You are the department head and operational leader of an ambulatory health clini

Question

You are the department head and operational leader of an ambulatory health clinic that is a subsidiary of a large health system. The CEO of your health organization comes to your office and states that she is not happy with the efficiency of the new ambulatory clinic she does not believe that the new clinic is being effective. She wants you to devise a plan of correction. Come up with three different measures for efficiency and thee different measures of effectiveness that you feel are uniform and applicable to the ambulatory clinic. You might want to consider using the model building techniques

Explanation / Answer

Each and every organization sets out to ensure that it can be able to deliver to its customer base as well as fulfill its goals and objectives. All this is tied down to the entity being able to guarantee some sense of effectiveness as well as efficiency. That means that the entity has to ensure that it’s able to operate in a manner that ensures continued success. The case at hand is one whereby the C.E.O has observed that the ambulatory wing is not practical. There are some avenues that can be put in place to ensure that we can increase effectiveness as well as efficiency in the system.

            The model that is to be considered in this particular case is the RACE framework as it is the most appropriate taking into consideration we are dealing with emergency situations most of the time. The framework refers to reach, act, convert, and engage and that would fit in well with the ambulatory services as well as in helping come up with measures of effectiveness and efficiency.

            Coming up with a clear cut line on how to measure efficiency helps in knowing what is being done wrong and offering corrective actions. Efficiency refers to the act of doing things right and in this case that can be measured by use of three indicators which are productivity, cycle time, and customer response. Within the framework we will be able to measure efficiency on the basis of reaching, acting and conversion. The effectiveness index will be measured by looking at the productivity of the service regarding the people it has been able to serve against the cost of providing the service (Hermansen & Wiederholt, 2001). That will put patient benefits against the costs, and that will also include the other measure which is the cycle time. The cycle time will be used to measure how long the service takes before it can clear with one case before taking up another. The last measure of efficiency will be the customer response, and that will show how the customers react to the services being offered. That will show if the service is doing things the right way and what needs to be improved.

            The other part that would need to be considered is the measuring of effectiveness, and that would refer to checking if the service is doing the right things. In this case, there are three measures of effectiveness that can be implemented and can also be categorized under the RACE framework. The three include employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and communication. In the framework, the above measures can be classified under engagement, conversion and the acting spheres (Hermansen & Wiederholt, 2001). The service needs to look at how well they can serve their customers such that they can feel satisfied with the services being offered. The effectiveness of the service can also be measured by use of the communication modes such at by focusing on how messages flow within the ambulatory service one can tell whether the right things are being done. All of this will ensure that the ambulatory service can be evaluated regarding the RACE framework and that will show its effectiveness and efficiency. The six measures will help the section meet its objectives as well as those of the larger organization.

References

Hermansen, C., & Wiederholt, J. (2001). Pharmacist-Patient Relationship Development in an Ambulatory Clinic Setting. Health Communication, 13(3), 307-325. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327027hc1303_5

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse Y
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.