Scenario
The healthcare industry and the organizations within it are always framed in the Triple Aim: Cost, Quality, and Access to Care. In this assignment, you will consider these three elements in a unique scenario and apply them in the day-to-day management of operations of a healthcare facility.
Acting as the president of a local hospital in an economic and socially deprived county in the US, you have just received a phone call from the state’s CDC office advising the hospital of an outbreak of Whooping Cough. As of now, most of the state is affected by the outbreak, and resources are becoming scarce. Your hospital is the only medical center that serves the county. Based on trends and tracking, the CDC believes that your county is one that can expect a major increase in patients in the next 48-72 hours (about 3 days) with the disease. As the president of the 300-bed hospital which serves a diverse population of 50,000 citizens, it is the president’s responsibility to create a plan of action to help address and treat patients of the county who might become ill in the next 48-72 hours.
The first task you will undertake is to research the disease, its course of treatments, and cures to help effectively treat the potential outbreak. Once you have done so, you will create a presentation that you can give to the county board and CDC showing how your hospital will combat the disease, treat patients, and develop strategies to prevent the spread of the outbreak.
As the president, you will need to work with internal and external vendors to ensure that the hospital has enough resources and that more resources can be ordered and delivered as quickly as possible. You will need to reach out to and gain assistance from other healthcare organizations in the area to help you track, treat, and control the spread of the disease. As the leader of the hospital, you will have to make decisions on how to effectively manage the shortage of beds, doctors and nurses, and resources that may occur due to the outbreak.
Instructions
Write an executive summary addressing how to successfully manage the problem outlined in the scenario within the context of the Triple Aim: Cost, Quality, and Access to Care. This plan has two parts. First is the executive summary followed by a PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes.
Write an Executive Summary covering the following:
Develop an action plan to share with the hospital staff and CDC local office to address and contain the outbreak effectively and efficiently at the hospital. Consider how access to care will be affected.
Outline the process of developing alliances and partnerships to help treat and contain the outbreak through efficient and effective approaches to the healthcare delivery systems. Consider how strategic partnerships can impact the cost of care.
Analyze the organizational decisions needed to be undertaken as a leader; that would play a part in addressing and containing the outbreak along with the use of limited resources. Consider the element of cost containment.
Determine the best leadership style to use to effectively bring together multiple departments and agencies to work together as one team in containing and treating the outbreak.
Summarize innovative processes needed to address the outbreak given the shortage of resources and time to implement a strategy. Consider the quality outcomes affected.
Outline any ethical considerations that should be addressed as part of the strategy in treating and containing the outbreak due to the shortage of resources such as money, manpower, and medicine. Consider how quality and cost are impacted.
Write a conclusion on the process changes needed to improve reaction time and containment from the hospital’s standpoint.
