Question:
A strategic goal of any healthcare organization is the quality performance of the employees. The Institute
of Medicine (1998) created the most accepted definition of quality in the healthcare industry: patient
services current with scientific knowledge that result in a desired health outcome. Research information
on high-performance organizations and provide 5 strategic methods that could be used to improve
employee productivity in the healthcare organization, impacting quality.
Answer: Implementing ideas and initiatives to improve performance within an organization is an
inevitable practice if an organization plans to remain competitive and functionally operable. One cannot
implement blind initiatives without first discovering which areas would best benefit from improvement
strategies. One strategy to help an organization move towards advancement is to utilize a scorecard
which is a tool used for performance management with strategic planning methodology that is directly
practical for health care organizations (Voelker et al., 2001). The scorecard “is a holistic methodology
that converts an organizations vision and strategy into a comprehensive set of linked performance and
action measures that provide the basis for successful strategic measurement and management” (Voelker
et al. 2001, p.18). One of the advantages of using the scorecard is that it is flexible enough to measure
performance standards, financial functions, and other measures geared to specifically to health care
operations.
Leadership plays a significant role in any organization and they can directly impact the quality of work
performed by their staff. Developing and grooming leaders to be effective in producing high quality work
is important in addition to ensuring their leadership goals and activities are aligned with the
organizations mission. “Supervisors personify the organization (Levinson, 1965; Shore et al., 2004) and
thus play an important role in motivating employees' performance” (Vidyarthi, 2014, p.233). Its
important for organizations to recognize the role leaders play in work performance and how leadership
style and attitude correlates to the work of their subordinates. Relative to leadership development is
training and education of employees. Healthcare organizations should provide regular learning
opportunities to ensure that employees are well versed in their duties and responsibilities. “Meaningful
education relative to change management can help ensure an escalation of performance improvement
and quality control” (Pynes & Lombardi, 2011, p. 310). To be a progressive and forward moving facility,
there is a demand to stay abreast of information, as it relates to most levels of the health care
infrastructure, to include treatment, operations, systems, etc. evolve over time. In addition, focusing on
team-based care can help to improve communication and can provide more immediate opportunities for
hands on learning and teaching by physicians. Integrating a team-based approach can potentially help
with workflow especially in emergent settings when there can be a lot going on at one time. An
organized system could produce more efficient results.
Technology, according to Pynes and Lombardi, plays a substantial role in day to day operations of
healthcare specifically productivity because the “productivity of employees will depend on the quality of
systems serving them” (p.378). It is expected, due to the large cost associated with the purchase and
usage of technology, that organizations would be hesitant to venture into new technologies however,
there are its advantages especially when it comes to productivity, cost effectiveness, quality and safety.
Due to the organizational structure of hospitals and the many layers that are considered when making
any change the difficulty of information dissemination itself is a challenge. “Because of this complexity,
hospitals are an environment in which IT has the potential to significantly improve work flow,
communication, and coordination.” Which can in turn improve the effectiveness and productivity of it’s
employees regardless of their position.
As Christians we have a constant desire to become better people, to be more like Christ, to learn and
work towards increased knowledge and understanding of the word and how it relates to our daily lives.
Proverbs 22:17 says to “Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to
what I teach”. Whether an administrator, nurse manager, or HR manager making sure we are open to
learning is imperative to growth and increased productivity.
References
Lee, J., McCullough, J. S., & Town, R. J. (2013). The impact of health information technology on hospital
productivity. The RAND Journal of Economics, 44(3), 545-568. 10.1111/1756-2171.12030
Pynes, J., & Lombardi, D. N. (2011). Human resources management for health care organizations: A
strategic approach (First ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Voelker, K. E., Rakich, J. S., & French, G. R. (2001). The balanced scorecard in healthcare organizations: A
performance measurement and strategic planning methodology. Hospital Topics, 79(3), 13-24.
10.1080/00185860109597908
Vidyarthi, P. R., Liden, R. C., Anand, S., Erdogan, B., & Ghosh, S. (2010). Where do I stand? examining the
effects of leader-member exchange social comparison on employee work behaviors. The Journal of
Applied Psychology, 95(5), 849-861. 10.1037/a0020033
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