In 1992, the United Nations Earth Summit on Environment and Development approved the notion of sustainable development. This concept is defined by three pillars: economic, social development and environmental safety. Implementation of sustainable development concept on the healthcare sector is still to be explored, questioned whether the healthcare can satisfy needs of current and future generations.
The transition to a further sustainable healthcare was evaluated by Sustainable Development Unit NHS (2014), incorporation of sustainable applications in mission linked initiatives, and integrating sustainability concepts into internal and external policies and procedures, require long-term organization culture shifts from a volume-based to a
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But over time; they discovered that to be really sustainable; these initiatives must be cost-effective while also serving the community and protecting the environment. So, “There is more to sustainability than environmentalism”.
Ten sustainability “Megaforces” which will totally transform how healthcare is “conceived and delivered” in the upcoming years were listed by KPMG (2012); Climate Change, Population Growth, Water & food Scarcity, Energy &Fuel, Urbanization, Deforestation, and Wealth. Healthcare also has its share in creating these forces; as for the climate change, SDU NHS (2008) estimated that healthcare effect to be from 3 to 8% of the climate change. There is also a growing recognition that the effects of climate change will continue to increase the cost and the demand for health services around the world (KPMG, 2012).
The healthcare business can save $15 billion over the next 10 years by implementing sustainability enterprises according to The 2012 Commonwealth Fund report (Thomson,
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They can transform their hospitals to support the local economy through purchasing a range of harmless products and technologies of environmentally responsible institutions to situate hospitals in the “broader ecology” of its regional community.
1.2. Research Questions
In this study, we aim to formulate an integrated set of adaptable and scalable framework for healthcare leaders to guide the transformation of healthcare systems towards sustainability. That would be characterized by a consistency of vision, values, processes and demands. Healthcare leaders are already well-versed in the complicated details of extenuating strategic business plans, setting objectives, finance, operations, patient care and tracking specific goals. Now, the basis of this study is to answer the following research questions:
1. Why is the problem of non-sustainable healthcare practices important?
2. How can healthcare leaders expand their knowledge, and broaden their frame of sustainability
The following case study critiques Upton’s vision to establish a sustainable community through implementing comprehensive sustainable strategy. The urban periphery development is thought to demonstrate superior execution of sustainable principles in development (Jackson 2007). As a parallel, the report focuses on the development of Upton’s design code and demonstrates how large -scale mix-use developments can incorporate sustainable practice and principles of urban growth.
Given the long duration of patient quality problems, over ten years, at SGH, the communication plan may need to include not only the internal SGH stakeholders such as employees, but also external stakeholders both in the community, shareholders, and third party vendors. SGH is at greater business risk due to their previous attempts at improving quality and now potential lack of stakeholder confidence. Including stakeholders in the change management process allows the stakeholder’s viewpoint to coevolve with SGH to create a shared view of the change plan and how to measure change success (Windsor, 2010). Engaging with the stakeholders in change plan definition and focuses their energy on helping SGH with the change process, rather than undermining it (Windsor, 2010). Identifying all of the stakeholders for SGH, and engaging them in change communications and planning will assist SGH leadership in evolving the hospital towards a high patient quality
Determined healthcare systems routinely examine their environments internally and externally to locate significant trends and forces in the present and for the future which will have an effect on their performance goals and mission efforts. These healthcare systems understand who their stakeholders are, their needs and how best to meet those expectations and needs. These systems give attention to specific efforts on accomplishing goals that acquire opportunities in the whole environment while they continue to adjust their internal structures and functions. Precise aims are dealt with by uninterrupted sequences for performance improvements. Strategic directions for systems originate from the mission and directives. Strategic directions are identified by observing key stakeholders, addressing their interests and being proactive about responding to current, as well as, future shifts and trends in the systems’ entire environment (Skinner, 2001).
Hospitals and regional health authorities throughout Canada are currently facing problems. Mergers, forced, closures, and funding restraints are major challenges that the healthcare industry currently faces (Harber, 1998). Furthermore, there are cultural differences in addition to non-acute and community-based services (Harber, 1998). While all of these challenges are faced, the healthcare industry must remain loyal to their customers and provide quality services while ensuring that the stakeholders remain pleased with the current financial situation of the industry and individual hospitals; this is done by setting a mission, or vision statement, and fulfilling all of its requirements.
Honor Health is a hospital and physician provider system located in phoenix Arizona. Honor health is relatively new hospital chain, more specifically it is the result of a merger of Scottsdale hospital and the John C. Lincoln Health Network (Alltucker, 2013). Honor Health’s mission statement is relatively short, comprising only a single sentence. Their mission and vision statements are, “To improve the health and well-being of those we serve” and, “To be the partner of choice as we transform healthcare for our communities” (Honor Health, 2015). While their vision and mission statements impart a direction and goal for their organization, the vagueness of both statements may cause problems in guiding targeted strategic initiatives. This essay
Current health care systems exist in complex atmospheres that regularly change to meet the demands of health care personnel and consumers. Health care systems deal with many different cultures, values, and interests making it increasingly more difficult for management to provide their employees with a clear vision of the future (Lega, Longo, & Rotolo, 2013). Begun, Hamilton, and Kaissi (2005) explain health care centers utilize strategic planning to better understand their environments and ensure the organization’s structure, culture, and important decision-making are compatible within their current surroundings. Ginter, Duncan, and Swayne (2013) describe strategic planning as “the periodic process of developing a set of steps for an organization to accomplish its’ mission and vision using strategic thinking” (p.14). The goal of strategic health care planning is to improve performance throughout the organization (Begun et al, 2005). This paper discusses the strategic plan for Brooklyn Hospital Center including its long and short- term goals, its strategic thinking and key stakeholders, and the various strategies identified within the plan.
The University Hospital Bristol NHS Foundation Trust is a health care organization focused on the profitability of people. What this tells us is that the practice of medicine is based upon the community in which it resides. Without those patients, without those emergencies, and without the need to practice, the very organizations we depend upon would no longer be needed, much less be profitable. To have a strategic plan that’s main focus is the improvement of patient satisfaction and efficiency is to validate that point. The Bristol hospital has a strategic plan that allows for growth and financial solvency while benefiting the community at large. As a health care organization, that is the best plan for the future; community, growth, and the desire to heal.
When assessing where the industry will go over the next ten years, there is one area that stands out. Government involvement in healthcare has become a major player in how this industry is changing. New regulations are being introduced at a rapid rate and have pushed hospitals into constant change management (Arab Kash, Spaulding, Johnson, & Gamm, 2014).
Competitive advantage matters greatly to those responsible for the management of healthcare institutions. Together with rapidly escalating healthcare costs, increasingly complex medical technologies, and growing regulatory and legal pressures, healthcare organizations face a critical need to improve the quality of care at reduced costs (Cu...
In society today many of the policymakers are looking to find ways to decrease the current levels of growth without reducing access to the necessary medical care services, while at the same time not creating burden on the patient population. In many cases though, organizations are looking at past strategies in order to decrease cost. Many health care organizations are exploring new approaches that seem to hold promise to decrease the cost of medical treatment. The future of health care in the United States will need to be focused on implementing cost reduction systems to improve overall cost to patients.
The world of the healthcare environment is fast-paced and implementation of new healthcare technology requires an organization to have a strategic management plan. Subsequently, in order to start building the strategic management plan one must understand the external competitive forces that influence a strategic management plan by doing an environmental analysis, which is the first step involved with strategic planning and strategic thinking to understand the external environment (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013, p. 40). Environmental analysis involves assessing the “trends, events, concerns in the general environment and in the healthcare industry, and the service area” (Ginter et al., 2013, p. 41). Moreover, environmental analysis attempts
World Health Organisation (1997). Health and Environment in Sustainable Development : Five years after the Earth Summit.
Sustainability is a concept with a diverse array of meanings and definitions – a widely used glamorous, ambiguous, ambivalent and vague concept that is used by different stakeholder groups in various ways. Presumably to avoid noodling over a terminology or to avoid the confrontation with a definition, most widely the concept is broken down a planning process (c.f. e.g. Döring & Muraca, 2010). That is why most common sustainability is understood as sustainable development.1
7). Their definition was as follows: “ It is in the hands of humanity to make development sustainable… to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. (SHRM, 2011, p. 7).” Sustainability is the organization’s commitment to balance financial performance with contributors to the quality of life of employees, society at large, and environmentally sensitive initiatives (SHRM, 2011, p. 2). Workplace sustainability requires observation of the following: work force diversity, environmental impact, bribery and corruption, community involvement, ethical sourcing of goods, human rights, product safety, and product usefulness (Epstein & Roy, 2001, p. 588). Creation of a stable, sustainability culture can support the company’s efforts to reach its long term goals; however, sustainable practices are more often found in medium and large staff-sized organizations, publicly and for-profit companies and multinational companies (SHRM, 2011, p.
In class we discussed what sustainable development meant to us; each group had its own definition. Our group’s definition was that sustainable development is for the long term for future generations, for the basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and job. The basic will increase over time and our resources will diminish, which why sustainable development is important. Sustainable development is important for future generations so that they end up with a world better than ours. Sustainable development is achievable if society works together to meet everyone’s basic needs and create a better world.