HIM 220 Research On A Healthcare Organisation

The assignment will critically analyse a healthcare system and will explore the readiness of the system in addressing the health needs of the citizens in the next decade. It will also include a strategic plan pertaining to issues of resource management, nurse staffing, patient satisfaction, and network growth. This will be followed by a comparison to Singapore Airlines. The organisation selected for this purpose is Banner Healthcare. Banner Health is a reputed non-profit health system, located in the United States. It is based in Phoenix, Arizona. The mission of this system is ‘making health care easier, so life can be better’ (Banner Health, 2018). It usually operates an estimated 28 hospitals and a range of specialized facilities, established across 6 states. The organisation primarily works towards providing hospital and emergency care, home care, hospice care, labs, outpatient surgery, rehabilitation services, primary care and pharmacy services to the community. This was a result of a merger between the Samaritan Health System, Phoenix and the Lutheran Health Systems, North Dakota.

Readiness in addressing healthcare needs of citizens

With the aim of meeting the essential healthcare needs of all citizens in the next decade, residing in regions where the system operates, Banner healthcare has successfully developed a plethora of healthcare programs. It was also formulated to confirm that all citizens living in Arizona had equal opportunities to quality healthcare services, which in turn would improve their overall living conditions. They accomplish this goal by excelling in their clinical care services, creating a work environment that allows individuals realise their complete potential and facilitate financial stewardship (Banner Health, 2018). Moreover, the Banner Health system has set its standards for innovation and excellence, an implementation of which would shape the future of the health industry.

Furthermore, Banner healthcare has devised strategies to meet the medical and health needs of the population through delivery of a professional, compassionate and outstanding care service. It has also formulated policies that expand the different ways, which will facilitate access to healthcare by assisting the citizens to command essential healthcare resources, with the aim of improving or preserving their overall health and wellbeing. This is a significant indicator of the fact that the system is in an appropriate direction for identifying the health preferences of the population, in the next decade on achievement of quality health care. Banner healthcare has been found to incorporate several technologies in the existing system. It has a clinical information technology team, composed of members who formulate ways for leveraging the existing tools such as, automated pharmaceutical supply dispensing system (Banner Health, 2018).

Technology is the driving force behind health improvements and an appropriate implementation of the same would result in improved care and efficiency, more accessible treatment and disease control.  Furthermore, the system also guarantees the patients quality healthcare services at affordable rates. In addition, it also tries to ensure presence of portable health coverage by healthcare reforms in the system. Hence, it can be stated that Banner is ready to face the healthcare challenges and needs in the next decade.

Network growth

The health care industry has been found to grow at a brisk pace owing to the service, strengthened coverage, and increased expenditure by the private and public stakeholders (Cuckler et al., 2013). Thus, Banner healthcare will have to devise strategies to improve the delivery of optimal health services, while caring for the community. There is a need to deliver high quality service to the population that will increase the likelihood of obtaining the desired health outcomes. Furthermore, it should also increase the access to coordinated medical care services, which the citizens are not aware of. There is a need to implement technologies to record real-time patient information, followed by its sharing, which in turn would provide better health outcomes.

Nurse staffing

Several countries around the world are facing severe shortage of nurses, which in turn is making it difficult to meet the growing healthcare needs of the population. Shortage of nurses are occurring as a direct result of steep population growth, diminished pipeline of nursing students and aging workforce (Aiken, Sloane, Bruyneel, Van den Heede & Sermeus, 2013). Banner system has effectively formulated a strategy for ensuring equal distribution of all employees in a different areas of healthcare operations. Furthermore, Banner is also working towards developing a plan that focuses on employee education. This will be facilitated by creating provisions for training programs that provide employment opportunities to nursing students. Furthermore, it is also committed to providing resources that will help the nursing staff to advance their career and skills. Adequate nurse staffing will thus be maintained by a robust and continuous medical education activity that will allow Banner health care to operate seamlessly.

Resource management

An organisation should effectively and efficiently develop all of its resources, as and when required. No business or healthcare organization will be able to operate effectively, without organising the finite resources (Reeves, Kitto & Masiello, 2013). Banner healthcare system is a recognised and well-established facility in the healthcare industry. In recent future, this system will try to recruit qualified employees who will help the system to realise the vision of providing quality healthcare to all members of the community. There is also a need to market the health services, which in turn would include education and awareness of patients. It will also have to collaborate with local healthcare resources for aligning all patients with the corresponding services. Owing to the fact that Banner has brought about a shift in the operations to a corporate social responsibility, it will be able to better survive in the healthcare market.

Patient satisfaction

Banner aims to provide all patients with an accurate and easy health information for facilitating the process of clinical decision making. Recent technologies and innovative solutions, such as, patient portals should be implemented for meeting the needs of the patients and improving their satisfaction (Kvedar, Coye & Everett, 2014). In addition to recruiting qualified nurses, it should use electronic health records for addressing the needs of the patients, thereby improving their satisfaction.

Comparison

A comparison of Banner Healthcare to Singapore Airlines help in identification of several similarities, such as, striving for excellence in customer service, having a stringent and comprehensive recruitment procedure, and ongoing continuous training of staff for improving customer satisfaction. However, while the airlines does not address diversity well, and met with dissatisfaction of the passengers, with the introduction of slot machines, Banner healthcare takes special efforts for maintaining diverse workforce, by bringing together wide variety of health professionals, for providing quality healthcare services. In contrast to Singapore Airlines, Banner also focuses on adoption of new, innovative technologies for improving its services. Thus, Banner has a better operational structure than the airlines.

Cultural issues

Cultural differences often affect the attitudes and perceptions of the patients about medical services and also affects their ability to understand and manage the course of an illness. Lack of diversity in the health workforce will result in a failure to understand the culture specific values and ideas of the clients, related to health, illness, and beliefs about medications. This will directly interfere in the process of delivering care services. Furthermore, a less diverse workforce will also make them judgmental about patients, whose values differ from the former. This will lead to miscommunication and failure to reach optimal health outcomes.

Conclusion

To conclude, Banner health system has an effective management that is designed and constructed for ensuring health equality. The system has a directed vision of serving the health needs of the large and small communities present across the nation. Thus, the system is working towards doing the best possible things at the right time, to obtain best health outcomes, commonly referred to as ‘quality healthcare’.

References

Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Bruyneel, L., Van den Heede, K., & Sermeus, W. (2013). Nurses’ reports of working conditions and hospital quality of care in 12 countries in Europe. International journal of nursing studies, 50(2), 143-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.11.009

Banner Health. (2018). About Banner Health. Retrieved from- https://www.bannerhealth.com/about

Cuckler, G. A., Sisko, A. M., Keehan, S. P., Smith, S. D., Madison, A. J., Poisal, J. A., … & Stone, D. A. (2013). National health expenditure projections, 2012–22: slow growth until coverage expands and economy improves. Health Affairs, 32(10), 1820-1831.
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0721

Kvedar, J., Coye, M. J., & Everett, W. (2014). Connected health: a review of technologies and strategies to improve patient care with telemedicine and telehealth. Health Affairs, 33(2), 194-199. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0992

Reeves, S., Kitto, S., & Masiello, I. (2013). Crew resource management: How well does it translate to an interprofessional healthcare context? Retrieved from- https://doi.org/10.3109/13561820.2012.748722