Abdulrahman AlNuaim MD FRCPC FACP CPE, is Professor of Medicine, Consultant Endocrinologist & Diabetologist, and Assistant Chief Executive Director at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Medical management qualification: Certified Physician Executive (CPE) from the Certifying Commission inthe Medical Management, USA.
Managing complex healthcare organisation
The essentials
Managing a modern healthcare organisation is complex. Com plexity stems from the variables that need to be entertained, which are highly unpredictable.
There has been a change in health paradigm, as well as expectations of the ‘new patient’. Existing healthcare systems neither meet the quality goals nor patient expectations. There is a need to identify the vision, strategy and direction of a hospital; this should be reflected in the goals and objectives, which should be transmitted to hospital staff. Healthcare organisations, such as hospitals, are dynamic and require periodic revisiting of the organisation structure for more enhancement and better realignment of services. There is need for executive councils/committees to oversee the medical and non-medical operation. There is a need to adopt change and engineering to advance the organisational cause. Leadership and empowerment at different level of the organisation is an essential component for success. There is a need to identify who should lead and who should manage.
Health information system is a vital component for managing patients, as well as the well-being of the organisation. There is a need for a data warehouse system to provide executive dashboards to monitor performance. New technology and automation of processes is essential for augmenting patient care.
Patient safety is an important aspect. Several checking mechanisms should be embedded to ensure delivering the highest safety measures. An online adverse occurrence reporting system will give an accurate estimate of morbidity incidences. Executive rounds and management, by senior hospital executives wandering around, is important. Medical errors and risk management should be part of the integrated measures for patient safety.
Performance improvement initiatives should be embedded in throughout an organisation’s culture. Balanced scorecard is a powerful tool for monitoring and improving hospital performance.
These issues will be fully presented during the Forum.
This article was published on 03/01/2006