The Major Stakeholders Affected by the Mobilization Plan
The major stakeholders:
- nursing professionals and leaders
- organizational management staff and leaders
- investors
- Doctors
- pharmacists
- Patients
Why the hospital is suitable for the mission
- highly qualified staff
- reputable healthcare organization
- experience in the treatment of contagious diseases
Short-term medical missions are known to have a great impact on healthcare in low-income areas. Such service trips are arranged to meet the health needs of underserved population groups that do not have access to regular quality care (Sykes, 2014). There are many stakeholders in such missions, each of them being an integral part of a common goal.
Mobilization is a significant organizational change, preparation to which requires particular experience and skills. While stakeholders have similar reasons for participating in such missions, there is also some divergence in their perceptions (Chiu, Weng, Chen, Yang, & Lee, 2014). The greatest motivation for participation is the ability to help people in need and practice humanitarianism (Chiu et al., 2014). However, different groups of professionals experience difficulties during such medical trips. For instance, insufficient knowledge of language or failure to understand a different culture may present problems for the mission stakeholders (Chiu et al., 2014).
Since our hospital has much experience in similar missions, it is expected that all probable complications will be predicted and analyzed before the start of the trip. By Being a reputable healthcare organization, the hospital has sufficient expertise and an adequate number of professionals to arrange the medical trip to one of the hot zones in Africa where people are exposed to a highly contagious virus. Moreover, it is a duty of any healthcare professional to dedicate efforts to resolving such dangerous health issues and relieve people’s pain and discomfort caused by severe health conditions.
The Impact of the Mobilization Effort on Staffing and Care Patterns
All hospital departments will experience difficulties due to some team members being directed to Africa. However, the greatest shortage will occur in the nursing department. The insufficient number of personnel is most frequently associated with such issues as the lack of attention paid to patients, stressful environment, lower productivity of the employees, job dissatisfaction among the remaining nurses and other practitioners due to work overload, and others.
The most detrimental outcomes of nurses’ burnout are decreased productivity, inability to attend all patient needs, and job dissatisfaction. Being overloaded with work leads to fatigue and irritation that may impact the way nurses communicate with patients. Moreover, nursing practitioners may forget to perform some crucial functions, which may lead to deterioration of patients’ health. The problem of high turnover is another negative outcome of burnout (Li et al., 2013). When nurses feel dissatisfied with their working conditions, they tend to quit and look for better options.
To eliminate the negative outcomes caused by twenty nurses and other professionals being directed to a hot zone in Africa, hospital administration needs to consider effective solutions. A good option is giving the remaining nurses more authority in making decisions, which would save time and make the employees feel more empowered. Also, it is necessary to encourage all employees to help the units that remain understaffed for the period of a mission. It is the responsibility of each healthcare worker to help people in need. Thus, the hospital team should realize that the situation that occurred in the organization is not only a challenge but also a possibility to express humanism and support to those who need it most. The duty of the mission team is to help people directly in the hot zone. Meanwhile, the responsibility of the remaining staff is to maintain a high quality of services in the hospital during the mission team’s absence.
Organizational Structure of the Mission Team and Distribution of Power
The mission’s organizational structure is comprised of two levels: leaders and team members. The mission coordinator, administrative manager, physician executive, nursing executive, and leading pharmacologist are the leaders of the team. Mission coordinator is the highest rank of leadership scale. His major functions are regulating the work of the team and integrating work with other teams present at the mission. All other team leaders, as well as members, conform to the mission coordinator’s decisions.
The administrative manager is responsible for maintaining the team’s productive work, managing resources, and addressing the mission coordinator for directions.
The physician executive is accountable for assigning duties to the clinicians and coordinating with the nurse leader to find the best solutions for patients.
The nursing executive’s responsibility is managing staff and resources. Also, nursing executive coordinates the team’s work according to the mission head’s requirements. The most significant duty of the nursing executive is supervision of the twenty nurses participating in the mission.
Pharmacologist leader’s role is in finding the most suitable drugs for the patients, supervising the group of pharmacologists, and coordinating its work with the activity of other teams.
All members of the team need to be cooperative and frequently communicate with the aim of providing the highest level of care for patients. When the team works as a single unit, there is no resource waste, and all specialists can perform their duties without delays or misunderstandings.
The Empowerment of Team Members
Authenticity in leadership is directly associated with empowerment (Wong & Laschinger, 2012). Leaders who prefer authentic style of command practice high levels of respect, trust, and appraisal of each member of their team. Since empowerment is a great means of enhancing job satisfaction, such style of leadership maximizes beneficial outcomes of treatment process (Wong & Laschinger, 2012). Authentic leadership helps to arrange a positive work environment by paying particular attention to the establishment of the empowering leader who is the example for team members to follow. Research indicates that managers’ tendency to authentic leadership creates advantageous conditions for the team (Wong & Laschinger, 2012). Such leaders advocate high ethical standards, maintain transparency in work relations, and are self-aware and balanced. Under such command, nurses feel that they have better access to empowerment options and have a high level of job satisfaction (Wong & Laschinger, 2012). Also, they show better performance than teams whose leaders do not arrange opportunities for empowerment.
Laschinger et al. (2014) emphasize the significance of effective work conditions in promotion of highly-skilled nursing practice and maintaining a positive atmosphere within the team. When a unit leader arranges empowering conditions, nursing practitioners work with more energy. As a result, their job satisfaction increases, which leads to the improvement of patient outcomes. Structural empowerment is considered a major predictor of unit level efficiency (Laschinger et al., 2014). Moreover, the factor of empowerment is also rather important at the individual level, where it is employed to predict job satisfaction and high self-evaluation (Laschinger et al., 2014).
Key Actions Needed to Assure Quality and Safety
Interprofessional communication (IC) plays a crucial role in reaching the best patient outcomes and supporting positive relationships between team members. Such communication incorporates rational communication techniques and accessibility of team members. In IC, practitioners employ a variety of communication forms, such as verbal, written, or electronic. When information exchange is arranged effectively, team members have better opportunities for developing professional connections and providing their patients with the most effective treatment.
Collaborative leadership occurs when leaders invite their team members to participate in the discussion of important aspects of work. When nurses feel empowered, their productivity increases. Moreover, several opinions are better than a single one, and collaboration may lead to the enhancement of treatment methods.
Team functioning is the aspect that establishes a well-arranged work of the unit. When practitioners know that their opinions are respected, they are more willing to express respect towards other’s work. When a leader dedicates efforts to arranging team functioning, he or she becomes more able to empower the subordinates and distribute responsibilities equally.
The patient-centered approach is one of the core postulates in nursing. In incorporates making integrated solutions and focusing on the needs and desires of patients and their families.
Role division is crucial since it enables team members to realize their own responsibilities as well as treat the duties performed by their colleagues with respect. It is important to let practitioners understand their roles and choose the most appropriate methods of performing the duties.
The inability to deal with conflicts may lead to serious undermining of nurses’ productivity. Therefore, conflict resolution methods play a crucial role in effective leadership. It is necessary to arrange the atmosphere of trust and confidence so as to eliminate the possibility of disagreements between team members.
Potential Power Issues in the Mission
Problems with power may occur because practitioners will need to cooperate not only with their own colleagues but also with the members of teams from other countries.
Potential power issues incorporate:
- insubordination
- conflict of power
- dissimilarities in opinions
- issues driven by cultural divergences
- problems related to resources and jurisdiction
In healthcare profession, it is necessary to maintain ethical relationships both with patients and colleagues (Makaroff, Storch, Pauly, & Newton, 2014). Working in a large multinational team comprised of many small teams may present the risk of power imbalance. Therefore, it is crucial for nurse leaders to maintain their power in such a complex environment. Team members may be unaccustomed to the leader’s style of management, which may lead to misunderstandings and, as a result, may undermine the leader’s power.
Another problem may occur when leaders do not allow nurses to participate in decision making and do not take their opinions into consideration. In such case, team members may refuse to follow the leader’s commands, which will lead to poor quality of their work.
Thus, the primary goal of a leader in such circumstances is to address conflicts appropriately and eliminate misunderstandings among the team members. The best strategies for conflict resolution are distinct share of roles and duties and establishing productive relationships.
Potential Multicultural and Diversity Problems
The major issues associated with multiculturalism and diversity that may occur in the mission are:
- divergences in medical standards between the host country and the team
- language barrier
- insufficient knowledge and understanding of host country’s culture
- patients’ mistrust and refusal to undergo treatment
Diversity and multicultural issues are inevitable in such large-scale projects as this mission. Upon arrival to Africa, the US team of specialists will appear in the environment that is entirely different ethnically and culturally. This aspect may interfere with the success of the mission, and it should be addressed with all possible seriousness.
Another significant issue is language barrier. Because of it, it may be difficult to persuade patients in beneficial outcomes of treatment. The mission team will need to adapt to the new circumstances in order to perform their duties at the highest level. Interpreters and multilingual healthcare specialists may be required to arrange a positive work environment.
References
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Li, B., Bruyneel, L., Sermeus, W., Van den Heede, K., Matawie, K., Aiken, L., & Lesaffre, E. (2013). Group-level impact of work environment dimensions on burnout experiences among nurses: A multivariate multilevel probit model. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 50(2), 281-291. Web.
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