Advocate Christ Medical Center Case Study

Advocate Christ medical Center
Health Planning and Policy Management
EHC 4498

Heather Cooper
2/2/2014

Advocate Christ Medical Center, opened in 1961, it is a teaching hospital that is ranked as a top one hundred facility and is located in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Advocate Christ Medical Center is a seven hundred sixty-four bed medical center (Center, 2014), in 2012 this facility had forty thousand seven hundred and sixty seven admissions. In 2012 alone this hospital performed eleven thousand six hundred and seven inpatient surgeries and nine thousand nine hundred and one outpatient surgeries. Through the course of the year the emergency department saw ninety thousands one hundred and ninety two patients. In addition to taking
care of their surrounding community Advocate Christ Medical Center also trains over nine hundred residents each year. One may question why this hospital is preferred over the other five thousand seven hundred and twenty three hospitals (Association, 2014) throughout the nation. Perhaps it is due to their mission statement at Advocate Christ Medical Center they are committed to serving the health needs of individuals and their families through a wholistic, faith- based philosophy. Customer service is their top priority and the care provided is based on equality, compassion, excellence, partnership and stewardship (Center A. C., 2014). Another factor that sets this facility apart from others is the fact that it has been re-designated magnet status; this is something that only two percent of other hospitals have been able to accomplish. Magnet status is the gold standard for nursing excellence. In order for a facility to be given magnet status they must display “magnet culture”. This type of culture places an emphasis on teamwork and positive relationships. At Advocate Christ Medical Center they are a hierarchical organization. A hierarchical organization is an organizational structure where every entity in the organization, except one, is subordinate to a single other entity.
The President and Chief Executive Officer is James Skogsbergh, this means that the entire facility reports to him. What type of corporate culture does Skogsbergh bring to the facility? At this hospital continued education is vital. Employees are offered multiple ways to advance their education. By doing this they are able to keep up with the advances in health care. At Advocate Christ Medical Center they provide a positive environment so that employees can excel. Faith is something that this facility instills into the day to day activities and incorporates into patient care. A Chaplin is on call twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. They are called any time a patient or staff member wishes to speak to them as well as any time a code or trauma occurs. The Chaplin on duty also is to notify next of kin and take care of protocol at the time of death. Lastly, this facility feels that teamwork is vital in order to accomplish excellent care. This means that everyone is to work as a team, and one man for himself is not tolerated. SWOT analysis: Strengths
Ranked in top 100 hundred hospitals, magnet status, outpatient services, inpatient services, hospice, trauma center, largest private hospital in Illinois, operates the only free standing children’s hospital in the south and southwest Chicago, continuing
education, a leader in breakthrough technology, works with the Evangelical Church, major referral hospital in the Midwest, level 1 trauma center, level 3 prenatal center Weaknesses
New Technology, wait time, teaching hospital, Evangelical Church Opportunities
Open other facilities, advances in technology, Pathways to Excellence award Threats
Other hospitals in the surrounding area, the internet, recession

Advocate Christ Medical Center is a not-for-profit organization. What is a not-for-profit hospital? A not-for-profit hospital is an organization that uses remaining revenue to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit. Some ways that this hospital gets funding is from patients, insurance, federal funding, residency program and charitable donations. Advocate Christ Medical Center is a nationally recognized teaching hospital. A teaching hospital is one that is associated with a medical school and allows for students to receive practical training. In order for one to qualify for practical training he or she must have completed medical school. Once medical school is completed they are allowed to apply for residency at any teaching hospital. Medical students must complete at least four years or residency while doing this they receive supervised training as well as guidance. Residents offer a new fresh looks at treatment for certain diseases. Currently, Advocate Christ Medical Center is involved with third generation heart pump trails with the HeartWare Left Ventricular Assist Device (Institute, 2014).
The ventricular assist device (VAD) is offered to patients in stage four heart failure, as a treatment option. A VAD is a mechanical pump that is used to aid the heart function and blood flow in individuals with a weekend heart (National Heart, 2012). With assistance from this device a patient’s blood is able to flow from a lower chamber of their heart into the rest of the body. Basically, it performs the job of a healthy heart. Currently, patients that are in need of a VAD are either hooked to a large machine or they carry a power source with them. With the third generation pump a patient has no need for the outside power source; everything is implanted inside of
them. Cardiac surgeons at Advocate Christ Medical Center have implanted over one hundred and fifty third generation devices. Due to their advanced medical team patients survival rates are better than the national average. Their survival rate for a month is ninety percent and the one year survival rate is eighty five percent. The national average survival rate for one year post operation is only seventy-five percent. As a rule of thumb heart transplants should be performed instead of using a VAD. However, statistics have shown that only half of the patients that need hearts get them. Patients that become gravely ill can opt to have a temporary VAD placed while they wait for a heart. Those that do not qualify for a transplant are eligible to have a second or third generation VAD placed; these are inserted for long term use. The life expectancy of a VAD is five to ten years, if needed a patient can have their VAD replaced. Physician’s goal for VAD patients is for them to return home. Once home they can continue their normally routine, including physical activity. The one limitation is that the patient cannot be submerged in water; with this being said they are able to shower. Advocate Christ Medical uses an array of technology to deliver the best medicine possible. All physicians associated with the hospital must have high speed internet in their offices. With the use of high speed internet physicians have quick and easy access to disease registries as well as patient assessment and education tools. Another requirement of all physicians employed through the hospital is the use electronic data interchange (Health, 2005). By submitting claims electronically administrative cost can be significantly reduced. Computerized physician order entry is used by ninety five percent of the physicians employed through the hospital. This system allows physicians to enter orders electronically; these orders are then shared with other departments that are needed for the patients care. The hospital uses the electronic intensive care unit; this system connects all of the intensive care units and allows physicians to oversee patient care from one central location. Lastly, Advocate Christ Medical Center uses both electronic prescribing and electronic medical records. Electronic prescribing increases patient safety by providing drug interactions, allergies, as well as dosage levels. Electronic medical records also reduce error this is because all of their information is located in one place. Another benefit of using this system is that you don’t need a large space to store the records, therefore maximizing the hospitals square feet. Even with all the technology that Advocate Christ Medical center uses they did not make the list for the Most Wired Hospital. Advocate Christ Medical Center is a top notch facility that most individuals would seek out. They are able to maintain such care by seeking out the most cutting edge technology. The last thing this facility does in order to establish such care is invest in their employees. They don’t just hire someone and forget about them, they continue to push them and inspire them to continue their education.

Bibliography
Association, A. H. (2014). Fast Facts on US Hospitals . Retrieved from American Hospital Association.
Center, A. C. (2014). Heakth Hopsitals Advocate Christ Medical Center. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/il/advocate-christ-medical-center-6432413.
Center, A. C. (2014). Mission values philosophy. Retrieved from Advocate Christ Medical Center.
Colleges, A. o. (2014). Teaching Hospitals . Retrieved from Association of American Medical Colleges.
Health, A. (2005). Helth CareTechnolgy; Why Does it Matter? Retrieved from Advocate Physician Partners.
Institute, A. C. (2014). Advocat Christ Medical Center. Retrieved from Advocate Christ Medical Center Heart and Vascular Institute.
National Heart, L. a. (2012, March 31). What is a Ventricular Assist Device? Retrieved from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.