Essay Sample on St. David's North Austin Medical Center: Convenient & High-Quality Care

Introduction

The organization under consideration is St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. The facility’s main selling point is the convenience for patients and high-quality service delivery to patients. St. David’s has different units that ensure critical patient care is delivered in the most appropriate way possible. Among the main units of the facility are the Kidney Transplant Center, Texas Unit for Robotic Surgery, and Women’s Unit. The all-round services and eclectic mix of healthcare provision ensures that the healthcare facility covers a diverse range of health issues among patients. The main facility and its affiliates have a total of 10,600 people, who include caregivers and other laborers (St. David’s HealthCare, 2020). One of its affiliates, the North Austin Medical Center, is a 378-bed capacity unit covering a wide range of illnesses (St. David’s HealthCare, 2020). Community health is at the heart of the facility’s services, as it seeks to improve the general well-being of the people that it serves.

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Organizational Examination

St. David’s mission is to ensure the provision of care to patients in an exceptional manner that is characterized by friendliness, warmth, and personal pride (St. David’s HealthCare, 2020). Other than the satisfaction of the patient, the caregiver should feel proud of their work. The facility’s philosophy is born out of its primary core values of integrity, care, accountability, respect, and excellence, which in that order forms the acronym ICARE (St. David’s HealthCare, 2020).

In terms of management, the organization is set in a hierarchical structure, with power distributed from the top going down. At the apex of leadership is the chief executive officer, to whom the heads of various departments report. Every unit of the facility in the different locations also has a person in charge, operating at the level of head of a department, and reporting to the facility’s CEO. Hierarchical structures of management allow seamless flow command and information from managers to subordinates (van Rossum et al., 2016). However, such a structure curtails the ability of the junior employees to be expressive and contribute to the growth and development of an organization and get nearer to its mission (van Rossum et al., 2016).

The departments at St. David’s are much established in line with the functions offered by the medical center. Some of the departments include the intensive care unit (ICU), labor and delivery, and pediatric department. The organization of the departments is majorly on the specialty. This ensures that members of a department have a much narrower focus, and their efforts are clustered towards providing the best service delivery in that sector. The medical center also groups departments together in a way that ensures convenience and efficient care delivery. For instance, the lab, cardiac unit, post-OP, and the ICU are well interlinked in a way that boosts effectiveness in dispensing services to patients who need such services from time to time. A patent in the cardiac unit may need ICU services at some point, and it should not be a big hustle taking them there. That is why the unit and the ICU are close together for the benefits of patients.

Strengths and Limitations

The growth and development of any facility are spurred by its strengths. St. David’s Medical Center has a variety of such merits and strengths that make it enjoy success in the industry from time to time. The facility is part of St. David’s HealthCare, which is among the most robust and huge health systems in the State of Texas. With its huge size, it is a household name that has gained the trust of patients over the years. Further, the facility’s staff enjoys the huge resource base of St. David’s to grow in their careers. This has ensured a high retention rate of employees, which is good for continuity. Over the years, the facility has won grants that have allowed them to purchase and possess some of the best equipment in practice.

However, St. David’s progress is also curtailed by some challenges that they undergo from time to time. Some of the specialty equipment needed to dispense some of the treatments are not available. Therefore, the facility is forced by that circumstance to refer their patients to other facilities to get special treatment. For instance, the facility does not have a machine for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Therefore, patients are usually wheeled over to Ascertain Main Hospital to access services of that machine. This means that convenience and efficient service delivery for the patients if not guaranteed. Limitations and drawbacks in an organization’s service delivery are a threat to the possibilities of achieving the set mission and vision.

Care Delivery System

St David North Austin Medical Center’s delivery system of care is technically the primary care offered by nurses. A primary nurse, in most cases, the chief nursing officer, delegates, and coordinates total care activities at the facility. A nurse leader is appointed by the higher authorities on merit to take care of the roles and activities of nurses (Linette & Sherman, 2014). Registered nurses may occupy the lowest position, but above in the hierarchy of nurses is a nurse manager who is like a departmental manager. As the nurses perform the primary core duties of care, the nurse manager coordinates with the express authority granted by top management.

The management entrusts the nursing activities to the nurse manager, who then spills the services all the way down to the experts at the registered nurse level. Effectiveness in delivery of nursing duty means that the nurse manager should understand the strengths and potential of the nurses at his/her disposal (Linette & Sherman, 2014). In that case, the nurse manager does due diligence in allocating the nurses their duties from time to time. The understanding of their qualifications and experience is crucial in ensuring that delegation of duties is done from the point of knowledge and wisdom.

Outcomes and Measurements

St. David’s Medical Center was in 2014, named among the leading 100 hospitals in the United States (St. David’s HealthCare, 2020). This is a clear indicator of the level of success in the medical center over the years. In determining the leading health facilities in the United States, some of the parameters considered include management and leadership. Therefore, for the facility to be among the top 100 among thousands of hospitals, the management must be well organized with the effective discharge of duties. The facility makes leads because of its commitment to providing the safest care, optimal, and high-quality service to every patient who steps foot into the facility.

Other mechanisms of motivation for nurses are also available at St. David’s. One such motivation is the DAISY AWARD, which is awarded to the best nurse in the medical center within the period of evaluation. Management plays a crucial role in the assessment, and the nurse manager’s appraisal is highly considered in the determination of the award winner. The reviews to determine the outcome of nursing care are provided by patients, family members, other nurses, physicians, other clinicians, and staff who experiences or observes extraordinary compassionate care being provided by a nurse (The DAISY Foundation, 2020). The most important thing is to ensure that the continued provision of outstanding care is guaranteed for patients.

References

Linette, D., & Sherman, R. (2014). Transforming a Practice Environment Through Caring-Based Nursing Leadership. Nurse Leader, 12(1), 35-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2013.09.014

St. David’s HealthCare. (2020). Awards, Honors & Certifications. St. David’s HealthCare. Retrieved 5 September 2020, from https://stdavids.com/connect-with-us/about/awards-honors-certifications.dot.

St. David’s HealthCare. (2020). Detail. St. David’s HealthCare. Retrieved 5 September 2020, from https://stdavids.com/location/st-davids-north-austin-medical-center.

St. David’s HealthCare. (2020). Mission, Values & Goals. St. David’s HealthCare. Retrieved 5 September 2020, from https://stdavids.com/connect-with-us/about/missions-values-goals.dot.

The DAISY Foundation. (2020). What is The DAISY Award? | The DAISY Foundation. Daisyfoundation.org. Retrieved 5 September 2020, from https://www.daisyfoundation.org/daisy-award.

Van Rossum, L., Aij, K., Simons, F., van der Eng, N., & ten Have, W. (2016). Lean healthcare from a change management perspective. Journal Of Health Organization And Management, 30(3), 475-493. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhom-06-2014-0090