HOSPITAL - ORGANIZATION AND STAFF

HOSPITAL – ORGANIZATION AND STAFF

HOSPITAL

A Hospital, as defined by Microsoft Encarta (2009) is an institution that provides a broad range of medical services to sick, injured, or pregnant patients. Hospitals employ medical, nursing, and support staff to provide inpatient care to people who require close medical monitoring and outpatient care to people who need treatment but not constant medical attention. Hospitals provide diagnosis and medical treatment of physical and mental health problems, surgery, rehabilitation, health education programs, and nursing and physician training. Many hospitals also serve as centres for innovative research and medical technology.

HOSPITAL ORGANIZATION AND STAFF

A hospital is a complex institution that coordinates the skills of doctors, nurses, and support care personnel to provide health services. A hospitals also has administrative departments to ensure the efficient and financially sound operation of the institution. Large not-for-profit general hospitals, the most common hospital type, have several levels of organization that include a board of trustees, chief administrative officer, chief of the medical staff, administrative and medical department heads, and a director of nursing.

A hospital’s board of trustees oversees the operation of the hospital by evaluating its financial health and its strategic growth and development. One of the board’s major responsibilities is to hire and assess the performance of the hospital’s chief administrative officer; another is to approve the appointment and retention of the hospital’s physicians. Board members also participate in fund-raising and other philanthropic activities and in community outreach activities that seek to improve the health of the community. Not-for-profit hospitals are charitable institutions that are expected to meet the needs of their communities and their boards of trustees are typically made up of representatives from local businesses and community groups.

The chief administrator of a not-for-profit general hospitals is known as the chief executive officer, president, or administrator, depending on the size and complexity of the hospital’s organization. As the hospital’s top executive, the chief administrator plans for the ongoing financial health of the institution, considering such issues as whether the hospital should remain independent or merge with another institution; expand or reduce specific health services, such as high-cost trauma care; develop relationships with groups of physicians, HMOs, or clinics; or create satellite facilities in nearby cities or towns.

The chief of the medical staff is a physician appointed to direct the work of all the doctors who treat patients in the hospital and to supervise the procedures for adding doctors to the hospital staff. Also called privileges, these procedures define the qualifications needed by doctors and the specific treatments each doctor may perform in the hospitals. The chief of the medical staff takes disciplinary action against doctors who do not follow the rules and regulations of the hospitals, and reviews the work of committees of doctors who evaluate the quality of medical care in the hospital and the use of hospital resources.

Vice presidents, sometimes called directors, of administrative departments are responsible for the daily operation of a hospital. The vice president of finance directs the work of a hospital’s admissions, budget, and cashier’s offices, overseeing the general accounting and internal auditing of the hospital’s finances. Although responsibilities vary in individual institutions, the vice president of materials management usually buys, stores, and maintains supplies, while the vice president of clinical engineering buys and maintains hospital equipment, including high-tech instruments and machines. The vice president of environmental services supervises the laundry, power plant, and the hospital at large and ensures the safety and security of all staff and patients.

A physician heads each of the many medical departments found within most not-for-profit general hospitals. Most hospitals have separate departments organized by medical specialties, including internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, radiology and diagnostic testing, pathology, anesthesiology, and sometimes psychiatry or neurology.
The director of nursing supervises the work of nurses, the hospital’s largest group of health care providers, to ensure the quality and efficiency of the care they provide patients. Nurses provide round-the-clock care that includes giving patients medication, monitoring health status, and maintaining personal hygiene. Nurses also care for hospital outpatients in the emergency department, ambulatory surgery center, and clinics. They provide specialized services in intensive care units, surgical suites, and trauma units.

In addition to medical, surgical, and nursing care, a hospital also provides many other professional services, all of which have a department head who reports to the hospital’s chief administrator. Dietary or nutrition staff ensure that hospitalized patients receive food or dietary supplements that maintain and improve health. The pharmacy dispenses the medications that are ordered by doctors and advises doctors on alternative drug regimens for individual patients.

The social services department links patients with agencies and professionals inside and outside the hospital that can provide patients with financial help, counseling, long-term care, or assistance in the home. Educational outreach programs not only acquaint community members with the direct services offered by the hospital, they also teach individuals about disease prevention and health maintenance.