Essay: Sustainability Initiatives At AIC Kijabe Hospital In Rural Kenya.

In this increased age of the sustainability, the healthcare organizations are becoming more and more endurable. The hospital leaders are giving attention to the design, construction, supply chain, maintenance and environmental services of the hospitals (Wisner 2016). The Sustainability Roadmap of the hospitals do give unbiased resources and access so that the organizations can develop sustainable practices. As opined by Reijula et al. (2016), the phenomenon of sustainability is concerned with the reduction of the energy use, costs, wastes so that there is an enhancement of the patient care. This also ensures the standing of the organization for the betterment of the community. These goals drive the healthcare leaders to incorporate sustainability initiatives in their hospital policies. The sustainability framework provides a more detailed framework for optimizing the benefits of the economic, environmental; and the social factors.

This report would analyze the sustainability initiatives of the AIC Kijabe Hospital located in rural Kenya and evaluate their authenticity. It would also identify the contribution of the initiatives in improving the positive social as well as human outcomes for HR department. The difference in the outcomes of initiatives in the business context would be discussed.

The measurement of sustainability effectiveness is important for long term success of the organization (Maggard-Gibbons 2014). AIC Kijabe Hospital is increasingly looking for ways to enhance the overall efficiency of the business process while reducing the overall business costs. They are also looking for new ways to enhance the patient experience. A three-step process would be used to evaluate the two sustainability initiatives by AIC Kijabe Hospital-

The first initiative has witnessed the replacement of doctors from the managerial positions and incorporation of more number of administrative staffs. The organization believed that this new structure would help in better management as well as finance functions in the organization. The three-step indicator used for measuring the authenticity of this initiative is done as under-

Step 1: Useful

This step would measure the actual benefits of the sustainability initiative with the help of following criteria, which is explained in detail-

Addressing a Clear Goal

This initiative has a clear goal of supporting environmental sustainability by the improvement of the electricity, water and the drainage system of the hospital, which would be done by more trained administrative staffs. These staffs would also bring better operational efficiency and reduction in the operational costs.

Specific

The initiative was moderately specific as it was only mentioned that more number of administrative staffs were needed but there were no specific number of staffs planned.

Sustainability Initiative # 1

Diagnostic

This sustainability initiative has resulted in better problem solving in the organization as there have been improvement in the operations and increase in the customer satisfaction levels.

This step would measure the actual strength of the sustainability initiative-

Subjective Elements Explicit

The new sustainability was implemented in a convenient manner and it was implemented without compromising its values of treating the poor patients for free of cost. A robust team of administrative personnel was created according to the number of non-clinical departments of the hospital.

Quality Data available

There is reliable data on the number of administrative staffs recruited and the subsequent increase in the patient in-flows. Relevant data are also available for patient satisfaction rates.

Cost Effective measure

Addressing a Clear Goal

This initiative has a clear goal of supporting environmental sustainability by improvement of the hygiene factor related with surgeries. The delivery of high quality of surgeries would increase hospital’s good will and there would be an increase in the surgery patients (Vetter et al. 2013).

Specific

The initiative was highly specific as it was particular practices of sterility and strict inventory accounting that was implemented.

Diagnostic

This sustainability initiative has resulted in better problem solving in the organization since the success rate and the quality of operations has increased.

Subjective Elements Explicit

The new sustainability was implemented in a convenient manner and it was implemented without compromising the quality of patient care and the quality of the medical surgeries.

Quality Data available

There is reliable data on the number of operations performed in the operations and the subsequent increase in the patients opting for crucial surgeries. Relevant data are also available for patient satisfaction rates and the type of aseptic techniques used in the pre-operative units.

Cost Effective measure

There is subsequent cost of recruiting specialized manpower, technicians for Operation Theater and also the cost of implementing sterile equipment and sterile operating procedures.

From the above analysis, it is concluded that the organization has sufficient sustainability initiatives and they are authentic in all aspects.

The first initiatives would contribute in the enhancement of the positive social as well as human outcomes of the human resource. An increase in the administrative personnel would imply that there would be division of labor in the organization, which would imply that the burden would be divided among the employees of the organization (Crane and Matten 2016). This would also imply that the organizational tasks would be achieved with the help of greater precision and within the desired time limit. This would enhance the organizational culture and there would be positive impacts on the health care personnel. This would also ensure that there would be improved departmental coordination. An increased number of clinicians would also be motivated as they would no longer be required to do administrative functions and they can devote more time to medical treatment of patients.

Step 1: Useful

The second initiative would imply that there would be changes in the working practice of the organizations, which would mean that there would be certain employee resistances in the beginning. This is because of the fact that they have to adopt a new management style of operation theater and new sterilization procedures. However, in the long run, if they are provided adequate training, then they would realize that this is good for them as well as patients. There would also be increased social outcomes as more number of patients would be coming in the hospitals. This would imply that there would be greater revenue generation of the hospital.

The sustainability issues identified for a hospital context would be considerably different from that implemented in a different business context (Neta et al. 2015). The first sustainable initiative identified in this organization is to replace clinicians with administrative staff in managing hospital operations. This would not be feasible in any other corporate organization where there is no presence of clinical and non-clinical staffs. This would also not be feasible in organizations where there are limited number of employees and limited budget capacities. In such organizations, segregation of employees would not be a feasible option due to budget constraints. The second sustainability initiative of the hospital also cannot be implemented in another business context since this initiative is a typical feature of the hospital industry and would not be applicable to other business contexts. The act of sterilization of operation theater would also not be possible for other business sectors (Schmidt and Schmidt 2016). A fairly high amount of budget is required for this purpose. However, if there is another organization who wishes to enhance the customer satisfaction rates, they can implement this initiative by providing premium quality of products or services. There would be a different outcome in that sustainability initiative which would not be similar with this case.

However, the sustainability initiatives at this hospital was aimed at improving the number of patients coming in the hospital. This model can be replicated in other business context in a different manner. In a medium sized organization, there can be several types of sustainability initiatives which would be aimed at improving the customer service and increasing the number of customers. However, there should be separate initiatives adopted while keeping the goals same.

Conclusion

The sustainability initiatives identified in the earlier assessment were thoroughly assessed in this assessment. The authenticity of the initiatives was done by a three-step model which had three major components namely usefulness, robustness and feasibility. The contribution of these initiatives to enhancing different social as well as human outcomes for the HR function is also defined. Both these initiatives have contributed to development of the human resource functions of the organization. These initiatives would lead to enhancement of the organizational culture and division of labor, which would lead to greater empowerment of the human resources. The concluding part of the report discussed the difference in outcomes of these initiatives for different business context. It has been observed that these initiatives would not be suitable for different business context. This report would broaden the understanding of the different sustainability initiatives in modern organizational context and especially in a healthcare scenario.

References

Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

Maggard-Gibbons, M., 2014. The use of report cards and outcome measurements to improve the safety of surgical care: the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. BMJ quality & safety, 23(7), pp.589-599.

Neta, G., Glasgow, R.E., Carpenter, C.R., Grimshaw, J.M., Rabin, B.A., Fernandez, M.E. and Brownson, R.C., 2015. A framework for enhancing the value of research for dissemination and implementation. American journal of public health, 105(1), pp.49-57.

Reijula, J., Reijula, J., Reijula, E., Reijula, E., Reijula, K. and Reijula, K., 2016. Insight into healthcare design: lessons learned in two university hospitals. Journal of Facilities Management, 14(3), pp.266-282.

Schmidt, G. and Schmidt, E., 2016. Hospitals and war: medical departments and personnel. International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, 6(1), pp.1-14.

Vetter, T.R., Goeddel, L.A., Boudreaux, A.M., Hunt, T.R., Jones, K.A. and Pittet, J.F., 2013. The Perioperative Surgical Home: how can it make the case so everyone wins?. BMC anesthesiology, 13(1), p.6.

Wisner, J.D., 2016. Operations Management: A Supply Chain Process Approach. Sage Publications.