Interviewing a HealthCare Administrator - Research Paper Example

?Interview with a HealthCare Administrator College: Interview with a HealthCare Administrator Background of the Administrator Dr Clishia Taylor is one of the famous health professionals in the medical field based in the institution of America Health Care Professionals (AHCP) Hospital in the United States. AHCP is part of the American Health Care Home Group Inc that was established in 1995 in Northern Virginia to offer medical services such as surgery, geriatrics, psychiatry and health care education in the international market (American Health Care Professionals, 2013). Clishia Taylor acquired her nursing profession after attending an undergraduate program in the College of Rochelle leading to a degree in bachelors of Science in Nursing. She has also mastered in business administration from the University of Connecticut in which she majored in health care administration and finance, a course that she considers an upper hand in her career development in the nursing field. Along the way, she received a doctorate degree in health care Ministry in theological seminary school in the US, which she feels expanded her knowledge in the medical field. In addition, she has a rich experience in the medical field after working in different environment and acquiring a different experience in every place she worked. Among some of the experiences she considers relevant in her medical career is her internship in the National Health care Reform where she worked for the White house and enriched her knowledge in modeling health care units, which is a demand for the modern health environment. Also, she has served in the position of a psychiatrist in Yale Hospital and as a quality assurer in a nursing facility, which has backed her with over 30 years’ experience in this sector. In the year 1995, she founded AHCP in her endeavor to participate in modernizing the health care facilities not only in US but across the global scope. She is an active contributor in a the famous millennium magazine referred to as the Health Care Pulse Magazine that covers critical health issues in the international environment. The purpose of my interview with Clishia was to obtain clinical experience from a professional expert as part of the learning process. The Role of the Administrator DR Clishia, being the founder of this health institution, is the President of the American Health Care Professionals Hospitals and takes a leadership role in the organization. In the organizational chart, she forms part of the top level management and is involved in making of management decisions within the organization. Second in the hierarchy of the organizational chart is the AHCP vice-president, Beatriz Arroyave, who answers directly to Clishia. In this interview, Clishia expressed the meeting in the organization as rather flexible though she explicitly stated that she meets with vice president at least twice in a week. With the lower level management, monthly meetings are scheduled for the last working day of the month when each administrator is required to report about the months experience and provide suggestions for program improvement in the next period. Being a nurse in profession, she also plays a role in patient evaluation and attendance to urgent matters within the hospital at her availability. She also reported that she plays a key role in financial management and control to ensure smooth running of the facility. Her strength in her administration role seems to emanate from her strong educational background coupled with her experience. During her education, she acquired nursing skills in her undergraduate program and later reinforced it with health care administration. This integrative knowledge gives her an upper hand in handling matters in her own professional from an administrator’s point of view. While her knowledge in nursing helps her to understand the problems in this sector, her management skills help her solve the problems in that arise within the organization. The experience in her internship and as a practitioner has provided her with a lot of ground experience in modeling of health unit facilities. The success and rapid growth of her organization seems to emanate from her effective management and problem solving skills. As Sperry (2003, P. 25) points out, the management skills in the medical sector is an essential tool in finance management and in problems solving in resource constrained environments. In a nutshell, as she explained, her ability to solve the numerous problems arising in the organization has become the vehicle for the development of AHCP. However, she was keen to point out within the interview the various weaknesses that have pushed her behind in accomplishing her duties in this field. First, she regarded herself as a rather weak person in terms of applying push strategies in project implementation. She has found it a challenge to sell out the organization to the outside world due to her inability to engage in marketing skills. Therefore, this has seen her organization grow rather slowly in other countries and penetration into the international market has been limited by this weakness. She recognizes this incompleteness and feels that there is a need to hire a marketing officer to supplement her weakness and to enhance market penetration. Secondly, being a co-founder of numerous other health organizations, her time is constrained and she is unable to give the best for AHCP, hence limiting the organizational performance. Although the company has continued to grow enormously and to gain a name in the health care sector, the weaknesses of her administrative abilities have had a negative impact on the organization. However, her intention to hire a marketing officer echoes the idea of Sperry (2003) in the responsibility of any manager to recognize their weaknesses and overcome them. Her role in the organization is pivotal to the development and success of the health care organization in a competitive market environment. Financial resources are considered as the heart of the organization and having to handle these resources put her in a vital position in the organization. All typical health care facilities have a manager to help control cash flow and make important management decision for the benefit of the organization. The role of a manager in combining resources and utilizing them in the most efficient way possible is core to the business. Umiker (2005) views the health sector as a business entity just like any other that requires new management approaches as the vehicle to organizational success in the modern the competitive environment. If the words of this economist are something to go by, then there is the role of a manager is typical for any health facility. Knowledge Required for Health Care Administration From the position of Clishis as an administrator in the health care sector, she was able to pinpoint the skills and knowledge required for administration. One of the knowledge required in this field, as she pointed out, is the knowledge of medical technology as applied in the nursing field. This constitutes the ability to test for diseases in patients, prescribe medication, offer first aid and care for patients suffering from different kinds of diseases. In her opinion, an undergraduate program is relevant in providing a general knowledge that will help an individual solve a variety of patient issues in the medical field. In addition, she recommends that each administrator be equipped with finance and human resource management skills to enable one to handle the human labor and finance, which are the core resources that determine the success of an organization. She was also keen to note the necessity of innovation skills in shaping a health care organization to keep with the trends of a modern organization. For instance, the field of e-medicine is growing fast to be a competitive market especially in home treatment facilities (Sperry, 2003). Consequently, an administrator should be able to keep with the most current standards in order to avoid being phased out in the prevailing tough competition. In my undergraduate program in the nursing science, I have learnt the fundamental principles of nursing and the challenges that are likely to face a practitioner. Consequently, at the position of administrator, I would be well versed in troubleshooting and in monitoring employees who may be holding such a cadre in the organization. This in itself is a strength, as Clishis points out, that it is impossible to solve a problem without understanding its nature. Also, I have enriched my medical understanding in the medical sector in my master program by enriching my knowledge and experience in the surgery, which would help me to stand tall in any organization that practices surgery. However, I feel that unripe for administration roles due my inadequacy in terms of management skills, which is necessary in health care sectors (Umiker, 2005). Having little knowledge in finance management would limit my ability to effect optimal finance utilization, a responsibility that comes along with healthcare administration. To suit an administration role in the health care sector, I recognize the need to enrich my management skills. Umiker (2005) warns that the health care sector is one of the areas that never have adequate financial resources in the world and recommends that management skills be integrated in the administration roles to enhance the effective use of these resources. Also, there is pressure to reduce the cost of medicine in health facilities as an objective of the government to relieve its citizens from hefty financial burdens. With this in mind, acquiring a master in business administration would give me an upper hand in filling an administration cadre more proficiently. I also recognize the need to improve my experience with time to perfect on problems solving techniques, marketing approaches and control of human labor that is core to health care administration. Regulatory Compliance for Health Care Administrators According to Clishia, medical sector is one of the sectors that the government of US has imposed strict regulation policies that a health administrator has to follow to the letter. Among them, the government requires that each administrator be registered with a professional body, such as the American Nurses Association, for them to be allowed to practice in this field. Secondly, an administrator has to comply with the government requirement that each health organization subscribe to a human right treaty organization such as the United nations Universal Declaration of Human rights that binds each health care with the role to provide quality and certified health care as a basic human right (Philadelphia, 2006). Another policy regards the establishment of a satisfactorily healthy environment for employees as stated in the organizational health and safety (OHS) policy. In this policy, the administrator is required to provide a healthy working environment for the employees by ensuring that they do not risk their lives while in the service operations. A law that Clishia feels is putting pressure on health sectors today is the common law as regards the perpetration of tort in the health sector. By the virtue that nursing staff have an obligation to ensure safety of their patients, they are supposed to avoid any acts of negligence that would cause harm to their patients. In a nutshell, the administrators have a role to ensure that both the organization and the employees comply with the standards set up by the regulatory bodies. Clishia learnt all these policies partly in her education but more of it while she was working in the White house before she launched her own health facility. Failure to comply with the policies set by the government and regulating bodies in the nursing field has far reaching consequences (Philadelphia, 2006). For instance, failure to comply with standards laid down by the Organization Health and Safety policy within an organization may lead to the closure of a health firm. Secondly, the human rights bodies monitor practitioners to evaluate their compliance with the human rights law and have the capacity to take a legal action against any offending organization. Consequently, the ability of an administrator to conform to these policies in a swift manner will greatly reward the organization and ensure its survival in a regulated environment. Clishia, in the course of the interview, pointed out the great challenge she has experience in curbing the issues of negligence that have a tort liability in the organization. She mentioned that two of her nurses had been found guilty of negligence in a court of law after one of the beds had broken in an intensive care unit. In her opinion, the greatest challenge in a health organization is the ability of an administrator to streamline the health facility and the workers to conform to the standards laid down by the governing bodies. Summary of the Interview In summary, the interview with Dr Clishia Taylor, a Health Care administrator, was an eye opener as regards the professional requirements, the roles and the legal obligations that are demanded by such a position. Integration of nursing and management skills would be vital not only in understanding the problems that arise in a healthy environment, but also in providing solutions for the same. The knowledge and experience that an administrator possesses will help them undertake the role of the employee and financial management, which are core in a health organization. The administration position is the backbone of a health organization and the success of the company depends on the ability of the top level management to fit completely in this position that is typical in any business entity. In addition, an administrator has to comply with the policy-making body that set the standards that must be adhered by any medical body. The consequences of breaking the legal obligations of a health organization may have adverse effects either to employees or even the organization as a whole. Of great significance in my ability not only to master the requirements of an administrator, but also to improve my weak points especially in regard to finance administration. In essence, a rich academic background and field experience are all import values in for Health Care administrator. References American Health Care Professionals, (2013). Home Health and Hospital Consultancy; Management. Retrieved from :< http://ahcpofva.com/overview/management/> Philadelphia, R., (2006). Health Care Regulation in America; Complexity and Compromise. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sperry, L., (2003). Becoming an Effective Health care manager: The Essential Skills of Leadership. Michigan: Health Professionals Press. Umiker,L., (2005). Management Skills For New Health Care Supervisor. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Read More