Strategic Planning and Marketing-James Shiplet

This article from the US - Small Business Administration is a great way to understand marketing a business whether it’s a large Healthcare Corporation or a small business such as a physician in private practice.  Marketing plans include everything from understanding who you’re marketing too and your viable spot in that identified  market, to how you intend to target that market. Your marketing budget should be huge a component of your marketing plan as it will outline the costs of how you are going to achieve the rest of your marketing plan. Large healthcare corporations have the funds to hire a marketing firm or even hire a marketing director; however, for small practices there are resources available from the SBA to guide them through the process of writing a marketing plan and developing a marketing budget.  (US-SBA 2013)

Marketing plans are reviewed during the annual budget planning process. However, when a hospital launches a new service in between budgets they take the time to revisit their original plan and decide how much funds from the marketing budget will now be allocated to market the new service.

It takes some time to develop a marketing plan, but that time is well spent for any organization because it delineates how they will associate with their customers.

                                                                       References

Developing a Marketing Plan. (2013). In United States Small Business Administration. Retrieved

        June 30, 2013, from http://www.sba.gov/content/developing-marketing-plan

Module # 3 Communication and Teamwork

Teamwork is very important for a work environment so everybody can work together to accomplish similar goals. Sometimes in the work field titles and ranks get in the way where some people feel more important than others and don’t help one another with certain duties. This article I found title “CNAs and Nurses- can we all just get along”? , this author gives some comments on what a few CNAs had to say about their work environment working with nurses. One CNA said “It takes communication. If we are not able to get to something that a patient really needs urgently (like a walk or to be turned), we should at least tell the nurse that we are busy so she can delegate elsewhere or take care of the patient herself” (Leekley,2010).

Communication is very important especially from a manger or supervisor; communication is for receiving orders, instructions, and direction from above. (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). The author gives 8 tips for creating a "friction-free" team of nurses and nursing assistants. One tip the author mention is to be willing to listen. People who choose to work in nursing tend to be sensitive to the needs of others. They are expected to be warm and caring people. Yet at the same time, they are expected never to make a mistake and to work as tirelessly as machines. It's a lot to ask of people-to be kind and sensitive and still get all the work done quickly! But, this is the goal for everyone in the nursing field. Help your nursing team by encouraging them to talk to you when they are stressed and by being willing to share your feelings with them. No one knows better what the stresses of your job are than the other nurses and nursing assistants! (Leekley,2010)

An employee’s particular mindset is continually reinforced by his or her work group (Leiebler & McConnell,2012). That’ s the reason why I feel like teamwork, motivation and communication is very important in the healthcare field because it makes patient care easier when you working together as a team.

References

Leekley, Linda. (10 Feb, 2012). Ezinearticles
http://ezinearticles.com/?CNAs-and-Nurses---Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along?&id=3737014

Liebler, J., and C. McConnell. Management principles for health professionals. 6th edition. Ontario: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2012. Print.

Strategic Planning and Marketing

Learning Module #4 – Strategic Planning and Marketing – Beverly Braswell

Businesses that are successful have found a way to meet the needs of their customers that the competition cannot meet. Marketing requires constant developing of products and services that will provide better value (“competitive advantage”) (Riley, 2012). The problem is with the changing environment where businesses operate. So businesses must adapt to changes in the environment and make decisions about how to change the marketing in order to succeed. This process of adapting and decision-making is known as marketing planning (Riley, 2012).

Strategic planning is the overall direction of the business and how it should reach its goals. It is concerned with marketing; but it also involves decision-making about production and operations, finance, human resource management and other business issues (Riley, 2012). A business must consider how the planning will affect the entire company not just the front line product.

The objective of a strategic plan is to set the direction of a business and create its shape so that the products and services it provides meet the overall business objectives (Riley, 2012).

Marketing has a key role because it is the avenue from the business to the consumer. How the business plans to attract consumers is the key to the success of the business. It can be a simple task for a small business; or overwhelming for a large business with multiple products to market. Larger businesses are going to require a more developed marketing department.

To be successful the business will need to have a competitive advantage of others. Create a strategy that everyone will buy into. Make sure resources are available and notify stakeholders of the plan. Finally be sure to measure the performance of the strategy to make sure it is reaching the goal of the business.

References

Riley, J. (2012, September 23). Strategic Management and the Link to Marketing. Retrieved from Tutor 2 U: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/strategy/strategy_marketing.htm

 

 

Communication and Teamwork

James Shiplet-Teamwork and Communication

Healthcare providers work in a multifaceted environment. The care of patients in critical care areas, such as intensive care units, emergency departments, surgery, and labor and delivery units, require the constant involvement from individuals with varying professional backgrounds and education. Physicians, nurses, surgeons, respiratory therapists, pharmacist, technicians etc. need to work with each other to deliver expert care in the safest method possible. Although, when these highly qualified professionals learn their skills in their formative education years, scarcely any attention is spent on roles of other members of the patient care team.  And, all too often they don’t have a clear understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities as part of the healthcare team.  The Institutes of Medicine released their sentinel report in 2000, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” and soon after that the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) began advocating team training.  What I liked about this article is it addresses the human error dilemma by using the Crew Resource Management (CRM) method of team training which was taken from the airliner industry, the SBAR method of giving critical concise information to physicians about their patients when they are in a crisis.  CRM education programs encompass team training sessions, simulations, after action debriefings, and measurements of the patient care teams’ performance.  SBAR stands for situation (what happened), background (a short review of the patient), assessment (what you think the problem is) and recommendation (the treatment that you think the patient needs to get better).  With these two items alone many adverse patient incidents can be avoided.

References

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1765783/pdf/v013p00i85.pdf

Module #3-Teamwork

http://ezinearticles.com/?Team-Building-Programs-to-Improve-Teamwork-and-Communication&id=7200436

Teamwork Leads to Effective Communication

Bianca Zinno

Module 3

According to the author, team work is defined as a group of people working together to reach a common goal (Rahman,2012).  There are many benefits to team work. These include creative enhancement, new friendships, a sense of accomplishment, and problem resolution (Rahman,2012).  We use teamwork from childhood, to adulthood, in many situations in our lives (Rahman,2012).  An example of this is coaches, parents and teachers working with us as youths to encourage us to work towards a common goal with our peers. Good team work is a product of good communication. There are three elements to effective communication. People have to be willing to talk and share information, be understanding, and be an active listener (Rahman,2012).  Many problems with team work  in the workplace are results of poor communication. Co-workers need to learn to work together and resolve conflicts through good communication in order to be effective team players (Rahman,2012).  A team can never reach its full potential with good communication skills (Rahman,2012).  Different team building exercises and events can strengthen the communication within a group of co workers. The more co workers communicate, the more they will being to trust each other, resulting in better teamwork in the work place.

Works cited:

Rahman, Nadia. (2012, Jan 2).Teamwork Leads to Effective Communication. Ezine Articles.. Retrieved from  www.ezine.com

Communication and Teamwork

Medical and Nursing students must practice communication and teamwork strategies in order to work together effectively and prevent errors. Poor communication and teamwork while dealing with a patient’s health can result in major medical errors and poor quality of care. In fact, a study by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations reports ineffective communication is a major factor in 60 percent of sentinel events – events that can cause loss of life or limb (Lambert, 2013). Texas A & M have took notice and require communication and teamwork courses in their curricula before a nurse is allowed to graduate. Jack Moreland, Ph.D., M.S.N., RN, TAMHSC-College of Nursing assistant professor. “Although each discipline is great at speaking the lingo in their field and carrying out individual tasks at hand, often times there is a disconnect among the specific health professions, and communication is not received by all (Lambert, 2013).”

Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS™) is a program that teaches practical skills hospitals can use to create collaboration among professionals, resolve conflict, information sharing, and in the end provide better patient care. It is composed of four teachable skills: leadership, mutual support, situation monitoring and communication through easy-to-follow modules (Lambert, 2013). Students learn TeamSTEPPS™ strategies during class time. These strategies are then practiced in the healthcare setting when clinical rotations are performed in local hospitals. Communication and teamwork tools, like TeamSTEPPS™, provide powerful mechanisms organizations can utilize to improve the sharing of information across the entire health profession, ultimately reducing errors and leading to safer and more efficient patient care,” Dr. Moreland said (Lambert, 2013).

TeamSTEPPS™ is utilized at many health care facilities. It really opens the door to effective communication. With effective communication comes effective patient care. Quality patient care is our ultimate goal in the health care profession and we should strive to communicate and work together to reach that goal. We should provide our patients the best care possible while limiting errors while they are in our care. Besides good communication makes a pleasant atmosphere and leaves no question while in the process of taking care of others.

http://news.tamhsc.edu/2013/04/15/teamwork-among-health-care-providers-optimixes-patient-care/

References

Lambert, H. (2013, April 15). Teamwork Among Health Care Providers Optimizes Patient Care. Retrieved from News Texas A&M Health Science Center: http://news.tamhsc.edu/2013/04/15/teamwork-among-health-care-providers-optimixes-patient-care/

Healthcare Management Strategies

This article is about healthcare management strategies and the three things that matter to healthcare practitioners   They are, managing cost, competency & staffing, plus revenue.  Healthcare is in the news a lot these days due to the passage of the "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" otherwise known as Obamacare.  The costs of healthcare are one of the biggest problems in the US. Healthcare entities have to control the cost of supplies to remain competitive. Strategies to do this include regulating the processes and supplies  They have to pay for qualified personnel, weighing the benefits of lower paid personnel without the same skill level of personnel with proven competence. And they have to recognize that the costs of making sure their facilities pass all state and federal standards, as well as keeping staff trained so they maintain their certifications, are lower than being fined for violations of each. Most of the people working in the healthcare field are certified, but that doesn't mean they're competent to provide care or perform other duties. Healthcare are requiring minimum standards that all employees must reach based on their job classification. Tracking and evaluating employees mistakes and positive outcomes not only helps healthcare entities learn how to minimize errors, but the good numbers gives them something to brag about. Healthcare staffing is hard to manage because it is mandated by state and federal standards. Healthcare entities must come up with creative ways of managing staff, while making sure they have enough staff to adequately provide care. Sound financial strategies may include not providing services that another facility provides, and concentrating on the services that the facility can do well and with more efficiency. Another revenue strategy is to put more effort into providing services that are cost-effective and offer more and better-paying outpatient procedures.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5427838_health-care-management-strategies.html