Problem Solving Process in the healthcare industry

Problem Solving Process in the healthcare industry
Introduction
The issue of parking has been whispered for long in our hospital for the past weeks, it has come to the attention of the nursing manager via the numerous talks by Mandy, the spokesman of the group. Mandy has also threatened to seek more help from the nursing union if failure to take care of the situation. The issue of parking has been a topic of discussion for a long time not only from the nursing staff but also from the hospital at large. The situation is due to the geographical location of the hospital and its strategic point. The chosen are was to maximize the probability of the availability of health care to the community. Parking was not really under consideration at the moment as there was a parking space that was rented by the hospital but due to developments, the area was converted into a playing ground to minimize accidents and a recreation area as there was none in the area. This disadvantaged the hospital as there was no available parking space for the member staff and the one available is six blocks away from the hospital.

This issue is known by the hospital management and it has consumed a lot of time for many departments as it is evident that they tried to force for a solution but it has not yet been a success. It is assumed that other departments failed to follow the right procedure where they had to consult with their department manager who will then try and solve the issue with the management in a convenient way that will be both efficient and fast. However, this reflects that there is a history of a poor relationship between the employees and the employer, management, or the group leader as employees think that it is the duty of the group leader or the employer to take care of these issues.

Taking care of these complaints and other issues related to the organization’s environment leads to a better and healthy environment that would lead to better services offered to consumers and patients leading to better patient prognosis. In a study about issues in business organizations, it was concluded that within one week, an organizational manager spends three hours solving a work-related problem where time is wasted and other resources if there were better management and leadership. There are different ways of solving a problem in an organization; these methods have essential steps that are taken before coming to a proper conclusion or solution to the existing problem.

To begin with, the first step in solving a problem is by identifying the problem and understanding what is happening, secondly, trying to understand what events led to the problem, and lastly, what is the ideal long-term solution to the problem. Understanding the nature and causes of the problem will help in identifying the best action taken in generating the most appropriate solution and plan in solving the issue. The best method of solving an issue has to facilitate collaboration among the employees and between the employees and the management, a plan that encourages creativity, and a plan that is easy to implement and assimilate into the system. This paper will analyze the problems faced by nurses in the pediatric department and try to find the best plan to resolve the issue of parking spaces for the nurses.

In our scenario, the issue of parking space has been a concern as nurses have to leave their cars six blocks away from their workplace. This has led to several issues accompanied to the main problem. These problems have made nurses restless even on duty as they think about the safety of their cars following the recent event experienced by one member whose car was broken into and most of her valuables including some medical reports and studies were found missing as a result. It has also affected the efficiency of the nurses in terms of performance and confidence even to the hospital as any personal issues are solved by personal resources including the recent incidence.

The best method of solving a workplace problem is by involving the stakeholders. In this case, the nurses are the main stakeholders and I chose to have a meeting with the nurses one evening to understand the problem to formulate a workable plan to permanently solve the problem. The nurses spoke about their experience and the most terrifying was the issue faced by the night shift nurses. The night shift nurses were in the worst position in that they were several attempts and reports on attempted rape and some reported theft. These events are mentally disturbing more so to the female members and some even prefer to sleep in the hospital if they are not accompanied by a male chaperone to the parking lot.

Mental disturbance has a probability of developing medical errors that are made not to happen as the duties of a nurse are to ensure optimum health and care. For instance, these events can torment one into developing complications like PTSD and this may lead to confusion whereby studies have named it as the worse enemy in the health sector as it is the root cause of these mistakes, confusion has it that a nurse may confuse the names of patients that closely resemble each other, names such as Maria and Mary or in prescribing medication where a correct medication may be prescribed to the wrong patient.

Wrong management of patients can lead to conditions that range from mild to severe depending on the side effects and the duration and amount of dosage administered to the patient. Some patients may have a history of known food and drug allergies and due to these confusions, wrong medication or interventions can lead to a catastrophic ending where a patient may die from allergic reactions. Common drug allergies include allergies to sulfur and if a patient is administered medication containing sulfur, they might die and the hospital will be held responsible. Other punishments may be a termination of services in the hospital or even suspension of the license. The hospital’s reputation is also in line where the community at large will judge the services offered and they will not have confidence in the hospital and these could lead to the closing of the hospital as there will be no patients and the hospital will run bankrupt.

After identifying the problem and analyzing the worst outcomes, it is best to find a possible solution to the problem. The best problem-solving strategy that will be employed in this case scenario is that which will help in creating understanding, teamwork, collaboration, and better leadership skills among the team members and leaders. To begin with, brainstorming is one of the techniques that will help in building up a better team and will enhance collaboration, as the solution suggested, is not dictated by the management but rather by the team members (Rosen, 2018). This will help in bringing about collaboration in the team as the solutions are created by the members and are designed to solve the problem by rooting the problem. The solutions made are specifically designed to the kind of problem experienced by the members and they tend to be different from one team to the other.

Good team leadership brings teamwork, in a department or the whole organization. The main problem was from the hospital management but as a department, we agreed that I, as the manager will talk to the administration and offer options that are relevant and will help in solving the problem. The options are in the recommendation part and fully illustrated. However, it is prudent to acknowledge workplace culture that will help in ensuring a better working environment as understanding these workplace cultures will help in understanding individual members and this will make staff members comfortable increasing their efficiency hence quality services offered to patients (Driskell, 2018).

Recommendation

This paper would like to recommend the solution to the problems experienced by the nursing staff on the issue of parking and other related problems. To begin with, the hospital is requested to offer to ensure that their staffs are safe while going to their workplace, this can be done by nurses being safe in their workplace. The issue of parking space cannot be solved immediately as it requires the collection of resources and getting a free space that can be efficient in parking. It was suggested that the hospital can hire people who will be responsible for taking staff cars to any parking space in the city at their arrival and when they leave, they have the responsibility of returning the cars to the hospital doorway where they can take their cars and go home. This will be better than gambling with the safety of the nurses.

It was also suggested that the hospital could share parking spaces with other organizations or buildings as they have access to parking spaces. The nurses will be comfortable walking few blocks to the workplace with no fear. It is better compared to the current situation. This will solve the issue temporarily but the hospital should find a better solution where it can relocate to a more spacious place or a place with accessible parking space.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, good leadership skills and workplace culture is seen to be an effective way of ensuring employee efficiency and assurance of quality services to patients. Health care workers are efficient if they are mentally stable as any instability is catastrophic as it can lead to confusion that will lead to medical errors as mentioned above. In solving issues, it is prudent to incorporate strategies that to build up a team, strategies that will help in building up better leadership skills, collaboration within the team, and most importantly, teamwork that will lead to long time solution

References

Driskell, J. E., Salas, E., & Driskell, T. (2018). Foundations of teamwork and collaboration. American Psychologist, 73(4), 334.

Poonguzhali, S., & Chakravarthy, R. (2019, August). A Non-Invasive multi-faced problem-solving tool in a Dynamic sensor network for Pediatric Diabetes with Fall Detection. In 2019 2nd International Conference on Power and Embedded Drive Control (ICPEDC) (pp. 493-498). IEEE.

Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. American Psychologist, 73(4), 433.

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