Management and Leadership in Higher Education - Essay Example

? Management and Leadership in Higher Education Introduction The field of medicine is one that has not benefitted from professional management for a long time. In managing healthcare, it is necessary for managers and practitioners to be able to look at some of the fundamental issues affecting the healthcare industry. In particular, the dentistry subsector is in need of management overhaul in order to help in quality development. There are a number of management approaches, which have been used in hospital settings in order to improve patient care quality and efficiency. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) One of the main challenges in hospital management is that hospitals are highly segmented in terms of the management. This makes issues such as quality management difficult to implement. Each department in the hospital, therefore, have to look at the way they want to implement various management issues such as quality management and human resource management in order to ensure that the department is able to deliver quality care to patients in a way that is efficient and effective (Lighter, 2010). One issue that affects all departments in any hospital is the issue of quality management. Many hospitals find it difficult to implement an all-in-one quality management policy to help the hospital be able to deliver quality patient care. In this regard, as McLaughlin (2011)1 postulates, every department is left to its own means and they have to develop a way in which they will be able to implement quality management systems. Managing dentistry is one of the big challenges that service providers can face in the hospital environment2. This is especially due to its unique nature as compared to most other departments in the hospital. These factors points to one important strategy in managing quality, and this is continuous quality improvement (Francois, 2006). In this arrangement each and every member of staff, including non-medical staff, are thought the need for improving quality everyday and also monitoring their performance as time goes on. This is never an easy way to look at the issues and managers have to be vigilant in order to make sure that they are able to challenge their subordinates to implement quality in their work by observing continuous quality improvement3. To be able to achieve this, it is necessary to have a way to measure the quality of service in order to ensure that this can be used in order to compare how quality of service is improving. Above all, the most important thing in implementing continuous quality improvement as a way to achieve overall quality of service is to educate and sensitise the employees about the need for quality management. While most medical staff has an inherent desire to take care of their patient. In this regard, the issue is not about the employee’s duty to serve the customers but actually the fact that the quality of service has to be continually increased. According to McLaughlin and Kaluzny (2006)4, the nature of quality is that if it is not improving, it is deteriorating and, therefore, it is necessary to make sure that the quality of service in any healthcare institution is well monitored and continually improved. Once all the players understand this, it becomes even easier for quality to be managed and made easier. As Chalice5 (2007) says, using the continuous quality improvement strategy is the best way to guarantee that the hospitals will be able to benefit from the improved quality in patient care delivery. Using Software to manage collaboration and quality management Just like many other businesses healthcare organisation are realizing the need for using software technology as a way to improve the quality of service and also increase customer service6. There are a number of dentistry software, which is geared to help dentists and their staff to be more productive, to better manage their finances and to increase the quality of care to their patients. In a modern world, software is not a choice for many businesses and it is necessary for businesses to be able to use software solutions in a way that will make the business to be a better able to carry out its business7. In managing the dentistry department in a hospital, it is necessary to have dentistry software. Dentists should not only depend on the other software in the hospital for managing its affairs. This is because the dentistry practice is different from other practices. Software is able to help in the vital part of continuous quality improvement implementation and can be used in helping to implement quality management in the dentistry department. The users can be trained in order to know how to use the software to monitor their service and their work. With regard to continuous quality improvement, the key to success is the ability to measure the quality of service at a particular time and later use this is later used to measure how the service has increased. The main challenge in implementing continuous quality improvement is the fact that measuring quality is very difficult and sometimes quality can be very subjective8. If the hospital is not able to measure quality, it may not be able to determine whether it is able to determine whether the quality of its patient care is getting worse or getting better. Managing quality in the healthcare environment is based on the accuracy of the care given to patients. These include things such as giving prescriptions, applying correct procedures, being able to perform accurate diagnosis etc. Failing to be able to look at any of these issues would leave the hospital at a point where it is not able to give quality care to its patients. Yet, the issue is that some incidents and accidents, which affect the quality of service are not easy to foresee. In such a case, software becomes very fundamental because it provides a number of ways in which quality can be achieved and enforced. One of the main issues with managing quality in the delivery of patient care is the use of shortcuts, which leads to critical mistakes being made9. The software can be used in avoiding shortcuts in giving care and thus help in improving the quality of care. At the same time, the software will be used to track the quality of care at all times in order to determine how the department is faring at all times. This will mean that the software will capture all the issues, which affect quality, such as errors, miscommunications, misdiagnosis, mis-prescription, etc on a daily basis in order to analyse the progress of the department in terms of curbing these issues. Leadership based on participation In implementing continuous quality improvement, it is necessary for the leader to be able to lead by example. Having management or leadership role in the hospital is usually a very challenging role especially considering the fragmented nature of the hospital working place. Every department in the hospital is served with individuals who are quite independent in their practice as opposed to what is seen in other industries where there is a hierarchical structure with the manager at the top being able to implement policies, which will make it possible to implement such things as change or quality management policies. The dentistry department is probably even more affected by this structure of operations and this mean that there may not be a central point from, which to implement internal policies. For this reason, it is necessary to understand that it is harder to implement continuous quality improvement in the dentistry environment unless the leader is able to lead by example. The leader must for example show their willingness and their commitment to participate in the process of managing change. The continuous quality improvement approach in implementing the quality development in should be approached from above10. The leader should be able to look at the way in which he will lead from the front. The leader should be able to look at the ways in which he will look at the ways in which he can motivate employees to be able to appreciate quality development in the hospital. In doing so, it is necessary for the leaders to be able to help the employees to understand that the leaders are committed to their welfare. Creating trust among the employees in the department is a good way to ensure that the employees will be as committed to improving the quality of the patient care they give. This means that in implement the continuous quality improvement policy, the leaders have to work closely with the employees. This will involve being able to participate closely in ht employees welfare and making them understand that the leader has the interest at heart. As a leader, therefore, it is necessary to find some time to spend with the employees both at an official capacity and also in an informal capacity in order to fully interact with the employees to understand the issues affecting the employees11. Once the leader is able to do this, not only will he or she create trust, it will also offer motivation in order to make sure that the employees are able to observe quality management issues. Quality management continues to be a big challenge in the hospital environment and without a solid plan and strategy to implement continuous quality improvement; it is going to be a harder task to achieve especially in the dentistry department. As a result, involving everyone in implementing quality in the hospital will be a good way to guarantee that the hospital and specific departments in the hospital will be able to improve the quality of their care to patients. Collaborations with patients and community Implementing the continuous quality improvement (COI) is not achievable unless and until the hospital is able to collaborate with the patients, their families and the community in general. This is even more so with regard to the dentistry department. As Mouradian, Huebner and DePaola12 2004) argue, collaboration with the community is especially important in making sure that the community understands the need to have proper dental care. This is because many people do not appreciate dental care as a health service and most people only go to the hospital when they have a very serious dental issue such as complete tooth decay leading to unbearable tooth ache. This compromises the quality of service to the dentistry department especially where quality of healthcare service is measured by the ability of the caregivers to reinstate the patient to total health. For instance, although an individual is supposed to have a dental examination every six months in order to detect early signs of any dental problems, most people ignore this and see it as one of those doctor things, which are just not possible to do. This points out to one important thing; the need to have a deep collaboration with the community in order to share ideas and opinions on how dental care can be delivered in a better way. The need to educate the public about dental health is, therefore, eminent and it is necessary for any dental department in any hospital to be able to look at the ways in which it will increase collaboration with the community it serves in order to make sure that the community understands the need for goods dental care. In line with this, it is necessary to understand that dental care is more than just a health issue. Dental care is also about other issues, which are important to an individual. Healthy teeth are seen as a sign of beauty and also as a sign of youth. In this regard, it becomes very necessary to be able to look at the ways in which the dental department can be able to offer good services because doing so may be a way of not only restoring health to the individual but as a way to restore a smile on the individual. Although the dental department in a hospital should not focus too much on ornamental dentistry, it is necessary to appreciate that dental care goes way beyond just restoring the health of the individual. Dental care has an aesthetic tough to it, and this also affects the quality of service in the department13. Working closely with the patient and the community at large can be seen as a way to improve the services and make sure that the hospital is able to deliver quality care to patients. At the same time, if the department is able to work with the community and help them to understand the need for them to be proactive about their dental health, the department may even be able to save costs because it will deal with less and fewer severe cares of dental issues (Lighter14, 2010). Priority setting There are a number of issues, which need to be addressed with regard to the way managers in hospitals do their priority setting. According to Reeleder15, et al, 2006) priority setting is a major issue affecting the quality of care. As a leader, one of the core strategies of managing quality is being able to set the priorities right. This helps a lot in budgeting resources such as time and finances16. As a result, the leader should be able to know what is important for the department at what times. This means, only one important thing, that the department should be able to have a good priority settings in order to help in making sure that it is able to utilize the resources in the most economical way. This will, however, also require the leader to collaborate closely with employees in order to understand their needs. Leaders should not just assume that they know what is best for their department and what the priority is; they should work with their juniors in order to understand what their juniors need and what they want in order to make sure that every need is well captured. Doing this will also motivate the employees and make them feel that they work environment issues are being addressed in the right way. Conclusions As Schiller17 (1994) argues quality management in any hospital environment is a big challenge and managers must be able to come up with ways of guaranteeing the best quality in patient care. Managers should combine a number of leadership strategies in order to make sure that they are able to achieve the highest quality. This is something, which has increased the need for many hospitals to look for ways in which they are able to increase their quality in delivering patient care. Many have turned to strategies such as continuous quality improvement in order to overcome the various challenges and hurdles, which are present in the industry especially due to the nature of the industry. This combines together with other strategies such as working together with the community and collaborating with patients and their families will be a good way to make sure that the dentist department is able to serve the needs of their patients and those of the community at large in a way that guarantees quality. The most important thing to note is that in managing quality in a hospital setting, the issue at stake is not how to maintain quality, but how to continually improve the quality. 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