Lorraine Gambino
HCS/514
January 25, 2015
Louis Kastner
Making a Decision
Planning is a manner of deciding what to do in the present-day that would have an impact on the future and its desired outcomes and making decisions can posses some uncertainty. Planning entails having the right goals and deciding on how to achieve them, by making assumptions, developing ideas, and reviewing alternative methods to achievement. Making a decision for a large organization requires adequate tools and techniques and of course appropriate planning. “The importance of a decision may be measured in terms of both the resources and the time being committed,” (Liebler, 2012). Some decisions cannot be taken back because they have caused new developments to occur, therefore the degree of risk in which the decision must be made needs to be thoroughly evaluated with respect to the impact it could have on the organization itself. The greater the impact, the greater the cost may be to the organization.
Current Issue: In the mist of the healthcare reform, hospitals have found themselves inundated with an increase of hospital admissions stemming from newly insured people. My organization in particular had strategically planned for an increase of membership in the beginning of 2014, however the numbers were just slightly over the expected outcome. As of January 1st, its membership has doubled over their expectations, where the hospital is not prepared to care for so many admissions. The hospital is currently operating at capacity on a daily basis and patients are left in the emergency department for several hours. The nurse to patient ratio has been maxed at Department of Health System requirements; break-relief nurses have been pulled to care for patients as well as the charge nurses leaving the units without adequate support in the event of an emergency. Nurses are not receiving their lunch breaks and now an increase in sick calls has been happening as well.