For Expert_Researcher ONLY Assessment 5-3

Running head: PARKLAND HEALTH & HOSPITAL SYSTEM 1

PARKLAND HEALTH & HOSPITAL SYSTEM 3

Parkland Health & Hospital System

Michelle Santiago

Capella University

Parkland Health & Hospital System

Parkland Health & Hospital System has maintained a tradition of providing high quality care for individuals and communities in Dallas. The determined efforts by the hospital administration to meet or surpass industry standards have led to the achievements of various milestones that appertain to the health and well-being of the Dallas community. However, the hospital system needs to undertake strategic changes in order to optimize on the emergent opportunities and minimize the negative impact of the prevailing challenges. The proposed directional strategy envisions a more dynamic organizational structure to spur efficiency and growth. The strategy also entails the review of the hospital’s mission and vision in a manner that will reflect its expanded objectives and a heightened commitment to evidence-based practices. In the pursuit of the new directional strategy, the hospital will have to reinforce professionalism, broaden its collaboration networks, and enhance its quality of client service.

Organizational Structure

Parkland Health & Hospital System relies on a uniquely dynamic organizational system that ensures efficient coordination and allocation system across its ranks. At the top of the structure is Parkland’s President who oversees the general functioning of the institution and ensures that such functions are consistent with the organization’s core objectives (Parkland Health & Hospital System, 2017). The President is helped in his roles by the Chief Executive who guides and coordinates the operations across the entire network of the hospital system. An overall assessment of the hospital’s organizational structure reveals that the organization is fairly efficient although it could surpass its current levels by reviewing its decision-making models with the objective of including more professionals.

The President and Chief Executive are the only officials in the organization who report directly to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is comprised of eleven members who are tasked with the duty of developing policies that are consistent with the organization’s vision and mission (Parkland Health & Hospital System, 2017). The Dallas County Commissioners Court appoints the board based on their competence, experience, professionalism, and commitment to improvement of public health. Apart from its primary role of creating policies, the Board of Directors also oversees the hospital system’s financial management. Every board member can serve for a term of three years with two terms or six years being the maximum.

Structures of Decision Making

One of the obvious shortcomings about the organization is that the workforce or the professional team is not actively involved in the major decisions that appertain to the overall mission and vision. This aspect of the organization is inconsistent with trends in the industry where decision making and the development of policies involves employees across the organization’s hierarchical structure (Weaver, Ball, Kim & Kiel, 2016). However, the organization’s current ratings and previous performance suggests that the management process is largely efficient. Parkland’s organizational structure is designed in a manner that ensures that all processes are coordinated across the various divisions of the hospital system. Part of the role of management is to ensure that there is the proper combination of differentiation and integration of processes in a manner that guarantees quality healthcare.

The management team ensures that the various departments coordinate and share information in ways that enhance the provision of quality healthcare services for the Dallas population. Although there are clear divisions of roles among the various departments such finance and direct patient care departments, the high level of coordination guarantees efficiency and quality communication. This element of the hospital’s organizational structure defines its commitment to maintain high standards of service delivery.

Leadership Team

The multiple functions of the organization are managed by highly committed and dynamic leaders. These leaders understand the importance of dynamism and the need to deploy the full range of their professionalism towards high quality patient care. This team includes the Parkland Board of Directors, senior executives, and the institution’s top-ranking medical personnel (Parkland Health & Hospital System, 2017). Despite the fact the members of this team are drawn from diverse backgrounds, they are all committed to the same goal of safeguarding the health of the Dallas community. The institution is on par with industry standards in this regard, which define dynamism and diversity as some of the outstanding strengths that foster inclusion and effectiveness. Innovation and collaboration are favored by the leadership team because they lead to the discovery of new ways of achieving success in the healthcare field.

Among the primary duties of Parkland’s leadership team is to ensure that all the processes within the institution are directed towards the attainment of the highest standards of excellence. Towards this objective they guide the medical teams in evidence-based care processes and monitor the regular processes at the institution in accordance with the best practices on the market. The overall idea is ensure that the work of the staff members is consistent with the core values and objectives of the organization. The reputation of any healthcare institution rests on its capacity to provide the best possible care to patients (Stanford & Connor, 2014). In line with this objective, management teams tend to ensure that the rest of the staff is mentored into new methods and techniques of providing high quality healthcare services to patients.

Professional Values and Ethics

Parkland’s organizational culture reflects through the high sense of organizational etiquette that is shared among all the employees. The institution’s policy spells out various specifics of professional ethics, which are supposed to guide the healthcare providers and other employees in the organization in their coordination of tasks. Honesty, love, compassion, patience, and care are some of the guiding values among the staff members. All members of the medical staff and other employees in the organization are expected to commit themselves to such values in order to contribute meaningfully to the organization’s vision and mission. Apart from raising the reputation of the institution, these values have helped to uplift the element of customer satisfaction as a hallmark of quality.

Mission and Vision

The organization’s mission statement states that it is dedicated to the health and well-being of individuals and communities entrusted to our care. The vision statement states that by our actions, we will define the standards of excellence for public academic health system. The mission statement reveals the hospital’s commitment to improve healthcare in Dallas. Although the statement is comprehensive, it does not seem to focus on the projected impact, scale, and scope of the interventions provided. In order to incorporate these elements to the statement, it would be appropriate for management to review it with the inclusion of such worlds as optimum care and high quality healthcare. As far as the vision statement, it connects with the core objectives of the hospital but stops short of providing the specifics of the actions that are to be initiated towards its stated objectives. A reviewed vision statement should introduce itself with phrases such as “by our professional actions” or “by our medical interventions.” Such words would reveal the level of professional commitment at the core of the organization’s objective.

Desired Outcomes versus Actual State

The desired outcomes of Parkland Health & Hospital System are summarized in its mission and vision. The extent to which such outcomes correspond with the hospital’s actual state can be deduced from its current performance and standing within the industry. The institution spells out in its mission that it shall dedicate itself to the health of individuals and communities that are entrusted to its care. In respect to this promise, the organization has deployed a wide range of strategies and invested resources in dealing with a wide range of diseases that afflict the community of Dallas. Although the impact may not have reached optimum levels, performance projections indicate that such impacts shall be more profound in the future as the demand for affordable and quality healthcare services remains on the rise throughout the United States. The institution has had some profound impact on the population in the treatment and management of various diseases including stroke, epilepsy, and cancer.

The same impact has also been felt in the areas of women and infant services as well as the various interventions at the trauma center. However, there are still areas in which the hospital system can continue to assist with the growing demand for quality healthcare services in Dallas. Previous surveys have shown that Dallas is highly afflicted by various lifestyle diseases and other health conditions that need both long-term and short-term healthcare interventions (Stanford & Connor, 2014; Buttigieg, Rathert & Eiff, 2015). Therefore, the hospital should explore ways of broadening its reach and impact in a manner that shall help to reverse the notable health challenges in the region.

Recommended Changes in Structure and Design

In order for Parkland Health & Hospital System to achieve the projected optimum efficiency, it is necessary for management to review the current organizational structure and design it in a manner that shall ensure greater participation across the workforce. The new structure should reflect the need to tap into the skills and talents across the ranks of the organization. Employees should be given the opportunity to cross-train and stretch into different organizations within the organization. Given the fact that the hospital system features a vast network, it would be crucial for the processes of decision making to be shared by all the departments instead of remaining under the inflexible jurisdiction of the board. Such initiatives would enhance the sense of inclusion which is necessary for maintaining employee motivation and engagement.

Management’s roles should be devolved across the organization in order to redress the inefficiencies that are typical of centralized systems. The changes should also involve the broadening of supervisory roles and empowering teams at the lower ranks of management so that they are fully informed of organizational decisions. The new structure and design should spur greater levels of collaboration and participation than seen presently. The general objective should be to enhance efficiency, motivation, quality of services, and grow the institution’s standing in the industry.

Conclusion

The proposed directional strategy for Parkland Health & Hospital System shall focus on the review of the organizational structure in order to improve the levels of efficiency and guarantee growth in every aspect of the organization. The institution should embrace a collaborative approach and devolve policy and decision-making processes in order to broaden the level of employee participation. The proposed vision and mission is supposed to convey greater commitment to quality care and a greater determination to achieve or surpass industry standards in regard to efficiency. The directional strategy shall also entail the incorporation of new efficiency models and greater emphasis on maximizing professionalism at all levels.