Oman Healthcare System - Case Study Example

Health Care Management in Oman By Professor University Course City Date of submission Introduction It is a dream of every government to provide a comprehensive and effective health care system to its citizens. However, as some counties struggle to make this a reality, Oman citizens will soon enjoy state-of –art medical services through to the ministry of health, which has seen tremendous improvements. Emarald (2015, n.p.) notes that this is due to good administrative management. Over the time, the ministry has adopted a decentralization policy that aims at integration of health care systems to regional levels and through this program as low as at community level; the citizens will be able to access better health care services (Al-Adawi, 2014, 83). This material distribution is so far effective in the reduction of mortality rates. Moreover, the ministry aims at improving the life expectancy of its citizens to that of people living in the developed countries. The expansion of the health care system into the regional communities has also resulted into establishment of several training institutions to train the Omani workforce in all health professional categories in order to achieve the highest level of self-sufficiency in health care to promote and maintain a balance in human resource required in the health sector (Emarald, 2015, n.p.). According to Al-Reesi and Al-Maniri (2014, 313), these institutions are of help in continuous provision of health care personnel to meet the increasing demand for health care service. It is good to note that even the constructions of these institutions are in different regions to enhance material balance in health care provision. Organizational rationale to creating equality in human and material distribution Oman country is not just like any other on topography, it has so many ragged surfaces and mountains that can discourage the accesses and consequently the development of certain areas, but this has not been the case here so far, the government investments in infrastructure such as roads is paying off very well (Al-Riyami, 2012, 190). It continuously promoting accesses to all parts of the country leading to not only constructions of hospitals and clinics but also easy movement of the health personnel from different locations to the regional communities thus enhancing equal opportunities in distribution of human and material resources (Ministry of Health of Sultanate of Oman, 2015, n.p.). Technological advancement is a revolutionary in the twenty first century where computer applications are key to most of the activities (Fottler, Erickson and Rivers, 2006, 66; Al-Sawai, 2013, 285). They are in use from daily businesses to handsets for communication. Hospitals, are transforming rapidly through modernization. They use computer in data storage as well as operating most of the machines in the intensive care unit. The ministry of health is investing so much in telecommunication that links all the health sectors with an aim of making data sharing and accessing the country health status easier (Al-Shidhani, Bhargava and Rizvi, 2011, 250). Linking up the entire health sector will make distribution of resources and monitory much possible. Moreover, it will also promote accountability within the health sector. Since the ministry will be able to monitor and supply each region with their much needed resource. It is interesting to note that the ministry is driven by a vision, “health vision 2050” which enlisted the ministry short-term vision as well as long-term visions of health development to Oman citizens (Fottler, Erickson and Rivers, 2006, 68). SWOT ANALYSIS All organization should carefully analyse its strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats. This is helpful in the strategic management as well as decision-making (Fottler, Erickson and Rivers, 2006, 71). When an organization is fully aware of its strengths and opportunities it can be used to their advantage against their threats, As well as to improve on their weaknesses. Generally, swot analysis helps to understand the internal and the external environments of the organization. Strengths Health care is a high labour-intensive institution that not only depends on the technical skills and expertise of those who create or sustain the health but also precise application of knowledge is necessary to ensure safety of the patients. Therefore, Human Resource for Health (HRH) in health care system should be highly appreciated (Ministry of Health of Sultanate of Oman, 2015, n.p.). Over the time Oman health care sector has received tremendous improvement thanks to a much highly guided administration, which functions on five fundamental administrative functions that include, planning, organization, follow-up, supervision, and recruitment. Alshishtawy (2009, 127) posits that the organization wishes to implement its strategic management in two phases, long and short-term visions. The organization structure is such that it has different departments charged with decentralization of health care services and management of the resources. The ministry also conducts continuous follow-up and supervisions on the health care projects to enhance accountability. Installation of communication network in the health care facilities is constantly improving the rates of handling patients and emergency cases (Aristovnik, 2015, 76). Weaknesses Just as in developing countries, Oman still faces challenges of in adequate supply of medical personals. This attributes to the growing demand for health workforce in the country. However, this has seen a decrease due to the efforts by the ministry through the establishment of the Oman medical specialty board (OMSB) mandated by the government to supervise and enrol medical programme (Ministry of Health of Sultanate of Oman, 2015, n.p.). Based on experiences in the past the reputation of the public health system of Oman is nowhere better, which has blind so many people even to see the improvements in the system giving the private sector an advantage of the public. As outlined by Baddeley (2006, 214) financial problems to the ministry of health have results into slow growth in the sector compared to the private, forcing the organization to limit the number of medical practitioners that can be absorbed into the system. Inadequate funds in the organization have slowed decentralization of the health facilities. Opportunities Health care services offers a broad area of opportunities, the ministry as a government agency can invest in training of the organization staff to attain high levels of speciality. The government can also elaborate policies to set-up other medical training institution to enhance increases supply of the technical staff to deal with the rising demand for more health works in the region. Munda (2015, 11) posits that by developing health, information system the organization can be able to create research institutions and pharmaceutical companies to drug sustainability. This will also help the country in minimising importation of drugs thus redirecting the money in other projects (Bakhshimazdeh and Alikhasi, 2015, 119). The organization can also use this opportunity to correct the dented image, by creating awareness to the public on services offered in the both regional and national hospitals. Threats Major threat to most of the organizations is the competition; similarly, the ministry of health faces the same problem. Competition from private sector is a real threat. These private institutions are investing into state of art equipment making them more preferable by the middle-income earners (Munda, 2015, 11; Boslaugh, 2009, 45). Therefore, continuous renovation and investment into the health care to out-compete the private sector is key in trying to balance material and human resources because even medical practitioners like to work in conducive environments with favourable work conditions. The economy of the Oman is a threat to the development of the health care sector. Regional distribution of material and human resources to all parts of the country and maintenance is very expensive that can hinder the development of other sector of the economy or results into an economic strain (Bowen and Early, 2002, 78; Crisp, 2010, 147). Maybe, the government may have a choice to borrow from external sources to ensure continuous funding but this again can end-up putting the country into large amount of depts. The 7s Framework of MOH of Oman The organization works in restoring adequate and balanced distribution of human and material resources to all its operating agencies and departments. Although the company continues to meet threats and weaknesses in the scope of its operations to achieve the underlying objective, it gears towards achieving the best (Etzkowitz and Spivack, 2001, 510; Grandstaff, and Sorenson, 2009, 119). To achieve the set objective the company focuses on the establishing a better utilization of its strengths and opportunities to establish a more defined distribution of human and material resources. The organization applies the 7s framework to ensure a balance of its SWOT with an aim of maintaining proper health management throughout the country of Oman. The various components of the 7s are analyzed as follows: i. Strategy One of the components that faced the organization was the operational framework of the organization. That is, the ministry operated within a centralized structure that made it difficult for equal distribution of the human and medical resources. Over time, the organization continues to diverse its operations through the incorporation of various policies aimed at decentralizing the health services. The introduction of the Organization and Health Policy acted as a breakthrough to the underlying weaknesses (Griffiths, 2008, 265). The strategy aims at implementing its development plans of ensuring health services to all the people of Oman regardless of their location. The strategy traverses the crystallized system of the 1990. To achieve equal distribution of health services within Oman, the MOH steered the governoratealization of health services and decentralizing of the decision-making systems. Such decisions included technical, financial and administrative roles. The MOH also emphasized on the importance and role of health planning at the local level to ensure well designed plans to minimize wastage of material resources (Hansen, 2012, 201). Similarly, the introduction of constant education and training services at the local health facilities paved way for the development of required health standards among junior health practitioners at the local relatively matching the standards of the national level. In addition, the MOH emphasizes on the need of health systems research at all levels of medical operations to ensure continuous innovation and development of new methods of medication within and without Oman (Heizer and Render, 2014, 45; Khan, 2015, 393). Lastly, the governmental and international relations adopted by the MOH plays a pivotal role in defining the structural operations and communication framework of the ministry. This maintains an efficient communication criteria contributing to faster implementation of the desired suggestions. ii. Structure Presently, the MOH adopted a three Undersecretaries strategy to ensure proper analysis of the health aspects at all stages and regions. The Undersecretaries, which include Planning Affairs, Health Affairs, and Administrative and Financial Affairs, work under the Minister of Health ensuring constant update to the minister (Joshi and Bayoumi, 2012, 346). The Undersecretaries can also implement and make a follow of certain projects at regional upon the approval of the minster. The Office of the Undersecretaries comprise of Directorates-General and Directorates offices that work in unison to ensure full implementation of the departmental tasks. Each of the Directorates are headed by Directors who are the chairperson of various departmental committees. According to Lepelstat (2011, 250), the organizational structure of the ministry comprise of The Health Council. The council provides extensive directions concerning health development within Sultanate. Apart from the council, the office of the minister also has consultants and advisors who guides on the implementation process. The organizational structure of the MOH of Oman recorded balanced health management systems in 2005 upon the establishment of the new structure (Kumar, 2012, 237; Plante, 2010, 98). Presently, the structure also incorporates the Directorates of Public Relations, International Relations, Directorate General of Internal Audit and the Department of Records and Legal Affairs. The inclusion of all these specialized structures of organization contributes greatly to the equal distribution of human and material resources within the MOH of Oman. iii. System The ministry of Health of Oman continues to adopt advanced systems to help in the achievement of the desired goal of providing equal distribution of health services to the people of Sultanate. First, the organization developed a Data Processing and Information Systems which is capable of tapping medical operations and generating the needed commands (Lepelstat, 2011, 249) The development of the system provides medical service statistics essential for public and health care providers. The automated system ensures acquisition of the data of a previous month and feeding that information on an Info Bank database where it is accessible to the top management office at the ministry headquarters. Such quick transmission data ensures comprehensive analysis. In the end, the organization developed an improved planning, monitoring and evaluation. The adoption of the e-Health systems is another important milestone unleashed by the ministry to ensure ambient operations. The systems enhance sharing of information among various health facilities, from the national level to regional level. An important element of the e-Health system is the National e-Health Records Repository, which is capable of providing of both medical, administrative and financial, records simultaneously. Currently, 189 health care facilities under the MOH use the system (Medical Center Health, 2000, 2722; Parsa et al, 188). The ministry also developed a medical procuring software that ensures equal distribution of materials to all health facilities. Most of these health facilities gained international standardization attracting a large population on international needs. Such developments together with adoption of the Health Education eLibrary, the ministry ensures acquisition of the necessary information on medical statistics (Pentescu, CetinÄ and Dumitrescu, 2011, 388). The development of these health systems contributes to fair and equitable distribution of health management services. Upon the analysis of the information, the ministry initiates a development plan that evaluates periodically the human and infrastructural health facilities to enable efficient policy reforms. iv. Shared value The MOH of Oman Vision 2050 applies various mechanisms to attain its focus of developing fair and equitable primary health care to all its citizens. To achieve this vision, the ministry applies the six management pillars of dedication, excellence, professionalism, integrity, care and passion and teamwork. The ministry ensures that all the people within the Sultanate region acquire the best doctors as well as medical resources to facilitate the service delivery of such medical facilities (Rhodes, Battin and Silvers, 2002, 241). The office of the minister of health incorporates the community in defining health promotions and inter-sectorial collaboration aimed increasing awareness concerning the available health facilities. Besides, the shared value ensures creation of positive impact on maintaining high investments at the quaternary and tertiary health care centers. v. Style The Ministry of Oman applies a series of style to ensure accomplishment of the objective of providing fair and equity in the distribution of health facilities to all the health sectors within the Sultanate. Through the culture of one healthcare for all, the ministry focuses on providing the principal medical needs to the community both at the local and national level. According to Robinson (2004, 56), the organization is forward looking and driven by oneness in medical management within the region. The ministry is steered by the available opportunities such as research and adequate intellectual resources, which provides a foundation for the establishment of more advanced medical systems. The ministry provides various motivational resources to the staff to ensure focus in the path to providing the best services. All the models applied gear towards creating better management systems that ensure maximum utilization of the available opportunities. The model also applies the strengths to provide a competitive advantage over the impending threats and weaknesses. The ministry uses the one passion model to build a brand of equity and fairness through provision of support to the communities (Scholl, 2005, 71). The ministry also focuses on producing environmentally friendly products that cause minimal harm to both the patients, their families and the doctors. vi. Staff As outlined by Selinus, Finkelman and Centeno (2010, 342) the ministry benchmarks on an operational policy that attracts and retains staff members. One of such policies is the career development pathways. Once employed, the ministry takes the responsibility to ensure that all its employees acquire the necessary and most recent skills that will allow effective service delivery. Besides, the ministry organizes frequent workshops and seminars geared towards shaping the knowledge and experience of the medical and paramedical employees. The strategy ensures enhancement of the required skills to hold various positions at both national and international level. Moreover, the ministry also facilitates and finance national and international exchange programmes every August focused at creating a diverse operational experience at various levels (Selinus, Finkelman and Centeno, 2010, 136). In fact, the ministry also trains its staff on how to use certain modern healthcare equipment without any fee. Such educational developments focus on empowering the employees to cope with the international medical standards. The ministry also provides financial reward to the employees. For instance, in 2014, the ministry changed the grades of medical and paramedical staffs due to the intensive roles and responsibilities they perform. Consequently, their salaries hiked in the same year. The increase in salary for both the expatriates and the nationals’ staff acted as a motivation raising the low medical turnover of 19.1% (World Health Organization, 2015, n.p.). The increase in salary in all hospitals and sections enhances fairness and equality in in the distribution of human resources since the medical practitioners could receive their desired salary at all places of work. vii. Skills The achievement of the objective of fairness and equality requires innovative approaches particularly in line with service delivery. Said (2015, 304) asserts that the ministry should focus on establishing new technological techniques a health-wellness trend. The skills should focus on professionalism and efficiency with clear understanding of the goal. A defined skill must constitute a time schedule for accomplishments of every project. The focus of skills applied relies on the strategies such as resource commitment through continuous innovation. The organization must employ more technological medical devices, modern health practices, and development of real time information. Besides, feedback from the staff and patients together with their families is an important concept in management that must have pertinent consideration (Said, 2015, 211). Each material resource disseminated must provide clearer health information. Shahid, Taha and Abdelfattah (2013, 67) note that constant updating of the systems is important to ensure effective operations. Therefore, the ministry must ensure fair and equitable allocation of resources to expand the innovative limit for new ideas. Besides, the recruitment and selection criteria of staff should focus on creating a spinoff of creative ideas. Finally, the style applied must inculcate must be visionary ensuring set pace for innovation. Organizational approach to meet the objective The organization uses various approaches to meet fairness and equality in human and material resource within the whole of Oman. One of such approaches is the community involvement in which they incorporate the community in their daily operations. The community provides the required information that ensures establishment of the necessary facilities to meet their rising needs (Oxford Business Group, 2007, n.p.). The community in collaboration with the local health facilities monitors the operations within their jurisdictions and compares such services with the neighbouring locality. Any disparity is communicated to the management board level during an annual general meeting of all the stakeholders of the health facility, of which the community form part. Similarly, a section of the community members also form part of the local policy makers. Therefore, they are capable of addressing some of the issues affecting them to help create balance in health management. One of the greatest challenge faced by the country is the ability to address the Oral Health in various institutions. According to a survey on Oral Health, an approximated number of one child, between the ages of 5 and 6, out of four suffers from dental carries in most of the health facilities. The main contributor to the effect is the low socioeconomic status, which constitutes about 90% of the total population (Spivack, 2001, 503). In order to curb the limited number of dentists, the ministry developed a training project aimed at enrolling more dentists in colleges and universities. According to the 2010 report, only 654 nurses existed, a number slightly lower than the demand for such specialists (Oxford Business Group, 2007, n.p.). The training scheme approach tends to provide Oral Health up to the local level to create equality in medical management. Additionally, the ministry of health adopted a preventive approach at all the regional health facilities to curb oral and dental diseases at an early age. The services, which only existed at the national level, transcended to the grassroots health facilities creating equality in health management. The ministry also uses mobile clinic as an approach to creating efficient health services within the local level. The mobile clinic operates from one region to another as scheduled by the Planning department of the ministry. Often, the mobile service also includes blood donation drive to ensure distribution to other health institutions of deficit (Spivack, 2001, 508). During the mobile medical care, medical practitioners from various regions provide quality healthcare. Nevertheless, is ineffective due to the high costs of operation and hiring of medical officers. Management leadership contribution Most a times we fail to differentiate between management and leadership. That is because leadership and management go hand in hand. The truth is that management is an essential instructional leadership tool (Murphy, 2012, 104). Working in such organization means I will be up to the leadership and management tasks. Therefore, material most times we fail to differentiate between management and leadership. That is because leadership and management go hand in hand. The truth is that management is an essential instructional leadership tool. Working in such organization means I will be up to the leadership and management tasks. Therefore, material management place me in concern with the operations involve in the daily flow of materials in the organization such as purchasing, inventory control, receiving, storing as well as shipping of finished or cleared products. As a material manager, I have a responsibility to determine the amount of inventory and its accountability. This will help us to minimize capital investment by cutting down on the coasts of purchases thus lowering the inventory investment and increasing the inventory turnover. This way, we can acquire enough materials to achieve our sole objective of distributing these resources equally to Oman citizens in all parts of the country. In the capacity of human and material resource manager, promoting cooperation of the entire department will enhance the free flow of the needed materials to different parts as well as information. Therefore, it enhances communication (Murphy, 2012, 105). The easy flow of information will also help in the quick respond to the market changes with respect to new products and services such as the release of new drugs and vaccines to the public whenever the need may arise. My organization will not only like to ensure equal and balance the distribution of human and material resources but also ensure quality services and products, and this seems to be integrating to other sectors with medical training institutions and universities to conduct adequate training of health personnel. Inventory control and management is key in material resource management. Receiving, handling and storage before dispatching of these resources involves labor-intensive procedures that ensure proper labeling, packaging to avoid mix-ups as well as proper storage under required temperatures (Al-Subhi and Colorado State University, 2007, 112). The organization should have a well-developed policy on the distributions under a well-established chain of command. This will help to ensure proper procedures in dealing with the endemic problem. This will help in equal distribution of the resources. For smooth implementation of every project, it is always important to engage the public participation (Community health and Disease Surveillance, 2015, 4). This helps in awareness creation and developing a sense of belonging in the society. The government also realizes reduced coast of expenditure, allowing more purchases. As a leader, it is important to carry out audits and recommend specific equipment if needed. When purchasing the equipment, it is important to select one that will ensure a continuous flow of production, increase production time, reduce total material handling coast as well as reduce accidents. After distribution of equipment like machines to different hospitals in various locations, it is important to make continuous follow-up inspections to monitor their usage and inspect wear and tear. After inspection, repairable parts should be fix (Al-Subhi and Colorado State University, 2007, 68). This will ensure continuous service to the people. Keeping operating procedures with the machines and promoting adequate training to new members of staff will help to reduce workers risk and the machine's life span. Thus, the equipment serves the organization for a long period within their operational schedule. As outlined by the Ministry of Health (2015, 1), a notable difference exists in the distribution of nurses in the region of Sultanate. There is a need to create effective distribution of such nurses to maintain proper operations of the medical sector. As a leader, I would ensure further training of more nurses within the region to facilitate an increase in the number of medical practitioners in the region. The training systems would employ an approach of sponsoring all the top five highly performing students at the regional level and offer them free higher education with an intent of pursuing medicine as a course (Murphy, 2012, 104). The move will aim at increasing the number of qualified medical personnel, which has been a hindrance to the distribution of such professions in the region. The move ensures that the trend works in an attempt to stabilize the professional field as well change the perception of citizens towards doing that course. An observable key limitation to the distribution of medical practitioners in Sultanate of Oman is the long procedures that most doctors face to receive full credentials as a qualified doctor (Ministry of Health, 2015, 2). Therefore, most of qualified doctors have been unable to practice their knowledge due to lack of license. To curb this, I would ensure timely administration of the various qualifications examinations without compromising the quality of the services provided. The project will focus on providing the basic medical interventions especially in the field of pediatrics, which still records low turnout of specialized doctors. Therefore, the increment in the number of new medical joining the medical field will ensure adequate distribution to other places with inefficient medical practitioners. Proper handling of staff, patients their families plays a crucial role in defining the distribution of human resources. Most senior management tends to threaten their juniors with termination of duties or rather lowering the promotional rank of that individual. Most organizations, Sultanate of Oman included, sometimes undergo a recession due to increased threats within the medical field (Al-Subhi and Colorado State University, 2007, 54). This in turn affects the national average for health care human resources resulting in imbalanced distribution of medical practitioners. Under such circumstances, the ministry tends to concentrate the available human resources to national and referral hospitals rather than the local health facilities (Ministry of Health, 2015, 2). In order to establish, a balanced distribution of health resources I will ensure proper and inclusive handling of the employees ensuring maintenance of a good relationship both vertically and horizontally within the ministry. Similarly, employees’ empowerment is an essential norm of operational structure. Most medical practitioners undergo strenuous academic field and work conditions that they require someone to encourage them as they perform their duties (Community health and Disease Surveillance, 2015, 6). Observably, most medical institutions tend to neglect such practices and end up exposing the employees to hard working conditions, particularly long working hours with low payments. The increasing trend has kept most academicians out of the field citing the aforementioned reasons. The employees further discourage other like-minded people to keep off the duties in line with health education due to the perceptions (Taylor, 2012, 69). Therefore, as a leader I would ensure proper working conditions and maintenance of a relatively higher pay to attract more medical practitioners into the field. In the end, the number of available medical practitioners will aid in ensuring provision of efficient medical services to all places within the region. This will contribute an eventual even distribution of such specialists creating a balance in regional distribution of human resources. Conclusion The Ministry of Health of Sultanate of Oman mandates the medical resources distribution within the region. The ministerial structure plays an important role in defining such medical resources distribution. In order to achieve the objectives of fairness and equality in the distribution of medical resources, the ministry has to set a defined framework of operations. Together with the organizational structure and the proper SWOT analysis, the ministry is in a position to meet its set objectives. References Al-Adawi, S. (2014). Tomorrow’s People Matters: Evidence for Action in Oman. Oman Medical Journal, 29(2), 83-84. Al-Reesi, H. and Al-Maniri, A. (2014). Road Traffic Injuries among Young Drivers in Oman. Oman Medical Journal, 29(5), 313. Al-Riyami, A. (2012). Health Vision 2050 Oman: A Committed Step towards Reforms. 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