Question

1.11 You are the administrator of a large metropolitan hospital that operates the only 24-hour emergency room in the area. You must schedule attending physicians, resident physicians, nurses, laboratory, and support personnel to operate this facility effectively.

a. What measures of effectiveness do you think patients use to evaluate the services that you provide?

b.How are forecasts useful to you in planning services that will maximize these measures of effectiveness?

c.What planning horizon do you need to use? Does this lead to short-range or long-range forecasts?

Answer 1

(a) It is required to administer, plan, organize, direct, and monitor the outcomes of medical and health services.Effectiveness can be measured by so many factors such as:-

• Availability of doctors and staff
• degree to which health services preserve or improve the health of patients.
• cleanliness
• Cost of Treatment
• Facilities provided by Hospital
• Staff behaviour.

(b) Demand forecasting to predict customer demand for a specific period. Forecasting can lead to an improved cash flow, minimized inventory costs (no stock-outs or overstocks) and optimized inventory, and more satisfied customers.

A hospital or healthcare facility must be able to project demand based on location, address both long-term and short-term needs, support the facility or system’s budgetary needs, and address critical lead times.

(c) Strategic planning in healthcare is important to succeed not only in the short run, but long term as well. Long term hospital strategic plan to ensure a safe and successful future.

A hospital strategic plan allows for more efficiency in all aspects of the business of running a practice. long term goals must be determined and eventually met for the longevity of the business. To do so, an analysis of the local markets and the industry as a whole must be conducted to predict the future of these markets.