The Role of Mission and Vision in Guiding Hospital Strategy
It is significant to note that a hospital’s mission and vision form the main directions and scope of its activities. Accordingly, the hospital’s mission is to provide high-quality medical care to the population in both outpatient and inpatient settings, ensuring patient comfort and providing a sense of security and confidence in the positive outcome of interactions and treatment. Meanwhile, the hospital’s vision is to provide comprehensive patient care through a friendly, united team of staff. Therefore, an organization’s mission and vision significantly influence its overall goals and areas of work (Bryson, 2018). To coordinate hospital management activities at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels, it is necessary to adopt this approach.
Impact of Nursing Shortage on Quality of Care and Organizational Performance
Accordingly, the organization’s mission and vision state that the hospital should provide high-quality services to its employees and ensure the availability of a skilled team of professionals. The organization’s mission and vision statement stipulates that the hospital functions holistically and can provide comfort to patients (Bryson, 2018). Hence, the hospital’s nursing shortage needs to be addressed, as it impedes the fulfillment of its mission and vision.
Moreover, the fact that almost all hospital departments are under stress affects the work of even the existing nurses. For example, in emergency departments, first aid, infection control, intensive care, diagnostic facilities, and radiology, nurses are scheduled to work almost around the clock with no weekends (Marć et al., 2019). Patients are left feeling unhappy with their treatment and that they do not receive enough attention and support from nurses. As a result, this leads to inattention, an inability to devote time to each patient, and deterioration in nurses’ overall health (Marć et al., 2019). Therefore, the nursing shortage poses a significant challenge for the organization in fulfilling its work plan.
Strategic Planning to Address Workforce Challenges
Nevertheless, the organization’s goals and mission are the primary drivers of the hospital’s work, so the strategic plan is based on them. As a result, they guide the organization’s strategic planning and formulate its main points (Lown et al., 2019). Accordingly, to address the gap in providing quality patient care and to create a sense of security, the strategic plan needs to be revised. That is, the hospital’s new strategic plan should now include actions to ensure the organization’s functioning (Bryson, 2018). The strategic plan should be formulated to enable the hospital to develop key recommendations for reducing the nursing shortage at both strategic and operational levels.
Aligning Strategic Action with Organizational Goals and Patient-Centered Care
The organization’s mission and vision statements are new and are based on the fundamental principles of medical practice. In other words, the hospital’s mission and vision are grounded in the code of medical ethics and the fundamental duties of medical professionals (Lown et al., 2019). Moreover, the hospital’s mission and vision are based on building a competent team of professionals.
Furthermore, the language used to write the mission and vision is clear and includes medical terms to emphasize the specifics of the organization’s work (Lown et al., 2019). It is worth noting that the vision and mission are written to outline the hospital’s features, allowing patients to evaluate the organization’s services immediately. Hence, in my organization, the strategic plan is designed to address the nursing shortage and ensure that the mission and vision are fully implemented.
References
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.
Lown, B. A., Shin, A., & Jones, R. N. (2019). Can organizational leaders sustain compassionate, patient-centered care and mitigate burnout? Journal of Healthcare Management, 64(6), 398-412.
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage–a prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 66(1), 9-16.