more workers to replace those who have already resigned so that there will be enough workers to handle the patients.  

4.Improve financial results

An institution cannot run successfully if finances are not properly managed. Therefore, it is important for Piney Wood Hospital to employ qualified finance officers in this department. The finance department is the most critical department in an organization. It requires competent leadership. The facility should also come up with proper methods of collecting bills especially from the self-pay clients who are uninsured (Crane, 2007).

5.Proper management

The problems faced in Piney Hood Hospital revolve around poor management. There is no consistent management in the hospital. This is why employees’ morale is lowering since they do not have someone to take complains ahead. Additionally, the poor management did not consult physicians when introducing electronic health records. Management has a responsibility for balancing effectiveness and efficiency in an organization. Management must be effective by getting the job done but also need to be efficient by containing as much as possible and conserving the limited resources.

6.Reconstructing the Department Image

There is a need to rebuild the poor image of the emergency department. This is a crucial department which deals with emergency situations. The poor image can make clients refuse to attend the hospital as they know they will not get enough care. This is dangerous and can cause deaths. Therefore, the management should start a campaign to see the image of the department afresh (Institute of Medicine, 2007).

Team’s Contingency Plan

This is an emergency response operation which will sum up the team’s inputs, efforts and activities taken to see the emergency department is safe to respond to emergencies.

1.Assessment

This will involve the collection of information concerning the Emergency department in Piney Woods Hospital. The team will carry out this assessment in the form of a rapid or situational assessment.

2.Solution strategy design

This will involve designing a strategy to be employed in responding to the emergency. The team will clearly define what will be done in the emergency department, at what time, with whom and with what resources (Crane, 2007).

3.Implementation of the strategy

The team will mobilize people and resources to respond to the emergency of rebuilding the Emergency Department in Piney Hoods Department. The team will do it in line with the response strategy already designed (Institute of Medicine, 2007).

4.Monitoring Control and Report

This will involve continuous review of the outcome of the implementation of the designed response. Control involves steering the implementation of course where errors will be noticed.

5.Self evaluation

The team will collect information on the whole process of assessment design implementation of the response. The information obtained from this self evaluation will be used in modifying the response or improving future emergency response designs (Advisory Board Company, 2004).

Possible barriers of implementation

1. Limited information
2. Limited availability of key resource persons
3. Limited players to commit resources to the planning process
4. Limited financial and other resources
5. Political constricts
6. Limited implementation capacity
7. Geographical constraints such as distance and state of roads
8. Seasonal constraints including weather

Conclusion

Piney Wood Hospital is currently faced with weaknesses. The Emergency Department concentrates on situations posing an immediate risk to life and health of an individual. Emergency situations require urgent intercession to safe life and prevent the situation from worsening. However, the emergency department is faulty to such an extent that it cannot save lives as per the medical ethics. This is because there is overcrowding, inadequate space, staff shortages, mistrust, increase of uninsured patients, and decreased reimbursement, and customer dissatisfaction, improper management of finances among others. The main problem in this department lies in the poor leadership. The facility lacks consistent leadership to work with and through others. The management is unable to work with the people and the available resources to accomplish organizational goals (Crane, 2007).