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Detailed Field Activity Project Instructions

Each student will select an organization in which to complete a field activity. Note: The organization will remain anonymous. The specific name of the organization will not be revealed in the assignment to maintain anonymity. No part of any collection or analysis of data/information may be utilized or published beyond the course.

The field activity may be part of current employment, a formal or informal internship, apprenticeship or consultant, or a future employment position. The student may use his/her current healthcare organization or an organization within the healthcare industry for which he/she is not currently employed. Alternately a case study may be conducted. Current APA formatting must be used.

Field Activity Student Role Examples:

1. The field activity may be one in which the student is currently completing as part of his/her job responsibilities in a healthcare administration position.

2. The field activity may be one in which the student is assisting in an internship or apprenticeship in a healthcare administration capacity.

3. The field activity may be one in which the student is serving as a healthcare administration consultant in a healthcare facility.

4. The field activity may be one in which the student collects information/data for a specific healthcare organization (case study)

Field Activity Project Examples (but not limited to the following):

1. Planning and scheduling projects

a. The purpose of this project is to provide an overview of the healthcare administration field activity that involves a health information and medical records administrator. My role entails conveying information and improving health communication between patients and their healthcare providers/treating physicians. During the field activity, I was able to view the increase in communication and usage of health information technology between patients/consumers and their health care providers by 20%. There are various recommendations that were presented to further increase the utilization of electronic health records. There are trends showing that individuals are taking control of their health, and by using health information records it is another way in which patients/consumers can monitor, make changes to, and communicate to their healthcare providers about any changes pertaining to their health. With the increasing rates of COVID-19, the demand for electronic communication is high and its usage has benefited both the patients and providers.

2. HR (staffing, performance management, scheduling)

a. This project is to describe a means to improve patient satisfaction with and access to ambulatory services for a regional health system. Declines in patient satisfaction and physician complaints about access to specialists are of strategic importance to the organization, as the market is quite competitive. By focusing on improving internal processes to improve satisfaction, the organization sought out to reduce outmigration and increase ambulatory revenue. To improve patient satisfaction, a team was formed to evaluate the causes of patient ratings and devise a plan to address them using an outside consulting team. Underlying issues of staff training and friendliness, ineffective phone systems, and the need for more specialists were identified. The organization developed strategies to address these issues that focused on staff training, forming a centralized call center, and increasing hours of operation.

3. Process Improvement

a. The communication system that the healthcare organization utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the organization was successful in its response, there are process improvements that should be made. The paper will conclude with three recommendations that the organization should address to fill the gaps in research and preparedness.

b. Patient education is a key component in healthcare. It is important for patients to understand aspects of their health such as their diagnosis, treatment, side effects, and medications. Having knowledge of these things allows patients to make more informed decisions about their healthcare and obtain a better patient outcome. A patient education binder can provide information and education about a patient’s specific health concerns, alleviate anxiety, provide better continuity of care, and allow patients to be involved in their care. Most importantly, a patient education binder can be effective in reaching the goal of patient centered care with optimal patient outcomes.

4. Quality Control & Improvement

a. Services at Community Hospital are changing to match the pace of modern healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic sent economic ripples across the industry, and many organizations need cost-cutting strategies without compromising quality. As an auxiliary service, ground transportation is in a unique position to bring savings while continuing to provide stellar customer service. The on-demand car service currently in operation drains a substantial amount of resources. A shuttle route would allow for optimal use of fleet vehicles alongside proper labor allocation. Projections suggest the cost per trip would decrease from $28 to $16. These savings would translate over$50,000 in savings per quarter and over $250,000 annually. This is but one area of measurement that represents the excellent potential for streamlining services for the Hospital.

5. Change Management

a. Strategic downsizing in healthcare benefits a healthcare organization in many aspects. A healthcare organization uses strategic downsizing to boost revenue. Financial resources of healthcare organizations are important because financial resources allow them to make investments in physical infrastructure and human capital. Appointing an operations manager to guide and lead the healthcare organization under any project that is based off of strategic down-sizing would guide the organization in making strategic decision to benefit the organization now and deep into the future. Making directions to the leaders of the healthcare organization to make small seed investments to benefit the healthcare organization long-term. Using a variety of guidelines such as SWOT Analysis and using the Baldrige Criteria an operation manager would have a set platform to guide the organization into an easy transformation to streamline an engorged healthcare organization.

6. Team building

a. Utilization of the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) program in a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) aims to continuously update in a systematic and data-driven approach that maintains and improves safety and quality while involving staff, residents, and family in practical and creative problem solving. Using MatrixCare, multiple analyses were performed such as a Root Cause Analysis. As required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Environmental Control, current QAPI Projects focusing on infection prevention and control techniques and policies, that were originally oriented towards norovirus and the annual influenza season, are now applied to the outbreak of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. To protect the facility’s elderly population, preventative methods became a focal point of the current program. In this project I made recommendations detailing numerous infection prevention and control strategies such as continued education, proper handwashing and other sanitation policies, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use, visitor restrictions, implementing screening tools, and isolation protocols. These recommendations were considered and utilized by the facility. As a result, since the application of the recommendations, the facility has had no incidents of norovirus, influenza, COVID-19, or other respiratory infections.

7. Communication Systems

a. One team of pharmacy technicians place medication adherence calls to its customers to increase medication adherence. The goal of the group is to determine any barriers to accessing medications and help resolve any barriers for the customer. The purpose of this project was to review efficiencies and increase the number of outbound calls to customers while improving the overall quality of calls provided to customers. Using different strategies such as coaching, mentoring, and workflow evaluations have proved to improve the call center efficiencies as well as productivity.

8. Marketing Strategies

a. Marketing is one aspect of a healthcare organization that seeks to retain a positive and encouraging public image consistent with the mission, values, and core vision of the firm. Marketers use the mission and vision along with the market and environmental analyses to determine the right marketing strategies. Healthcare administrators should understand the importance of marketing and use it to better understand the populations they serve. The network surveyed is comprised of more than 30 locations in the Springfield, Missouri metro area. This network provides general care, surgical services, addiction treatment services, and emergency and urgent care services. The anonymity of the organization is retained by calling it Hometown Hospital, Inc. My role is in a volunteer position to collect data for the organization. For this project, data was collected on the network itself regarding its trustworthiness during the coronavirus pandemic. The general population looks to healthcare professionals and organizations during public health concerns. The student collected data surrounding the Hometown Hospital network’s image, by using a survey with relevant design. This project had three main objectives: to establish greater rapport with participants; to ensure clients of the Hometown Hospital facility were being taken care of during this time; and to provide recommendations for the hospital regarding the results of the survey.

Other examples might include:

· A job analysis of a healthcare organization could be completed.

· A marketing plan could be developed.

· A staffing strategy (recruitment, selection) could be created.

· A compensation structure could be created.

· A recommendation for updated Supply Chain/Inventory (automated supply ordering, electronic inventory process)

· A recommendation for Facilities improvement

Part 1:

The student will provide the type of and specific healthcare administration organization to be utilized for the Field Activity Project assignment, the summary of the field activity, role, and the timeline of the project/activity (i.e., project plan). The student will receive feedback and permission to proceed from the faculty member.

Part 1 must provide enough detail, so a clear example of the project is understood. The document will be in the form of an Executive Summary: An executive summary is an abbreviated version of a business plan or proposal. It allows the reader to obtain a quick overview of the business. An executive summary is the first document a stakeholder will read. An executive summary needs a clearly stated problem or what you intend to achieve. An executive summary of a business plan or activity is an overview. Its purpose is to summarize the key points of a document for its readers, saving them time and preparing them for the upcoming content. It must be clear and concise. The summary will be written in paragraph form; however, you may use bullet points if you provide enough detail in the body of your summary.

Required elements include:

· Type of Healthcare Organization – provide a detailed explanation of the healthcare organization such as but not limited to: profit/nonprofit status, services offered, mission statement or vision (purpose of organization), specialty or general hospital, public or privately funded organization, demographics such as size or populations served.

· Summary of the Field Activity – what are you trying to achieve by doing this project? Provide a detailed description of what your activity entails (use of surveys, interviews, review of company policies or procedures, comparison to other organizations), identify stakeholders (health consumers, leaders/management, general public, staff in organization, payers, regulatory or government entities, quality or risk management personnel, etc.).

· Role of the Student – what will be your responsibilities in this project? Who might you work with? What is your current or anticipated position in the health organization?

· Timeline – If conducting a real-time activity how long will it take to complete the project and gain results? If you are doing a case study what timeframe are you looking at – what date range is the data that you are using? If you are creating a fictional project with an existing organization how long would it realistically take to complete your project? If you have never been employed, what type of health organization would you like to research and what type of process or quality improvement project would you like to conduct or what existing process or initiative would you like to evaluate (give a reasonable timeline to complete your activity)?

Include a cover sheet with the executive summary . The summary should be no more than 1 ½ - 2 pages in length in Times New Roman/12-point font.

Part 2:

The student will provide a 15-20 page summary (Times New Roman/12-point font) of the completed Healthcare Administration field activity that includes the following: overview of the activity, research support of the strategic impact on a healthcare organization with a minimum of 15 scholarly, peer-reviewed sources (less than 5 years old), and an analysis as well as recommendations to be made to the organization as a result of the activity findings. Strongly relevant application of the course principles should be addressed in the analysis of the field activity. Biblical applications and scripture integration must be evidenced in the project.

Include:

1. Innovative recommendations for improvement/changes OR information supporting how you implemented innovative change in the organization as part of this field activity.

2. Describe how this field activity contributes to the social responsibility initiatives of the organization.

3. Evaluate the impact or correlation of this field activity on the strategic goals of the organization.

4. Substantive Biblical integration (with Scriptural support) provided throughout each part of the analysis/paper.

Refer to the Wayland text to ensure you include appropriate analysis of the organization utilizing critical success factors to support your evaluation of the organization as compared to its benchmarks. Chapter 8 of the Wayland text will be particularly helpful.

Ideally, the field activity selected should be a hands-on activity in a healthcare organization (kept anonymous). I do not want proprietary data included in the assignment submission. The activity could be one that you are currently completing as part of your job responsibilities or one that needs to be addressed in your role ( #1-3 above in Field Activity Role Examples). Or, if you do not have physical access to any healthcare organization at this time, you can complete a case study in which the student collects information/data for a specific healthcare organization .

If you elect to conduct a case study on a healthcare organization, you will minimally need to complete the following:

• Benchmark analysis (the Wayland text will be helpful)

• SWOT analysis

• Summary of identified problems to be addressed

• Summary of recommendations to address the problems identified

• Utilize research support to provide the rationale for your analysis and recommendations.

The document you will be submitting is a summary of the activity you completed (not just a description of the project itself). In other words, if you conduct a job analysis, you will provide a summary of the process and results as well as any recommendations you would make to the organization as a result of your findings.