Strategic Planning Concepts and its Application in the Health Information Management Services - Literature review Example

Strategic Planning Name Course Contents Contents 2 Part 1: Literature Review 3 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Definition of Strategic Plan 3 3.0 Importance of Strategic Planning 4 4.0 Steps in Strategic Planning 4 5.0 Value of a Strategic Plan 5 6.0 Stakeholders Role in Strategic Planning 6 7.0 Strategic planning in Health Information Management Department 7 Part 2: Strategic Plan 9 1.0 Executive Summary 9 2.1 Mission 9 2.2 Vision 10 3.0 Strategies 10 3.1 Improving Data and Document Management 10 3.2 Increasing the Staff to enhance the efficiency of the department 12 3.3 Training of the Employees 13 4.0 SWOT analysis 14 5.0 Risk Identification and Management 15 Conclusion 16 Part 1: Literature Review 1.0 Introduction According to a survey conducted in 2013, there has been increasing pressure from governments and general public on different organizations over the quality of the services and products they provide (Schloerb, 2013). The public continues to expect improved services and products from government, business and social institutions. In addition, the increased competition among organizations in various fields has left the institutions with no option other than embarking on ways to improve the quality of the services and products they provide to the public. In order to achieve this goal, organizations have turned to strategic planning as the roadmap to the success. This literature will review strategic planning concepts and its application in the Health Information Management Services. 2.0 Definition of Strategic Plan There are no fixed words that are used as definition of the term strategic plan. According to Mintzberg, a strategic plan is a document used by an organization to communicate its goals and the actions in which it intend to take in order to achieve success (2008). It is an important tool that governs the work of any organization or communicates a strategy that would have a positive impact on the organization. Bryson, state that strategic plan provides guidance in attaining an organization’s mission with the highest efficiency and impact (2010). It communicates an organization mission and states the resources that are required to achieve the mission. Organization plans are revamped and reviewed after a period of time usually after three years. 3.0 Importance of Strategic Planning Strategic planning is of importance to Health Information Management Department. First, the plan is important in fostering the quality of the service the department provides to the people. Management of records plays a vital role in improving the quality of services provided by the department (Ambrose & Paine, 2012). Second, the plan is essential in meeting the hospital’s mission and vision. Strategic plan shows steps which an organization will take to achieve their mission and vision. Therefore, the plan will make Jeddah hospital remain within the course of attaining its mission and vision. Lastly, strategic planning will allow the hospital to maximize its chances for success. Strategic planning allows an organization to identify other areas which it can exploit to increase its success (Ambrose & Paine 2012). 4.0 Steps in Strategic Planning Strategic planning starts by performing an assessment of the environment surrounding the institution. The assessment of the environment allows identification of strategic issues that require monitoring, immediate action and those that require future action. This is followed by development of vision and mission that are the goals which the organization wants to achieve. Strategies are developed stating how each goal will be achieved. A strategic plan is prepared and is presented to stakeholders’ for approval. Upon the approval of the strategic plan, the implementations of the plan can commerce. Monitoring and updating of the plan strategy is done to ensure that the implementation is done in accordance with the initial plan. In addition, monitoring allows identification and management of risks (Zuckerman, 2005). 5.0 Value of a Strategic Plan There are many benefits that accrue to an organization that formulate and implement strategic planning process. First, strategic planning provides direction, road map and focus in health information management services. It gives a clear route to be followed in order to achieve set goals. A successive strategy is dependent on how well employees and other stakeholders in an organization understand the strategy and its implementation. Understanding of strategy allows various parts of an organization to align their activities towards the realization of its goals. According to a study conducted in the 2012, healthcare systems are becoming increasing complex. The complex of the system has made it hard to align various parts of medical department toward a common goal. The problem of confusion among different parts of same organization has been solved through strategic planning. An effectively formulated and executed strategic plan provides the clarity and the direction to various stakeholders involved in the organization. It communicates to the employees about the future goals of the organization so that they can gear their work towards the direction of the entire organization (Wojner, 2011). Strategic planning enhances allocation of resources available. Money is a limited resource that should not only be managed effectively but also allocated appropriately. Medical information management department comprises several parts with varying resources requirement. Strategic planning allows proper allocation of the available resources to the various activities depending on the available resources at their requirement (Wojner, 2011). For instance, there are sections that deal with the information on maternity, oncology, outpatient services and plastic surgery among others. According to Zuckerman, strategic planning improves organization performance (2005). Improving an organization performance is the main reason behind formulating and implementing strategic plan. Strategic plans are geared toward providing better services and products to the people than their current quality. It aims at reducing the negative aspects and capitalizing on the strengths of an organization. It allows exchange of ideas and input from all parts of an organization which contribute in improving the performance of an organization. Zuckerman, elaborating this point states that more heads are better than one (2005). Strategic planning provides a platform through which all parts in an organization have a chance of expressing their opinions. 6.0 Stakeholders Role in Strategic Planning Stakeholders play a vital role in the strategic planning. Failure to involve the stakeholders makes the implementation of a strategy very difficult which sometimes can result to the failure of the entire strategy. Haines state that success of a strategy is measured by the extent to which stakeholder’s requirements are met and satisfied. Stakeholders comprise all individual that have vested interest in a given project or plan. Some of the most common stakeholders in any strategic planning involve employees, governments, suppliers, local community and customers among others. Those who are involved in the implementation of the strategy are referred to as internal while those that do not take part in the implementation but are affected by the plans are referred as external stakeholders. Both stakeholders play a central role in success of a strategic plan. Involvement of the stakeholders in strategic planning reduces distrust and increase commitment. Strategic planning can result to distrust which sometimes culminates to disagreement and conflict among various stakeholders. For instance, external stakeholders blame the internal stakeholders in the case of failure of any part of the strategy. However, the involvement of the all the stakeholders ensures representation of all the people with vested interests in the plan. This involvement ensures that all the interests of all the groups of the stakeholders are considered which reduces the distrust. Involvement of the stakeholders in strategic planning increases their commitment to the strategy plan. Haines states that the commitment shown by stakeholders towards implementation of a strategy is proportional to the level of their involvement in the strategic planning process (2009). The implementations of the strategy depend wholly on stakeholders. Institution employees carry out the day to day implementation of the strategy. Therefore, it would be necessary to involve the employees in the strategic planning in order to increase their commitment when they will be carrying out the strategy. The same should apply to all the stakeholders as all of them play a certain role in the implementation of the strategy. 7.0 Strategic planning in Health Information Management Department Strategic thinking demands making conscious decisions about how to use limited resources to attain the intended outcome despite the dynamics environment. Consequently, strategic planning process focuses on determining the priorities among numerous issues. Bryson states that there are three strategic issues which include: (a) Those that coming up to the horizon and will demand for an action in future. (b) Those that require immediate attention (c) The present issues that require to be monitored and not action is required. He continues to argue that strategic issues should be described in a single paragraph and the factors that make the issues a challenge should be identified. In addition, outcome of failing to address the issue should be identified. Evaluation of the outcome of fail of addressing the issues allows an organization to know the kind of the problems is likely to face in future. The issues are identified by analyzing the SWOT analysis and listing the issues that need consideration. The issues are discussed to identify various types of strategic issues. Prioritizing is the last step in the identifying the issues to be include. There are a number of issues which researchers have cited impacting on the Health Information Management. Some of the issues include the quality of the document kept; the quality and the quantity of the employees and the quality of the services provided. According to Jackson, poor data and document storage affect the quality of the services provided by Health Information Management Department. In addition, most of the departments have poor trained employees. The employees lack the skills and the knowledge to effectively deal with the increasing amount of data. The situation is complicated by the shortage of employees in the departments. Lastly, the quality of the services provided by the department is a concern. Statistics indicates that most of the departments provide services that fall short of the accepted standard. Part 2: Strategic Plan 1.0 Executive Summary Jeddah Hospital is a public metropolitan hospital that has been providing a variety of medical services such as maternity, oncology, pediatric surgery and a range of outpatient services. As a metropolitan hospital, it has been providing health services to a considerable large number of people. In order to provide quality services to the increasing number of the patients, the hospital plans to expand its capacity and improve the existing facilities. At the heart of the expansion, the hospital want to improve it Health Information Management Department as the department plays a central role in provision of quality services. This strategic plan will describes Jeddah Hospital strategic plan on the expansion and improvement of its Health Information Management Department. 2.1 Mission Mission statement describes what an institution intend to do and the reason behind doing it. It is developed from the purpose in which an organization intended to achieve. It describes an organization’s future purpose. It is usually short, concise, inclusive and clear. Jeddah statement could be: to enhance quality of medical services through improved Health Information Management Services. 2.2 Vision Like mission, vision describes the future of an organization but is more concrete in the sense that it includes the organization inspirations. It is developed from the mission and contains the value of the project. Jeddah Hospital could be: Improve and expand our Information Management Department in order to provide quality and effective health services. 3.0 Strategies It is apparent that Jeddah Hospital requires strategic plan to address strategic issues impacting on its information department. The hospital has not been spared by the major issues that are affecting Health Information Management Department in most parts of the world. The issues include recording keeping, quality of services and quality of the employees in this department. In order to address these strategic issues, this paper put forward three strategies to be implemented for the organization to achieve its goal of accommodating about 70000 patients by the year 2016. The strategy involves training of the employees in the department, improving the data and document management and employing enough employees to enhance the efficiency of the department. 3.1 Improving Data and Document Management The 21st century is characterized with increase in the need for health services. Large number has turned to health centers in order to obtain these services. The quality of the services provided by the institutions has also been scrutiny by governments among other stakeholders in the sector. At the heart of the situation is the role of the Information Management Department in the health sector (Wojner, 2011). In order to succeed, Jeddah Hospital should be able to meet a number of goals in regard to its data and document management. The goals include improving the safety of data, enhancing the access of the information and improving collection and storage of the data Jeddah, hospital intends to expand and increase the number of the people they serve. One of the major concerns will be the collection of the information from the increased number of patients and other sources of the information. Jeddah Hospital is required to provide capacity and capability in data collection. First, the organization is required to have facilities to collect the data and store them effectively. The advance in technology has resulted to development of effective data collection such as screening and camera among others (Wojner, 2011). Computer software has also been developed and is effective in the collection of the data. Second, the hospital is required to employ specialists in the field with skills and experience in collection of the data from patients and other parties involved. The specialists should have the capability to effectively store the information. Collection of the information is just but the beginning of the management of the data and records. Storage of the data is as essential for the success of the health information management services. The most important aspect, Jeddah Hospital should focus on data storage, is the capacity and safety of records. The institution should provide data and record storage facilities with high capacity to store the large number of records and classified information. In addition to the primary and offsite storage, it should provide back-up facilities to ensure that the records are safe. Safety measures should also be addressed in order to maintain the validity and confidence of the information (Wojner, 2011). Lastly, the hospital should enhance the integration of all the records at the hospital. The main aim of the management of the records is to refer to them in the future. Therefore, future retrieval of the records is more essential in the department and for the entire hospital operation. Integration of the records is required to ensure that various parts of the department have effective access to the record especially when they are required. Information sharing and transportation facilities should be installed to foster the integration and access of the information (Schloerb 2013). However, security measures should ensure that the records are not accessed or tampered with during the transportation. 3.2 Increasing the Staff to enhance the efficiency of the department In this strategy, the Jeddah Hospital should aim at achieving two main goals. The first goal is to improving the department service by providing enough and right employees. Second is to provide the required resources to the employees. Expansion of the Jeddah Hospital means that the hospital will have to deal with a large number of people per day companied to current number. In order to provide the services, the information management department should have enough employees to attend to the large number of the people that require the services. Hospitals that are underemployed tend to provide compromised services due to the pressure from mounting workload. The collection, storage and retrieval of the information is not done effectively hence affecting the quality of the services the department provide. However, enough employees ensure that the workload is not large and that the services are provided impartially. Increasing the number of the employees in the information should be done to meet various professional requirements in the department. The department should employ specialists from Pediatrics Surgery, Orthopedics, Oncology, general Surgery and Maternity among other areas of specialties in the health field. In addition, they should have some skills and knowledge in handling and managing data. The diversity of the specialization will ensure that every employees deal with the areas they can deliver best. In addition, the large number of employees increases the pool of ideas in the provision of the services. The second goal of the provision of the resources supports the first goal. Employees must be provided with the capacity or tools to use to perform their work. In order to deliver effective and quality services, the employees should be provided with the necessary equipment to enhance effective functioning of the department. Some of the equipment the hospital should strategies to procure includes various types of files, storage equipment, medical charts cabinets, camera and computers among others. The equipment will have a number of benefits to the employees. First, they would increase the speed employees’ work. Second, the equipment will increase their accuracy and neatness. For instance, computers allow quick access of stored information. 3.3 Training of the Employees This strategy aim at providing quality health services to the people through improving the quality of the employees providing the services. The goals in the strategy are to train existing employees and employing well trained employees in the future. Training and development has become a very essential requirement in the current world. Technology is changing while the rate of change of delivery of health services has also been high. The technology has been integrated in the sector and most of the employees in the department have no knowledge about the technology. For instance, most employees who have been working in the hospital for long are not familiar with information technology and its operation. Training and employee training gives the employees a chance to learn new skills and increase their knowledge. The skilled employees delivery effectively hence improving the quality of work the employee provide to patients (Schloerb, 2013,). Selection of the quality employees during recruitment is another method Jeddah need to use to maintain quality employees. Employing skilled and experienced employees will make the department provide quality services to the people. Recruitment of employees who are skilled and experienced will save the hospital the resources which could have used to train the employees to adapt to the nature of the services they are expected to deliver. In addition, it ensures that the quality of the employees is maintained high all through even when they are new employees in the hospital (Meloche, 2012). 4.0 SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is a common practice that is done to assess the viability of a give project or action. In strategic planning, SWOT analysis is used to identify strength, weakness, threats and opportunities. It evaluates both positive and negative elements that may affect the strategic plan both from internal or external environment. It allows an organization to evaluate a project from different dimensions. The analysis is simple to conduct but it is effective when conducted by an individual who understand the nature of the strategic plan and the environment that surrounds it implementation (Jackson, 2009). In the view of this strategic plan, it has its strength, weakness, threats and opportunities. Strengths: Increased effectiveness of the services provided by the department due to the incorporation of technology Reduced complaints Increased quality of the services Reduced costs Weakness: Initial cost of installation cost is relatively high Training and development of the employees require relatively cost Opportunities: Improved public confidence due to the provision of high quality services Increase in the number of customers due to the high efficiency Capacity to lower the cost as a result of future technology innovations Threats: Technology is very dynamic and is evolving fast which could result to high cost of operation to keep up with the advancement. The plan may not be able to meet the intended objectives 5.0 Risk Identification and Management Risk identification and management is critical part of strategic planning. It involves assessment, evaluation and identification of the risks in the strategic plan. It also involves taking measures to minimize, monitor and control the identified risks in order to reduce their negative impacts on the project (Haines, 2009). There are a number of pervasive risks evident in the strategic plan that Jeddah Hospital wants to implement. The risks range from the safety of the records, medical errors as a result of incorrect information, poor quality of employees, shortage of finance and lack of adequate staff among others. The identification of these risks should be done through regular assessment of the plan in order to identity any advancing risks before assessing it to determine the threats that might result from the risks. Identification of the risks is critical, so is the mitigation of the problem. Identification of a risk is followed by taking corrective measures to mitigate the effects of the risks. The measures will vary depending on the nature of the risks. For instance, the problem of poor quality of employees can be done by vetting the employees and recruiting new employees selectively. Conclusion The strategic plan recommends a number of strategies which Jeddah Hospital should implement in order to achieve their 2016 goals. In particular, the plan focuses on improving the Jeddah department of Information Management. The hospital requires to employees enough and skilled people to deal the with the data management. In addition, it requires a data storage facilities and safety measures. These strategies will improve the quality and efficiency of the department especially in dealing with the increasing number of the patients. References Ambrose, T., & Paine, C. (2012). Museum basics. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Bryson, C. (2009). Strategic planning. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. Bryson, J. M. (2010). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. 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(2005). Healthcare strategic planning. Chicago, Ill: Health Administration Press. Read More