Abstract
- Objective
The objective of this study is to analyze UCLA Medical Center Health System in Los Angeles: Its goals, plans and dashboards that incorporate people, service, operations, quality/safety, finances and strategic development.
- Executive Summary
UCLA Medical Center is the largest provider of outpatient care services in Los Angeles, serving a diverse patient population of over 5,000 which reflects the socioeconomic, racial and ethnic diversity Los Angeles (Tulchinsky, 2009, p. 145). It is a health organization that seeks to improve the health and healthcare of individuals, families and communities in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles through provision of accessible, high quality and cost effective medical care for all.
- Mission
UCLA Medical Center Health System mission is to deliver leading edge patient care, education and research.
- Vision
Healing humankind through; improving health, delivering acts of kindness and alleviating suffering.
- Values
Delivering quality and value to patients by: respecting all persons through eliminating non-value efforts by providing the necessary resources.
Introduction (Description of the organization)
The Ronald Reagan commonly known as UCLA Medical Center located in Los Angeles CA is among the best health organizations in the region. It is among the most advanced and comprehensive healthcare systems in the world due to its care facilities which are specially made. It is a 570-bed health organization that was founded in 1955, as the UCLA Department of Pediatrics which was then located in the Marion Davies wing. The health system developed and even moved into UCLA Medical Center in 1962 and later moved into the new hospital sometimes in 2008. It was funded by the Los Angeles County and is ranked nationally in 10 pediatric and 15 adult specialties. It has received over 23,388 admissions reported in the most recent year. It is a teaching hospital which has recorded 44,466 visits (Hanfling, 2012, p. 89).
- Mission Statement
UCLA Medical Center’s mission is to provide cost effective, high quality, patient-centered care through good leadership in medical practice, research and education.
Employed Staff
Full Time
- Physicians and dentists 2
- Registered nurses 1, 221
- Licensed practical nurses 83
Part Time
- Registered nurses 1, 079
- Physicians and dentists 2
- Licensed practical nurses 38
Needs Assessment/Description of the Organization
- Key Features of the Hospital
It has surgical suites with cutting edge medical equipment and full audiovisual integration system. The birthplace, Westwood- allows expectant mothers to give birth and recover in a homelike, comfortable setting that quickly and easily transforms at time of delivery as an efficient operating room. New mothers are provided training and education in breastfeeding while still in the hospital and even after discharge through the Beyond California Quality and the birth improvement project.
- Intensive Care Units – It employs a “line of sight” approach which ensures optimum access to critically ill patients.
- Surgical Observation Unit – this is a special area where patients receive additional post-procedural and post-operative care.
- Room service food delivery- it allows patients to arrange for their delivery and personalize their orders at a convenient time.
Statistics
- Outpatient visits - 778,173
- Admissions - 23, 388
- Inpatient Surgeries - 10, 726
- Births - 2, 153
- Emergency room visits 44, 466
UCLA Medical Center has a large team of very qualified, competent and companionate staff from doctors, nurses, therapists and other health professionals. It has an executive team headed by senior vice president/chief operating and other senior dignitaries. It has operated as a public hospital and has seemingly evolved into a focused and client sensitive organization that caters for the cultural needs of people in all walks of life. Today, it has over 4,500 employees who serve close to 10,000 individuals every day in over 40 locations. It has a compassionate team of therapists, doctors, nutritionists, nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals who provide 24-hour care for all persons in need of healthcare monitoring and medical attention. It operates with over 4,000 staff and serves over 14,000 people each day in Brooklyn and New York metropolitan area (Hernandez, 2005, p. 212).
There are several programs in this organization that are geared to the realization of patients’ satisfaction:
- Long-term Care in the Nursing Home
UCLA has a team of compassionate Doctors, therapists, nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals who provide 24-hour care for persons in need of frequent healthcare monitoring and medication. These persons also benefit from other services like rehabilitation therapy, hospice care, Alzheimer’s/dementia care, pain management and music therapy among many others. UCLA Medical Center also provides relief food and care for families by giving a temporary home away from home, it is a considerate effort with the support as it enables caregivers to attend to other matters or take a vacation.
- Long Term Care At Home
UCLA offers four types of programs to individuals who live at home and need long term care services. Also known as the Nursing Home without Walls or the Lombardi Program is a special program with skilled nurses, nutritionists, rehabilitation therapists and social workers that collaborate with each person’s individual physician in order to create a modified plan of care for the disabled, chronically ill and the elderly including those with HIV/AIDS. Another program is the medical model Adult Day Health Care which offers disabled, chronically ill or adults in need of health monitoring entrée to nursing care, rehabilitation therapy, therapeutic recreation, social work services and assistance with personal care. Best Choice Home Care is another program under UCLA Center which provides home health aides, nursing services and personal care aides. The staff is well trained, trusted, fully screened, insured and bonded. Every patient receives in the comfort of their own home, personalized attention with special services that are tailored to each person’s specific needs that is based on input from their primary care physician. UCLA Healthcare Select is a Medicaid Medicaid Managed Long-Term Care program which offers social work services, skilled nursing care and other health-related services such as dental and vision (Smedley 2003, p. 115). Aside visiting nurse services, persons can also qualify to receive aid with household services and personal care from their qualified and well-trained staff.
Services provided are: Impatient, outpatient, patient/Family support service, community outreach and merging services (therapeutic and diagnostic).
Service/Operation
All employees in the UCLA Health System are comprised of doctors, nurses, staff and medical residents wear a photo identification in a proper displayed manner. Physicians in this System are in charge of the patient care while nurses provide a critical link between the healthcare team and the patient. Close to that, nurses contribute to the patients’ care by communicating their needs to the doctors and then inform the patients about their medication, post-hospital home care and in-hospital treatment. Pharmacists monitor drug therapy and meticulously prepare medication for effectiveness. UCLA Health System follows a detailed procedure in its operations. Outpatients register at the help desk and the queue for the service while inpatients are registered and in the system with the help of their guardians. For patients, there are UZ services available to those that are hospitalized within the Health System (Inpatients) and also to outpatients (Those with upcoming appointments) (Birren, 2001, p. 214). Inpatients that are interested in receiving UZ therapy a certified therapist are expected to make their requests to the physicians or nurses at any time and the outpatients ought to call the doctor’s office informing them of their visit and interest of the Zen Therapy.
Family and Visitor Guideline
UCLA has recognized the key role friends and family members play in enhancing the well-being and health of patients. Family members as well as other designated by the family are encouraged to call for information about the condition of the patient or visit. It is usually coherent to consider the patients wish in the number of visitors intending to visit them and so it could at times be modified by the relevant staff to meet the patient’s needs. Ill persons or with an infection are asked not to visit in order to prevent transmission and more infection. Visits by children require complete clearance from the primary nurse and the medical team to ensure that sick children do not expose patients to other illnesses (Kravitz, 1992, p. 4). No animals are permitted on the premises.
Recruitment and Internship
UCLA Health System has a quality internship surgical program which provides exceptional opportunities for persons interested in various aspects of healthcare. Interns are outwardly exposed to every phase of surgical care from intra-operative processes to post-operative management in the intensive care unit, recovery room and inpatient care units. Interns also assist in review of national quality guidelines, medical record audit data analysis, regulatory requirements and other active roles. Interested candidates are required to complete internship applications and submit one recommendation letter from a college professor or direct supervisor.
What is not currently being offered?
UCLA needs to acquire larger facilities and hire more researchers. This attributed from a recent strike by the workers demanding better care for the patients from the organization claiming that they are discontented with few facilities and inappropriate program in the center. In addition to that a more efficient and effective system of high quality ought to be incorporated in order to ease the staff work and to offer safer and high quality care to the patients. At the moment, the UCLA health system is not employing permanent per diem workers. This is a major drawback in the system as it leads to lower level of patient care since the hired staffs spend fewer hours with the patients. As a result of the happening, these workers become less involved in their personal case that results in hiring of overworked and exhausted staff (Fonarow, 2007, p. 6).
Room for improvement
Communication and collaboration teams which are the key component of the success of any organization should be more enhanced in the organization. Staff members, multidisciplinary committees, huddles, shift meetings, brainstorming ideas, open forums and rounding are good examples of building an amalgamated team. Improvements in this sector will create opportunities to open communication lines between staff members, a manager and various disciplines. Disruptive behavior and in UCLA Medical Center Health System has fostered medical errors in the past which have contributed to adverse outcomes, poor patient satisfaction, employee turnover and in the outmost poor care. Therefore, UCLA Medical Center should start credible programs that will stop this behavior to minimize medical errors. In addition to communication, UCLA Medical Center should set more detailed guidelines for protecting patient confidentiality such as the HIPPA regulations which require staff to use technical, physical and other safeguards.
Service delivery deficits
There has been a major concern in the way UCLA Health System exposes its patients to dangers. Patients face various dangers from over-treatment and over-diagnosis. In addition to overtreatment and illuminating the waste that infuse the medical system, health care expenditure has also been increased causing major service and financial deficits in the system. Another factor of concern in the organization is laxity and leniency among members of staff. This happening has significantly led to lower level of patient care (Goodman, 2008, p. 11).
Proposed Intervention (service or facility)
Lean Methodology – The UCLA Operating System should incorporate lean values and principles of aligning them with the mission and core values of the system. This methodology will help provide a structure and culture of continuous improvement that will improve its patient service and patient care as well as staff and physician satisfaction. Lean principle will therefore focus on team involvement, process improvement and defect reduction which deliver the right quantity while focusing on quality. Using the lean methodology, especially in the operating room will subsequently improve the services. Consequently, incorporation of the lean methodology will provide an effective structure that will support the patient, clinical care and physician satisfaction.
Medical Equipment – Medical equipment is basically a significant contributor to the quality of care. It is essential that all equipment appropriate for the proposed use such as licensed staff and independent practitioners be well trained to use the proposed equipment effectively and safely.
Marketing communication plan (how stakeholders will be formed, kept up-to-date)
Capturing interview panel sessions, lecture and demonstration by the use of quality audio and multiple camera angles will give a lot of content to edit into several segments that could be used across various communication channels –books and white papers will represent plenty of content. Videos will be uploaded to the system’s website and shared with the involved persons of interest. For audio, podcasts will be created to the system’s website as well as other health oriented sites. In addition to that, social media would be a great platform to enhance communication in the organization especially when communicating critical and urgent matters such as HIPAA laws.
- White Papers and E-books
E-books and white papers will typically represent a range of statistics, examples around a major topic and ideas ranging from 2,400-3,100 words in length. This is an effective way of showing the thought of leadership which should be incorporated into the overall strategic content (Smedley, 2009, p. 14).
- Social media
Use of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter would really be a terrific extension of the system’s physical center allowing for the sharing of interaction and information to various stakeholders.
Plan for measuring effectiveness of the proposed intervention
Conclusion
UCLA Health System has provided the latest and best healthcare to the people of Los Angeles for more than half a century. Its physicians are world leaders in the treatment and diagnosis of complex illnesses. It is among the leading health organization in Los Angeles providing an innovative program that provides first-rate treatment, disease prevention, counseling and patient education, care of chronic illness and training in health promotion of all patients across the board and of all walks of life.
References
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Hanfling, D., & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2012). Crisis standards of care: A systems framework for catastrophic disaster response. Washington, D.C: The National Academies Press.
Hernandez, L. (2005). Implications of genomics for public health: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Smedley, B. D., Stith, A. Y., Nelson, A. R., & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2003). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
Birren, James E., and Klaus Warner Schaie, eds. Handbook of the psychology of aging. Vol. 3. Gulf Professional Publishing, 2001.
Kravitz, R. L., Greenfield, S., Rogers, W., Manning Jr, W. G., Zubkoff, M., Nelson, E. C. & Ware Jr, J. E. (1992). Differences in the mix of patients among medical specialties and systems of care. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association, 267(12), 1617- 1623.
Fonarow, G. C., Abraham, W. T., Albert, N. M., Stough, W. G., Gheorghiade, M., Greenberg, B. H. & Young, J. B. (2007). Association between performance measures and clinical outcomes for patients hospitalized with heart failure. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association, 297(1), 61-70.
Goodman, D. C., & Grumbach, K. (2008). Does having more physicians lead to better health system performance?. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association, 299(3), 335-337.
Smedley, B. D., Stith, A. Y., & Nelson, A. R. (Eds.). (2009). Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care (with CD). National Academies Press.
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