A stakeholder is anyone with interest in an organization’s value. In developing strategic plans, it is important for organizations to set objectives that are anchored on the needs of all their stakeholders. In the healthcare industry, for instance, stakeholders include physicians, nurses, front-line staff, finance, governing board, and patients. Having the knowledge of the stakeholders puts an organization in a better position to engage and manage as well as turn them into supporters and advocates. The governing board plays a central role in supporting and guiding the corporate affairs of healthcare organizations in implementing their missions, visions, and values. The board also helps in bridging the gap between administrative and clinical considerations in implementation.
Physicians, nurses, and front-line staff possess a wealth of knowledge about healthcare information, industry insight, and current processes. Hence, they help in translating the vision of the administration and putting it into practice. They also align their functions with the objectives of the organization. These are also the people who understand an organization’s technical limitations and available resources (Ginter et al., 2018). Indeed, a deep knowledge of the organizational assets and clinical information systems assists in understanding the true position of the hospital.
The empowerment of employees in healthcare organizations is increasingly becoming important. It refers to an ongoing process of providing resources, motivation, tools, encouragement, and training that employees need for optimal performance. Healthcare is an industry that is constantly plagued with shortages of staff. Therefore, it is important to empower employees to get as much mileage as possible from them. Employee empowerment leads to speeding up the process and offers employees the drive and motivation to not only solve problems and also give solutions more rapidly than an average employee who is empowered or inspired. Other benefits include job satisfaction, increased employee productivity, and cost reduction.
Due to the rising cases of patient harm within various healthcare facilities, patient safety within the healthcare system is emerging as a serious healthcare concern. The objective of patient safety is to reduce or prevent errors, harm, and risks that happen to patients during health care provision. Indeed, there is a consensus that healthcare delivery would be safe, people-centered, and effective if the safety of patients is guaranteed. For the purposes of this paper, the two operational considerations for patient safety are risk management and safe medication practices.
In a healthcare organization, risk management entails analyzing the practices and processes in existence as well as identifying risk factors and the implementation procedures that should be used to address them. Risk management in health care is more significant than in other sectors. It involves the management of such risks as medical malpractices and procedures, faulty equipment, and other hazards (Harris, 2018). Proper management of these risks not only helps in keeping people secure and safe but also in cutting down costs. However, the main challenge associated with this operational consideration is the cost implication that goes into the purchase of equipment and paying the risk management personnel.
On its part, safe medication practices help in reducing medication errors. They are summarized as five rights- the right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route, and the right time. These five rights should be embraced as medication process goals. However, the main challenge associated with safe medication practices is communication barriers between healthcare professionals and patients. In many cases, patients do not understand what their nurses, pharmacists, and doctors tell them and end up doing the wrong things. The opportunity cost of not implementing the risk management operational consideration will be to save on costs. Meanwhile, the opportunity cost of not implementing safe medication practices will be enhanced communication between healthcare professionals and patients.
References
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The Strategic management of health care organizations. Wiley.
Harris, J. M. (2018). Essentials of strategic planning in Healthcare, Third Edition. Health Administration Press.