Discussion #2
The healthcare industry continues to navigate significant changes that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and have evolved into new, ongoing challenges. While some organizations have returned to certain pre-pandemic practices, many fundamental shifts in healthcare delivery, workforce dynamics, and operational strategies have become permanent fixtures of the industry.
The current chapters you should be reading are Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, which discuss planning, decision making, organizing, and staffing. These core management functions have been significantly impacted by the lasting changes from the pandemic era, as well as new challenges that have emerged in 2024-2025.
Consider these current realities as you respond:
- Workforce Crisis: Persistent staffing shortages, high turnover rates, and ongoing burnout across healthcare professions
- Technology Integration: Permanent adoption of telehealth, AI tools, and digital health platforms
- Financial Pressures: Rising operational costs, reimbursement challenges, and budget constraints
- Patient Expectations: Changed consumer behaviors and demands for accessible, convenient care
- Regulatory Evolution: Ongoing policy changes and compliance requirements
- Supply Chain Resilience: Continued focus on inventory management and vendor relationships
Discussion Questions:
- Planning: How have healthcare organizations had to adapt their strategic planning processes to address ongoing uncertainties and rapid changes in the healthcare environment? What planning approaches seem most effective now?
- Decision Making: What decision-making frameworks have proven most valuable for healthcare managers dealing with today’s complex, fast-changing situations? How has the speed and style of decision-making evolved?
- Organizing: How have organizational structures and workflows been permanently altered? What new departments, roles, or reporting relationships have become standard?
- Staffing: What innovative staffing models and retention strategies are healthcare organizations implementing to address current workforce challenges?
Your Response Should Address:
- Specific examples from your observations, experiences, or current healthcare news
- Whether you believe we’ve established a “new normal” or are still in transition
- Which pre-pandemic practices have returned versus which changes appear permanent
- How these management functions might continue to evolve in the coming years
Provide detailed explanations with concrete examples to support your analysis.
first student responce:
Staffing: What innovative staffing models and retention strategies are healthcare organizations implementing to address current workforce challenges?
The innovative staffing models and retention strategies healthcare organizations are implementing to address current challenges are flexible scheduling, predictable and employee-influenced scheduling. They also plan on clinic days and hours, tasks and deadlines, full time equivalents and the number of floaters needed. This is to ensure that staffing aligns with patient volume and acuity. These strategies shift toward a proactive work force management where organizations analyze staffing needs in advance, anticipate shortages and design schedules that support both patient and employee well-being
Second student responce:
Decision Making: What decision-making frameworks have proven most valuable for healthcare managers dealing with today’s complex, fast-changing situations? How has the speed and style of decision-making evolved?
The decision-making frameworks that have proven most valuable for healthcare managers dealing with today’s complex, and fast changing situations are evidence- based and data driven decision making for example like staffing, patient acuity, telehealth utilization, financial performance, and etc. The management attends to decision making even in the face of uncertainty. The team uses such strategies as an implementation taking advantage of unfolding dynamics in which unknowns become known. High impact with low probability, high impact with high probability, short or long term impact, and the degree of reversibility of decision. Decisions have an impact sometimes positive and sometimes negative. It has evolved by the evaluation of alternatives, root and branch decision making, satisficing and maximizing. Overall, decision making has evolved to be faster, more iterative and more analytical allowing healthcare organizations to stay responsive in a rapidly shifting environment..
include 1 source for each responce
Requirements: 1-2

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