Planned change in Hospital Center Unit
Healthcare facilities are some of the important industries in society. It is worth noting that healthcare facilities play a key role in the lives of human beings. For many years, shortage of staff has been a major problem that affects health care facilities. Shortage of nurses in health care facilities lead to increase in mortality rates, poor working environment, increases stress among nurses, increase in infections, and poor patient outcome. MedStar Washington Hospital Center is one of the facilities that focus on exceptional patient heath care. The Hospital Center is faced with a critical problem at the intensive surgical unit (Medstar Washington Hospital Center, 2016). This is because of the shortage of staff in the unit. This affects patient care and does not streamline with the mission and vision of the hospital. The shortage of staff is linked to various reasons. The increase of patient in the unit has overwhelmed the nurses in the unit. The changes in the hospital have made it difficult for the nurses to adjust and adapt to the new working conditions. This means that the nurses are transferred from one unit to another within the hospital facility. According to Lewin, most of the people prefer to work and operate in the safe environment. Due to this problem the unit focuses on implementing various changes to ensure that positive patient outcome is achieved. The mission and vision of MedStar Washington Hospital Center focus on providing quality patient care and advancing health.
Change to address the shortage of staff
Addressing the shortage of staff is crucial for the hospital. The beats way to deal with the problem is hiring float pool nurses in the unit. The hired float pool of nurses enhances flexibility within the unit and ensure that the needs of the patients are made. Also, the strategy enables nurses to choose the units that they are interested in work. Notably, the hiring of nurses should be followed by training. Nurses should undergo various training that enables them to work in various units. This means that nurses will have skills to work in different units, especially in handling cardiac patients. The major issues to be addressed during the training should be streamlined towards patient care and management. The managers from different units should ensure that each nurse undergoes training on patient care (Yoder-Wise, 2013). Providing nurses with the opportunity to choose the unit to work enhances service delivery and patient satisfaction. Float nurses can change their schedule anytime they want to fill in the units that are experienced. The strategy is encouraging because nurses can earn more and be motivated by increased level of income. In critical perspective, the strategy of hiring and training nurses will solve the problem in the unit.
MedStar Washington Hospital Center vision, mission, and values
The organization is dedicated to delivering the best patient heath care services. It is worth noting that the Hospital Center place the patient first in their services. Medical advances within the hospital are streamlined towards excellent research, patient care, and education. Also, the vision of the hospital is to advance healthcare and become a trusted leader in patient care. The Hospital Center recognize national model that adheres to excellence in patient care. The values include integrity, respect, teamwork, innovation, patient first and service (Medstar Washington Hospital Center, 2016). Hiring and training of nurses are aimed at meeting the vision, mission, professional standards and values of the organization. This is because all patients will be assisted as expected. The patients have the opportunity to be attended based on their needs. The nurses have the chance to meet their professional standards in health care provision. In fact, it reduces stress among nurses and increases efficiency in service delivery. Medical errors and deaths are expected to reduce through the implementation of the strategy. Teamwork among nurses enhances the provision of safe practices in the unit. Analytically, the main focus of the Hospital Center is to place patients first. The strategy of hiring employees is streamlined towards servicing the patients first. The float nurses have the chance to increase their earnings, which act as a morale booster in patient care. Also, the incentives have the potentials of increasing the number of nurses applying to work as float pool. The change will align with the vision, mission, and professional standards because it is streamlined towards efficiency in patient care.
Change model and action plan
Lewin’s change management model is the best in assisting the unit to deal with the problem and plan in implementing the change. The model is based on the reasoning that most people operate and prefer to work in safe environment. The model recognizes three crucial stages of change. These include unfreeze, transition and refreeze (Mitchell, 2013). The hospital can enact the change using the model because it is easy to use. Change is one of the crucial components in the organization. Implementing that changes is associated with several challenges and resistance. Therefore, the Hospital Center have to accept the challenges that are linked to changes are be ready to use the model in solving the problem. The first step that is relevant to the change process is unfreezing. This step is associated with motivation and preparing the organization to accept the changes (Mitchell, 2013). Responsible stakeholders have to prepare the staff and nurses within the unit to accept changes. In this case, the stakeholders have to indicate the problem and elaborate why the change is required. The unit is facing a problem, which is short-staffing. Challenging the behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes of nurses is essential in enhancing change (Borkowski, 2016). The nurses in the unit should be given an opportunity to elaborate on the problem. The second step is implementing the change. Individual in the unit are expected to act and believe in the new direction. The strategy should continue creating positive impacts to attract other nurses to apply for float pool. All stakeholders should be involved, and each of them has to play their roles. Communication and teamwork among the nurses and other stakeholders are crucial during this stage of change (Society for Human Resource Management, 2005). The third step is refreeze, which entails institutionalization and internalization of the changes. There is hope that the unit will reach the refreeze stage, whereby the change strategy becomes part of the Hospital Center. This is because it ensures that the problem of short-staffing is eliminated. The nurses under the new change strategy will become more comfortable and confident in handling patient care within the unit.
Involved stakeholders
The implementation of change in the Hospital Center brings together various stakeholders. Crucial players in the change process include staff nurses, the union, nursing management, chief nursing officer, as well as the hospital administrative. The hiring process should be streamlined towards skills and experience in various nursing fields. The positions should be filled with qualified and experienced nurses who can work under pressure and deliver the best. The nurses should be experienced in handling patients at the intensive care. The problem in the unit will be solved if all the stakeholders cooperate and work together towards delivering efficient patient care.
Conclusion
Change is an inevitable issue in an organization. The problem that the Hospital Center is experiencing is critical and should be addressed with much expertise. It is challenging but with the corporation of all stakeholders success is achievable. The strategy of hiring and training float pool is a solution to the problem. Implementation of the strategy is streamlined towards placing patient care first. Proper planning and teamwork are capable of increasing the possibilities of success.
References
Borkowski, N. (2016). Organizational behavior, theory, and design in health care. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Medstar Washington Hospital Center, (2016). Mission, Vision, and Values. Retrieved on July 16, 2016 from http://www.medstarwashington.org/our-hospital/mission-vision-and- values/#q={}
Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Nursing Management - UK, 20(1), 32-37.
Society for Human Resource Management. (2005). The essentials of managing change and transition. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2013). Leading and Managing in Nursing - Revised Reprint. London: Elsevier Health Sciences.
