Contemporary Organization Evaluation
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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.
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.
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