Organization Assessment: SWOT Analysis

This research served to provide further assessment of the organizations physical setting and technology using the appropriate tools of analysis. The aim was to obtain a better understanding of how they influence the organizations care delivery system and how they are employed in meeting the communitys healthcare needs. This exercise was undertaken through a SWOT analysis. It is an effective tool that comprehensively analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the organization (Cadle et al., 2014). Concurrently, it identifies the threats faced by the organizations as well as the viable opportunities that may be exploited. Such an analysis offers medical institutions a foundation from which performance improvement plans may be developed.

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Just like any other service providence institutions, medical facilities also need to make frequent adjustments to their policies and procedures to improve their quality of service. A SWOT analysis has proved to be an effective tool through which an organization can identify areas for adjustments. It prompts the hospital managers, clinical heads and nurses to develop performance improvement plans. This is by evaluating the clinical procedures and systems, so as to identify the effective ones as well as the less effective ones (Parand et al., 2014). This essay provides a comprehensive discussion of each part of the SWOT analysis for St. John Hospital and Medical Centre and further illustrates a SWOT tool, which should be used for developing the performance improvement plan for the organization.

SWOT Analysis

This type of analysis provides an objective assessment of the current internal and external issues of the medical institution. A good objective assessment is a key to planning for future goals (Sincy, 2016). It involves four areas of assessment, which comprise of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, all of which are discussed below.

Strengths

In medical institutions, strengths are primarily concerned with the areas the organization performs better compared to other health care providing institutions. Such includes the organizational factors that positively influence or facilitate the attainment of healthcare objectives towards the community. Strengths may be in the form of skilled staff, quality of service or patient institutional preferences. An institution, therefore, has to identify clearly, define and reinforce their strengths to increase their advantages in healthcare provision (Chang & Daly, 2015).

Weaknesses

The weaknesses refer the policy or procedural areas that the organization needs to improve. These are the organizational factors that adversely influence or deter the achievement of the healthcare objectives of an institution. Weakness may be in the form of poor communication, outdated medical equipment or even poor usage of the available resources. Identification of these weaknesses is fundamental for medical institutions so that they can be serviced with solutions for effectively meeting the communitys healthcare needs (Groene, 2011).

Opportunities

Analysis of the organizations opportunities involves the search for external factors that possess the potential to produce positive effects or aid in attaining or exceeding the communitys healthcare objectives. These opportunities may also include those objectives that the organization had not previously considered. These may take the form of new trends and changes in government policy, social patterns or technology, which are all related to the medical field. However, the most important aspect of opportunities is identifying the best way to exploit them through consideration of their viability. This will ensure that the organization positively benefits from these opportunities.

Threats

Threats include the obstacles faced by the organization that could potentially impair the performance of the medical institution. Threats have an effect of making healthcare objectives unachievable or redundant. They may include budget deficits and amplified demands for expensive nursing technologies. Analysis of these threats means that the organization can devise methods of mitigation or even turn these threats into opportunities. This will do away with any obstacles or external factors that may cause difficulties in the delivery of care.

SWOT Tool

St. John Hospital and Medical Centre is one of the renowned medical facilities in Detroit. The institution has successfully contributed to a healthy community. This is through the large amounts of investments the institution has made in healthcare providence. A SWOT analysis of the institution revealed the following.

Strengths

The St. John Hospital and Medical Centre possesses a highly skilled staff with each unit of the hospital having a minimum of five experts in the field. Also, all of the medical staff show a strong commitment, which increases the patients confidence. This has aided in building a good reputation for the institution. The institution also has a level II trauma center that specializes in the treatment of cancer, heart failure chest pains. Perhaps the exceptional reputation established by the institution is its ability to carry out minimally invasive and robotic surgery using the latest technology. Also, its strong ethics and frequent community involvement prompt the will of local charities and patients to participate in the institutions health programs.

Weaknesses

The analysis revealed that the institutions ability to manage all the medical staff as their major challenge. This is attributed to the large size of the institution as well as the complex structural and operational relationships within the organization. The institution also has insufficient medical and financial resources that are capable of catering to the large population of Detroit. This huge population also stretches their service to an extent that the institution is unable to provide additional medical services. Poor nurse-patient communications channels are also a major weakness for the institution, as they paralyze the continuity of patient care.

Opportunities

Due to its established reputation as one of the most modern medical facilities, other health care institutions are willing to collaborate with the institution. This further presents the opportunity for the St. John to launch new medical programs through the support of such other institutions. Also, the increase in the levels of research and development in the field of medicine has facilitated the frequent development of new medical technologies. Given its technological reputation, St. John Hospital has the capability of acquiring these new technologies that may aid it in achieving or even surpassing its health care objectives.

Threats

The frequent changes in the reimbursement and nursing regulations possess a compliance threat to the institution. This is so because of the large number of medical staff that are supposed to be frequently trained and educated on these new regulations. St. Johns Hospital is also faced with budget deficits at the state level, which may inconvenience its normal operations in the future. Also, the most visible threat to the institution is its poor levels of readiness to deal with and recover forms a disaster. Most of its protocols for disaster management are outdated and do not incorporate the new designs and additional hospital sections that have been added. This indicates that the institution is at the risk of suffering huge losses, and it could also cause more harm to patients and staff members in case disaster strikes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the importance of carrying out a SWOT analysis when seeking to develop performance improvement plans is evidenced. This is because it assesses the vital aspects of the institution in terms of functionality, structure and policy (Steinwachs, 2015). It reveals the institutions strengths, which can be reinforced for better health care delivery. It also illustrates the institutions weaknesses, which highlights the areas that may require improvement in the corporation. The analysis also identifies potential opportunities that the institution is well placed to exploit and the threats that are to be mitigated if the health care objectives are to be met. It, therefore, follows that the performance improvement plans for St. John Hospital should be developed based on this analysis.

References

Cadle, J., Eva, M., Hindle, K., Paul, D., Rollason, C., & Turner, P. et al. (2014). Business Analysis. Swindon: BCS Learning & Development Limited.

Chang, E. & Daly, J. (2015). Transitions in Nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences APAC.

Groene, O. (2011). Patient centeredness and quality improvement efforts in hospitals: rationale, measurement, implementation. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 23(5), 531-537. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzr058

Parand, A., Dopson, S., Renz, A., & Vincent, C. (2014). The role of hospital managers in quality and patient safety: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 4(9), e005055-e005055. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005055

Sincy, P. (2016). SWOT Analysis in Nursing. International Journal of Nursing Care, 4(1), 34. http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/2320-8651.2016.00008.9

Steinwachs, D. (2015). Transforming Public Health Systems: Using Data to Drive Organizational Capacity for Quality Improvement and Efficiency. Egems (Generating Evidence & Methods to Improve Patient Outcomes), 2(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.13063/2327-9214.1175