Contemporary Organization Evaluation -

Contemporary Organization Evaluation

Name

Instructor

Institution

Course

Date

Contemporary Organization Evaluation

In 2019, the first case of covid19 was discovered in Wuhan, China. The spread of the disease followed to other countries, leading to adverse impacts on the population and healthcare institutions. Currently, most of the global nations, including the US continue to struggle with ensuring the realization of the health needs of covid19 patients. Healthcare institutions have played a proactive role in ensuring the provision of high quality; safe and efficient care to covid19 patients and their significant others. In doing this, they have transformed their systems and processes to ensure that they address adequately the emerging needs of covid19 patients. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the manner in which the University of Mississippi Medical Center is responding to surging rates of covid19.

Description of the Organization and Change it is responding

The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is a teaching and tertiary hospital that is located in Jackson. The institution is known for its quality services and education for healthcare professionals. The hospital has health science schools that include dentistry, nursing, medicine, population health, pharmacy, health related professions and graduate studies. The hospital also provides general as well as specialized care to its populations. It currently has specialized hospitals that include children’s hospital, critical care, and women and infants hospitals. The population can benefit from a wide range of services that include organ transplant, specialized surgeries, access to physicians, and high quality nursing care that addresses their care needs (UMMC, n.d.).

UMMC is currently responding to the surging rates of covid19 in the state. Accordingly, the rates of new infections has been rising over the past few months in Mississippi, overburdening the healthcare organizations. The rise in rates of covi19 infections is largely attributed to the poor uptake of covid19 vaccinations in the state. The state ranking shows Mississippi as the least vaccinated state, with 38% of its population vaccinated. The uptake of covid19 vaccination has been low due to misinformed population that is not willing to be vaccinated. The consequences of low uptake of vaccination include high rate of covid19 infections, hospital visits, hospitalizations, and mortality rate (Willingham, 2021). As a result, UMMC has been in the forefront in embracing interventions that aim at reducing the burden of the disease in the state.

Disruptive Nature of the Change and Organizational Response

The rise in the cases of covid19 in Mississippi has been disruptive to healthcare organizations. Firstly, the rise has led to healthcare providers being overwhelmed by hospital visits and admissions for covid19 patients. The high number of covid19 patients has led to increased workload in most institutions, including UMMC. For example, workers in UMMC reported that the surge in cases has led to their exhaustion due to prolonged working hours and burnout from staff shortage. UMMC has also suffered from the shortage of facilities to address the care needs of covid19 patients. For example, intensive care units and emergency room are beyond its capacity due to covid19 patients (Maan & Harte, 2021). The bed capacity is also at its maximum capacity due to the daily admission of covid19 patients for treatment.

The overburdened resources in UMMC have led to delays in service delivery, as evidenced by delayed response by paramedics to prioritize the care needs of potential patients requiring admission in the hospital. The unintended consequences of the overburden healthcare system can also be seen from the deaths of pregnant mothers that needed emergency C-sections, with some of the babies born prematurely. Based on the above, covid19 has been significantly disruptive in UMMC. UMMC has however responded to the increasing demands from covid19 by adopting a number of interventions. They include tightening its vaccination policy, creating extra spaces for patient admissions and working with other stakeholders to reduce the impacts of the pandemic (Gooch, 2021).

Strategies used in Change Plan and Level of Success

UMMC has adopted a number of strategies to address the surge in covid19 cases in the state. One of the strategies is its efforts to create additional spaces in the hospital. Accordingly, the hospital has tried to meet the care needs of the increasing number of patients by putting beds on the hallways to expand patient coverage. The hospital has also taken initiatives to ensure that the sickest patients get the care that they need in its facilities. It does this by delaying its paramedic response, as they prioritize the care needs of the different patients requiring urgent admission and treatment (Associate Press, 2021). UMMC has also tightened its vaccination policy in response to the rising cases. The hospital requires that anybody seeking employment must be vaccinated to minimize the risk of contracting the virus and severity of symptoms. Students are also expected to be fully vaccinated in a bid to lowering the burden of the pandemic in the state (Gooch, 2021). The last strategy adopted by UMMC is working with international donors to strengthen its response to covid19 rising cases. Samaritan’s Purse is currently working with UMMC to create additional beds for covid19 patients in the hospital. Samaritan’s Purse is currently establishing a mobile field hospital in conjunction with the State Department of Health to support intensive care services for covid19 patients. The mobile clinic will increase the number of covid19 patients seen in the hospital, easing the overstretched resources in UMMC (Johnson, 2021). The effectiveness of the strategies has not been determined, as the response is currently ongoing.

Effect of Change on Stakeholders

Stakeholders in healthcare have been significantly affected by the surge in cases of covid19 in UMMC. One of the stakeholders affected is the healthcare providers. The rise in cases of covid19 translates into increased workload for the healthcare providers. Healthcare providers suffer from the complex care needed by the covid19 patients, predisposing them to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. Healthcare providers also highly predisposed to contracting covid19 from their patients, hence, the effect. The surge in covid19 cases has also affected UMMC management. It has led to an acute shortage of resources needed to provide the care needed by covid19 patients. An example of this effect is seen from the shortage of intensive care beds and general beds for covid19 patients. A further increase in cases is also likely to result in staff shortage in the institution (Maan & Harte, 2021). The other stakeholders affected by the rise in covid19 cases are the population. Populations in Mississippi suffer from barriers in accessing the care they need for covid19 due to scarcity in resources and spaces in healthcare institutions. Therefore, covid19 has severely affected the healthcare stakeholders in Mississippi.

The population in Mississippi continues to resist covid19 vaccinations despite the increase in the daily rate of the infected populations. Factors such as stereotypes and misinformed population have contributed to the low uptake of covid19 vaccines. The effective management of covid19 spread in the state requires optimum uptake of ovid19 vaccines in the state (Associate Press, 2021). Therefore, there is a need for interventions that create the desired awareness among the population on the benefits of vaccination.

Implications of Change on Interdepartmental Collaboration

The rising cases of covid19 have increased the need for inter-departmental collaboration in UMMC. Healthcare providers have to work in collaboration in exploring effective interventions that can be used to ensure efficiency in resource utilization in addressing the surge in covid19 patients. They also have to collaborate in developing best practices that will minimize the spread of the virus among the healthcare providers. The change also increases the need for inter-departmental collaboration to create awareness on the need for covid19 vaccination for the public. Departments of health have to collaborate in adopting interventions that will influence the public to be vaccinated (Willingham, 2021).

Opinion

The leaders of UMMC have responded effectively to the surge in covid19 cases. They have ensured efficiency in the existing resources for the provision of high quality, safe and efficient care to covid19 patients. The leaders have also been effective in seeking the desired support from other institutions and the department of health. The response adopted by the leaders is therefore likely to minimize the impact and burden of the disease on the organization and population.

Modifications

One of the modifications that I would recommend for the leaders of UMMC is advocating for increased uptake of covid19 vaccinations in the state. The leaders can mobilize other institutions and legislators to play an active role in supporting public campaigns aiming at increasing the vaccination rate in the state. Through it, the potential impacts of covid19 on the population will reduce significantly.

Contemporary Organization Evaluation Conclusion

Overall, UMMC has been affected adversely by the rising cases of covid19. Healthcare stakeholders such as healthcare providers have been affected by increasing workload and exhaustion. The interventions adopted by leaders of UMMC have been effective. However, a focus should be placed on adopting measures that minimize the impacts of the disease on the population and healthcare institutions.

Contemporary Organization Evaluation References

Associate Press. (2021). Hospitals in Crisis in Mississippi, the Least Vaccinated US State | Voice of America—English. https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/hospitals-crisis-mississippi-least-vaccinated-us-state

Gooch, K. (2021). U of Mississippi Medical Center tightens vaccination policy amid COVID-19 surge. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/u-of-mississippi-medical-center-tightens-vaccination-policy-amid-covid-19-surge.html

Johnson, K. (2021). Samaritan’s Purse to assist UMMC in COVID-19 response. https://Www.Wtok.Com. https://www.wtok.com/2021/08/16/samaritans-purse-assist-ummc-covid-19-response/

Maan, A., & Harte, J. (2021, August 14). Mississippi hospital puts beds in parking garage to cope with COVID-19 surge. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mississippi-hospital-puts-beds-parking-garage-cope-with-covid-19-surge-2021-08-13/

UMMC. (n.d.). About Us. University of Mississippi Medical Center. https://www.umc.edu/UMMC/About-Us/About-Us-Overview.html

Willingham, L. (2021, August 17). “Heartbreaking”: Mississippi gets 2nd field hospital in days. AP NEWS. https://apnews.com/article/health-education-coronavirus-pandemic-mississippi-0601fa79209539675f77f608fb5ee65f

Lopes Write Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS: Contemporary Organization Evaluation

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
Include in-text citations in your response
Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
Follow APA-7th edition
Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
Follow APA 7th edition
Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
Here are some helpful links
Student paper example
Citing Sources
The Writing Center is a great resource

As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:

Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).

Course Room Etiquette:

It is my expectation that all learners will respect the thoughts and ideas presented in the discussions.
All postings should be presented in a respectful, professional manner. Remember – different points of view add richness and depth to the course!

Office Hours:

My office hours vary so feel free to shoot me an email at Kelly.[email protected] or my office phone is 602.639.6517 and I will get back to you within one business day or as soon as possible.
Phone appointments can be scheduled as well. Send me an email and the best time to call you, along with your phone number to make an appointment.
I welcome all inquiries and questions as we spend this term together. My preference is that everyone utilizes the Questions to Instructor forum. In the event your question is of a personal nature, please feel free to post in the Individual Questions for Instructor forum I will respond to all posts or emails within 24 or sooner.

Late Policy and Grading Policy

Discussion questions:

I do not mark off for late DQ’s.
I would rather you take the time to read the materials and respond to the DQ’s in a scholarly way, demonstrating your understanding of the materials.
I will not accept any DQ submissions after day 7, 11:59 PM (AZ Time) of the week.
Individual written assignments – due by 11:59 PM AZ Time Zone on the due dates indicated for each class deliverable.

Assignments:

Assignments turned in after their specified due dates are subject to a late penalty of -10%, each day late, of the available credit. Please refer to the student academic handbook and GCU policy.
Any activity or assignment submitted after the due date will be subject to GCU’s late policy
Extenuating circumstances may justify exceptions, which are at my sole discretion. If an extenuating circumstance should arise, please contact me privately as soon as possible.
No assignments can be accepted for grading after midnight on the final day of class.
All assignments will be graded in accordance with the Assignment Grading Rubrics

Participation

Participation in each week’s Discussion Board forum accounts for a large percentage of your final grade in this course.
Please review the Course Syllabus for a comprehensive overview of course deliverables and the value associated with each.
It is my expectation that each of you will substantially contribute to the course discussion forums and respond to the posts of at least three other learners.
A substantive post should be at least 200 words. Responses such as “great posts” or “I agree” do not meet the active engagement expectation.
Please feel free to draw on personal examples as you develop your responses to the Discussion Questions but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the materials.
I do expect outside sources as well as class materials to formulate your post.
APA format is not necessary for DQ responses, but I do expect a proper citation for references.
Please use peer-related journals found through the GCU library and/or class materials to formulate your answers. Do not try to “Google” DQ’s as I am looking for class materials and examples from the weekly materials.
I will not accept responses that are from Wikipedia, Business dictionary.com, or other popular business websites. You will not receive credit for generic web searches – this does not demonstrate graduate-level research.
Stay away from the use of personal pronouns when writing. As a graduate student, you are expected to write based on research and gathering of facts. Demonstrating your understanding of the materials is what you will be graded on. You will be marked down for lack of evidence to support your ideas.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of claiming credit for another’s work, accomplishments, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the information by including in-text citations and references.
This course requires the utilization of APA format for all course deliverables as noted in the course syllabus.
Whether this happens deliberately or inadvertently, whenever plagiarism has occurred, you have committed a Code of Conduct violation.
Please review your LopesWrite report prior to final submission.
Every act of plagiarism, no matter the severity, must be reported to the GCU administration (this includes your DQ’s, posts to your peers, and your papers).

Plagiarism includes:

Representing the ideas, expressions, or materials of another without due credit.
Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation and referencing.
Failing to document direct quotations without proper citation and referencing.
Depending upon the amount, severity, and frequency of the plagiarism that is committed, students may receive in-class penalties that range from coaching (for a minor omission), -20% grade penalties for resubmission, or zero credit for a specific assignment. University-level penalties may also occur, including suspension or even expulsion from the University.
If you are at all uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, you should review the resources available in the Student Success Center. Also, please review the University’s policies about plagiarism which are covered in more detail in the GCU Catalog and the Student Handbook.
We will be utilizing the GCU APA Style Guide 7th edition located in the Student Success Center > The Writing Center for all course deliverables.

LopesWrite

All course assignments must be uploaded to the specific Module Assignment Drop Box, and also submitted to LopesWrite every week.
Please ensure that your assignment is uploaded to both locations under the Assignments DropBox. Detailed instructions for using LopesWrite are located in the Student Success Center.

Assignment Submissions

Please note that Microsoft Office is the software requirement at GCU.
I can open Word files or any file that is saved with a .rtf (Rich Text Format) extension. I am unable to open .wps files.
If you are using a “.wps” word processor, please save your files using the .rtf extension that is available from the drop-down box before uploading your files to the Assignment Drop Box.

Grade of Incomplete

The final grade of Incomplete is granted at the discretion of the instructor; however, students must meet certain specific criteria before this grade accommodation is even possible to consider.
The grade of Incomplete is reserved for times when students experience a serious extenuating circumstance or a crisis during the last week of class which prevents the completion of course requirements before the close of the grading period. Students also must pass the course at the time the request is made.
Please contact me personally if you are having difficulties in meeting course requirements or class deadlines during our time together. In addition, if you are experiencing personal challenges or difficulties, it is best to contact the Academic Counselor so that you can discuss the options that might be available to you, as well as each option’s academic and financial repercussions.

Grade Disputes

If you have any questions about a grade you have earned on an individual assignment or activity, please get in touch with me personally for further clarification.
While I have made every attempt to grade you fairly, on occasion a misunderstanding may occur, so please allow me the opportunity to learn your perspective if you believe this has occurred. Together, we should be able to resolve grading issues on individual assignments.
However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.