Introduction
The past few years have faced the healthcare systems in the United States with great challenges especially for the outbreaks of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in Nevada and Las Vegas. These are communicable diseases and it has been noted that the healthcare institutions that are supposed to be preventing their spread are involved in spreading them by reusing syringes and needles on patients. This has reduced the trust and faith that the citizens had with the health care providers and the citizens are always worried about the infections that they might contract as a result of visiting the public and private healthcare organizations. Unsafe injection practices have been blamed for the spread of the outbreaks and many organizations such as the American Association of Nurse Anesthetics (AANA) have condemned the practices. The press has been out to reveal the events that are taking place in the healthcare organizations where issues such as the suspension of doctors and the risks that healthcare organizations are posing on the citizens have been of great interest. These cases led to a call for the surgical centers to be investigated and the exercises revealed. Research done revealed that reuse of syringes has been quite extensive whereas all the healthcare providers are aware that needles and syringes should only be used once and disposed of. As a result, campaigns against the reuse of syringes and needles have been introduced. The One and Only Campaign was launched to educate the doctors, nurses, and other health care providers on the importance of using a needle and a syringe only once and only on one patient. The campaign also aimed at educating the patients of their rights to ask the right questions to doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers the right questions concerning their injections. The campaign was aimed at achieving a lifetime solution to the situation and its implementation was to be followed by an evaluation to find its effectiveness. Several hospitals have been visited to check on the effectiveness of the campaign. This paper will seek to report on the response by a public relations individual from a hospital in Nevada and also on the outcome of the response.
The Hospital’s Response
The response of the hospital involved several activities that have taken place in the hospital to ensure that the doctors and nurses in the hospital are effective in providing the services and more so injection services to the patients. The hospital said that the campaign was very important because the management in the hospital was not aware of the practices that were taking place. They said that after the campaign and research, they found that cases of reuse of syringes were present in the hospital (Nevada State Medical Association (NSMA), 2008, pg. 5). The management also said that they have since then been supervising the practices in the hospital to ensure that the patients received the best and safest treatment in the hospital. In their plans for every year, the management has also ensured that they collude with the practitioners so as to determine the number of needles and syringes required so that they can release the right amount of money for them. The hospital has been operating on a dual system of management where the professionals in the hospital have had their leaders on one side and the general management that manages the resources on the other side. There were plans either to organize in a way that the two groups will be meeting frequently to check on the advancement in the hospital or merging the two groups to form one which will have individuals from the two sides involved in running all the activities in the hospital. Some doctors and nurses were also not aware of the dangers that they were posing on the lives of the citizens by reusing syringes. The campaigns taught them a lot and they have been very cautious in the injection of the patients. This is a mechanism that the management felt will keep track of the progress of the services and address any difficulties that might arise in the middle (Berkowitz, 2006, 24).
Since the campaign and research, the respondent said that the management has taken several actionable steps that will help in better services to the customers (Berkowitz, 2006, 24). The management was first to ensure that a needle and a syringe were used once and only on a single patient. The management had seen the importance of holding meetings with all the healthcare providers in the hospital to remind them of their responsibilities to ensure the safety of the patient. When new practitioners join the hospital, they have to undergo extensive training and orientation especially in the field of patient safety. Before a doctor injects the patient, the patient is allowed to check whether the needle and the syringe are still sealed. This way, the patient will be sure of his or her safety in the use of the needles and the syringes. For the patients who felt that they still cannot trust the practitioners in the hospital, the patients were allowed to purchase their own needles and syringes and the best quality and right sizes were given. The practitioners were also taught the importance of responding well to patient’s questions especially at this time when the patients had little trust and faith in the practitioners. The practitioners were also requested to request the patients if they had any questions, especially if an injection was prescribed.
The necessity of the Response
The hospital that gave the response was a private hospital and this is a profit-making organization. The company is competing with other private and public healthcare organizations which greatly affects their profits. The need to retain customers was very important as this would affect the profits in the organization (Berkowitz, 2006, 31). The hospital’s response was therefore important as it would help in marketing the hospital especially the improvements that had taken place. The report was one way of advertising that to the public that improvements and changes had taken place. By accepting that syringes had been reused on patients, the management knew that the public trust in their services had gone down. In addition to informing the public that some changes and improvements had been made, the management responded in a way that they needed to restore the public’s trust in their services. They knew that the release of their response would make their customers aware of these changes and improvements. This way, the customers will gain some trust in their services and eventually visit them. The treatment that the customers will receive will help increase the trust and even spread the rumor in other areas. Another importance of the response was to help spread the news that there were improvements. Making the public aware of the changes and improvements is one way of marketing an organization and therefore responding to the research was important in making the public aware of the improvements and changes in the healthcare organization.
The View of the Hospital
The public had viewed many hospitals as promoters of the spread of communicable diseases (Medline plus, 2000, prg.4). The response by the management in the hospital ensured that the public viewed the hospital from a very different perspective. By accepting that a mistake had been identified in the hospital and changes had taken place, they ensured that they promoted the view of the hospital by the public. By saying that they will allow the patients to view whether the needles and syringes are sealed, they showed the public that they were committed to implementing the changes that they had made. This would promote the trust of the patients in them and many patients will be willing to go for services in the hospital. Responding well to patients’ questions was a way of showing the treatment that customers will have in the hospital. Quality orientation and training to new practitioners was to ensure that the new practitioners did their work perfectly in the hospital. Frequent meetings with the professionals to remind them of their responsibility to ensure patients’ safety would also help in avoiding such mistakes. All these responses helped in promoting the view of the hospital by the public.
The Outcome of the Response
The response by the management in the hospital made major improvements in the way that patients visited the hospital. The spread of the two diseases had instilled great fear in the hearts of the patients and the number of patients visiting the hospital had fallen drastically (The One and Only Campaign, 2009, pg. 6). The private hospitals had been greatly affected since the patients felt that these hospitals could reuse syringes and needles so as to maximize profits. The assurance by the management restored the trust of many customers and the turn up greatly increased. The response also increased the competitive advantage of the hospital since their improvements and changes were advertised to the public. Patients could now shift to the hospital for services. The profits increased as a result of the attraction of customers by the hospital. Merging the two groups in the organization would ensure that there are few cases of fraud since all funds are managed by the representatives of the entire organization. Generally, the response brought positive results in the hospital and the hospital made many changes that affect the lives of the patients.
Additions
The response by the hospital was good but if I were to respond to the interview, I would have made several additions to market the hospital to the public. In addition to ensuring the patients of the quality and efficiency of services in the hospital, I would have shown the customers of their importance to the hospital. As a way of promoting the hospital, I would have offered free diagnosis to the patients for a short period so that they can come and experience the new changes in the hospital. Free diagnosis would reduce the prices on the side of the customer and many customers will be interested in the diagnosis. Restating the mission and vision of the organization is also important (Stan, Robert, & David, 2000, 37). A way of motivating the employees for the work done would help the patients work harder and provide quality and efficient services to the patients. This would generally change the practices in the hospital for the better.
Conclusion
The reuse of syringes and needles by nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers in Nevada and Las Vegas led to the spread of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. A campaign to educate the doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers of the importance of ensuring patient safety was launched to change the situation. The campaign also aimed at educating patients on how to ask the right questions before injections. The campaign had a great impact on the hospitals and helped in improving the quality of services offered by hospitals in the affected places. The hospitals responded well by taking several actionable steps that helped increase the trust of the hospitals by the public. The response by a hospital in Nevada greatly improved the effectiveness of services to customers and attracted more customers. In addition to the steps taken, other steps to show the importance of the patients to the hospital and a method of motivating practitioners were necessary.
Reference List
Berkowitz, E.N. (2006). Essentials of health care marketing (2nd Ed), Sud bury, MA: Jones and Bartlett
Medline Plus. (2000). Infection Control: Injection Safety. Web.
Nevada State Medical Association (NSMA). (2008). Patient Safety Issues. Web.
Stan, W., Robert, E. S., & David, L. L. (2000). Fundamentals of Strategic Planning for Healthcare Organizations. New Jersey: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group,
The One and Only Campaign. (2009). Recent News concerning injection safety and syringe reuse. Web.