Introduction
The health care sector is changing rapidly and to remain relevant, health care facilities must develop and implement strategic plans. A strategic plan incorporates historical values and current trends to determine a desired future position for an organization. In the health care sector, patient centered care is the latest trend in quality assurance.
Therefore, health care organizations need to align their strategic plans with the needs of their consumers. One of the situational management tool that managers use to align their organizations operations with the needs of their consumers is a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis can be conducted on a particular consumer need to identify how well the company is aligned in meeting that need. In this paper, a SWOT analysis is conducted based on data from the Community South Medical Center. From this analysis, the current business environment for the Community South Medical Center is assessed in terms of changes to the strategic plan, responsibilities for the strategic management team, and the expected future trends and how to prepare for them.
SWOT Analysis
There has been changing demographics in the target market for services offered by the Community South Medical Center. In general, the target population is aging and the big companies are closing down and being replaced by smaller institutions. This aging population has health care needs that differ from those of a younger population. For instance, the need for obstetrician services is reducing while that of geriatric services is increasing. The major community need is the shift from acute care to chronic health care. There is a need to shift health care delivery from one-time interventions designed for correcting a single health problem to continuous care targeting multiple morbidities. This problem will be evaluated further by use of a SWOT analysis.
Strengths
Strengths are factors that an institution can leverage on to realize their mission, vision and value (Hoadley at al., 2011). The first strength is that the Community South Medical Center is a fully fledged health facility and already has services such as residential care, independent living and in-home nursing that are relevant to geriatric care.
Expanding the service offering and drawing form the performance and experiences in these departments would enable the health facility to meet the consumer needs. Additionally, the facility has other departments such as a trauma center and a center of excellence for pulmonary services which will support the delivery of geriatric care (Siu et al., 2009). The second Strength relates to the company financial status. The Community South Medical Center is a for-profit facility and currently has a positive financial statement. This gives the facility money to invest in specialized health systems that target geriatric care such as renal and diabetes centers, and fall prevention systems.
Weaknesses
The major weakness that the Community South Medical Center as it seeks to meet the need for specialized geriatric care is the lack of qualified staff members. The aging population means that health care workers are retiring faster than they are replaced by new graduates. Having few geriatric nurses can reduce the quality of care offered to the target population.
Opportunity
The target population of the Community South Medical Center is changing to an elderly population. This provides a great opportunity for this health care facility to provide geriatric care. Elderly patients have unique health needs caused by chronic diseases and need care. the Community South Medical Center has the required capacity and a good reputation of excellence that make it suited to capitalize on this opportunity.
Threats
The major threat facing the Community South Medical center is reducing patient satisfaction and compliance to quality standards such as The Joint Commission (TJC) standards. Non compliance to quality standards is a serious threat as it undermines patient centric care and does not help to meet the patient’s expectations. The management should evaluate the quality standards and give the workers in-house refresher courses on the need for quality standards and how to implement the set quality standards. Staff motivation should start with embracing the strategic plan.
Revising the Strategic Mission and Plan
Community South Medical Facility revises its strategic plan every three years and conducts an annual assessment on the implementation of the strategic plan. There have been demographic changes in the population that the health facility serves. This is evident from the changing patient mix and reimbursement sources. In addition, there is a decline in patient satisfaction and compliance to quality standards. These are indications that the health facility need to revise its strategic plan. As the CEO, I wound advocate for a change in strategic plan so that the hospital services will be aligned to the changing needs of the target population. The new strategic plan would focus more on creating a center of excellence for geriatric care and various chronic diseases.
Leadership Positions and Responsibilities
In the new strategic plan, I wound create the position of a Nurse Leader in geriatric and chronic care. The incumbent would be responsible for coordinating geriatric care services from internal hospital policies to supervising geriatric care services. In addition, the Nurse leader will head the geriatric care department under which there will be divisions specializing in common chronic conditions. The nurse leader will also create networks and mentorship for the nurses in the geriatric care team (Carter et al., 2010).
Changing Community Trends
The Community South Medical Center is located in an urban setting which is changing rapidly. Big commercial organizations are closing down and being replaced by small shops. The general population is aging rapidly. There is a reduction in the average income as more people retire from their jobs and start depending on pension. To maintain the competitive edge that this health facility has enjoyed in the past, it is important to predict trends and to prepare to meet them.
As the CEO, I will revise the hospital strategic plan so that it is aligned to the needs of this population. To start with, geriatric patients require chronic care rather than acute care. Therefore, the hospital would focus more on providing continuous care for chronic diseases. In addition, the target population has reduced income and the provided care should be affordable. I will achieve this by encouraging Evidence Based Care with a focus on efficacy and cost effectiveness (Barnes et al., 2012). This will improve care and meet the patient’s needs.
References
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