Atlantic Health System: A Case Study
Every hospital has a mission for undertaking the care of a community. This mission is also tied to the vision of what the organization would like to accomplish as a result of the mission. Within an organization, this mission and vision can be adapted for the nursing department and then become even more defined on the nursing unit itself. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the mission, vision, and values of Atlantic Health System (AHS). It will also discuss AHS nursing mission and philosophy along with the Wound Care Center’s (WCC) role in addressing our mission, and my role in realizing the organizational mission. Additionally, this paper will outline the structure of the nursing department, including the centralized structure of the nursing
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This was defined in this week’s tutorial as services and work which are separated by occupation, with examples being nursing, pharmacy, and dietary reporting to a specific supervisor (Ohio. n.d.). I am a nurse working in the WCC, however I do not report to an outpatient manager, I report to a nursing manager. According to Huber (2014), centralization is defined as a hierarchy where decision-making is carried out at the top of the hierarchy. Using this definition, I would have to describe our nursing department structure as centralized, where-in important decisions are made by the Director of Nursing. However, AHS is working towards magnet status and is transitioning how decisions are made. Additionally, there appears to be a power struggle within the nursing leadership which has created a realignment of nursing leaders. If I look at the WCC, I see the clinical coordinator being undermined by the manager of the WCC. The clinical coordinator should have some autonomy, yet there are repercussions if she does not make a decision to the liking of the manager. Additionally, in my department, we share a manager with another hospital, which means we only have a manger in the hospital 2 or 3 days a week. This nurse manager also oversees physical therapy, occupational therapy and cardiac rehabilitation which really confuses the model used. Our nursing manager reports to the Chief Nursing Officer from our sister hospital, yet she reports to a different nursing leader at our hospital. As, one can see, this is centralized with a bit of decentralized factors involved. The downside of the centralized model, as witnessed in the WCC, includes the lack of autonomy. The clinical coordinator is told what changes will be made in our center with virtually no input from the center. This was seen when the WCC staff were told they are responsible for pressure ulcers obtained in-house.
This was defined in this week’s tutorial as services and work which are separated by occupation, with examples being nursing, pharmacy, and dietary reporting to a specific supervisor (Ohio. n.d.). I am a nurse working in the WCC, however I do not report to an outpatient manager, I report to a nursing manager. According to Huber (2014), centralization is defined as a hierarchy where decision-making is carried out at the top of the hierarchy. Using this definition, I would have to describe our nursing department structure as centralized, where-in important decisions are made by the Director of Nursing. However, AHS is working towards magnet status and is transitioning how decisions are made. Additionally, there appears to be a power struggle within the nursing leadership which has created a realignment of nursing leaders. If I look at the WCC, I see the clinical coordinator being undermined by the manager of the WCC. The clinical coordinator should have some autonomy, yet there are repercussions if she does not make a decision to the liking of the manager. Additionally, in my department, we share a manager with another hospital, which means we only have a manger in the hospital 2 or 3 days a week. This nurse manager also oversees physical therapy, occupational therapy and cardiac rehabilitation which really confuses the model used. Our nursing manager reports to the Chief Nursing Officer from our sister hospital, yet she reports to a different nursing leader at our hospital. As, one can see, this is centralized with a bit of decentralized factors involved. The downside of the centralized model, as witnessed in the WCC, includes the lack of autonomy. The clinical coordinator is told what changes will be made in our center with virtually no input from the center. This was seen when the WCC staff were told they are responsible for pressure ulcers obtained in-house.