Shouldice Case
Situational Analysis and Problem Definition:
The Shouldice Hospital in Ontario, Canada is a pioneer in the field of treating patients suffering from external abdominal hernias. With its current capacity, it can treat up to 6850 patients annually. The patients are treated using the Shouldice Method, and on an average each patient has to spend about four days in the hospital recuperating. The USP of the Shouldice Hospital is it’s distinct surgical procedure. The speedy ambulation coupled with it’s reasonable price rates leads to satisfied patients publicizing the hospital by word of mouth.
The hospital is having a successful run as a niche player, catering to the demand for treatment of hernia patients. In spite of this, there is a huge backlog that the hospital needs to catch up with.
This increasing backlog forces patients to go seek other doctors for their operations.
The issues that confront the hospital management can be primarily listed as follows:
·Deciding on ways to meet the backlog of operations by expanding the hospital's capacity, while still maintaining control over the overall quality of service delivered. The primary issue here is deciding on the manner in which the capacity should be increased without diluting the quality of service rendered.
·The issue of piracy and bad mouthing due to piracy is also important concerns for the hospital.
Many clinics or doctors claim to use the Shouldice technique or the Canadian method, and in the eventuality of the operation performed by them being unsuccessful, it brings a bad name to the
Shouldice Hospital.
·The next chief surgeon after Dr.Obney, who is due to retire soon, has to be selected. At the same time, retaining the existing talent pool of doctors and attracting newer doctors willing to learn the specialized hernia operations skill is also a primary issue.
How well is the hospital currently utilizing its bed?
90 beds x 7 days/ week = 630 beds available in a week
30 patients x 3 days x 5 days per week =
The Shouldice Hospital in Ontario, Canada is a pioneer in the field of treating patients suffering from external abdominal hernias. With its current capacity, it can treat up to 6850 patients annually. The patients are treated using the Shouldice Method, and on an average each patient has to spend about four days in the hospital recuperating. The USP of the Shouldice Hospital is it’s distinct surgical procedure. The speedy ambulation coupled with it’s reasonable price rates leads to satisfied patients publicizing the hospital by word of mouth.
The hospital is having a successful run as a niche player, catering to the demand for treatment of hernia patients. In spite of this, there is a huge backlog that the hospital needs to catch up with.
This increasing backlog forces patients to go seek other doctors for their operations.
The issues that confront the hospital management can be primarily listed as follows:
·Deciding on ways to meet the backlog of operations by expanding the hospital's capacity, while still maintaining control over the overall quality of service delivered. The primary issue here is deciding on the manner in which the capacity should be increased without diluting the quality of service rendered.
·The issue of piracy and bad mouthing due to piracy is also important concerns for the hospital.
Many clinics or doctors claim to use the Shouldice technique or the Canadian method, and in the eventuality of the operation performed by them being unsuccessful, it brings a bad name to the
Shouldice Hospital.
·The next chief surgeon after Dr.Obney, who is due to retire soon, has to be selected. At the same time, retaining the existing talent pool of doctors and attracting newer doctors willing to learn the specialized hernia operations skill is also a primary issue.
How well is the hospital currently utilizing its bed?
90 beds x 7 days/ week = 630 beds available in a week
30 patients x 3 days x 5 days per week =