Trinity Hospital Assesses Health Needs to Improve Population Health - Essay Sample

Introduction

Trinity Community Hospital assessed health needs that targeted services such as cardiovascular, orthopedic, and cancer. Wright et al. (1998) defined health needs assessment as a logical and organized means of ascertaining that a population’s health improves due to health services efficiently utilizing their resources. In primary care, there is an increase in commissioning power that causes politicians and patients to expect the reflection of decision-making on both national and local health care to be equitable and based on needs. Trinity hospital does not have a clear direction for its future development and growth as the pubic discerns, hence the needs assessment was crucial in developing a strategic plan. The results of the evaluation brought to light some significant risk factors from all three service areas.

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All services’ assessment was in terms of resources and demand. The demand for all three services, i.e., oncology, orthopedic, and cardiovascular, is to rise in the next five years. Oncology demand will grow by 34%, affecting men more than women since 50% of men are to develop cancer during their life span. In cardiovascular services, angioplasties, cath procedures, and coronary artery disease will grow by 25.8%,22%, and 21.6%, respectively. Orthopedic services should see the highest demand among the three services with an expected overall growth of 46% with 350% and 30% in the joint and spine procedures of outpatient and inpatient, respectively. The elderly will form a significant part of the demand since 15% of the services area will be above 65 years. Demand will undoubtedly rise, considering the projections above. However, the resources of the hospital are incapable of handling the surge in healthcare needs, and this is another area of significant risk.

How is the Hospital Addressing the Demands of the Assessment?

Recruitment

Trinity should address expected growth in primary care, considering the resources available. Trinity is aware of the need to recruit more physicians for all three services in support of the anticipated increase in the next five years. Data from state planning confirms the rationale behind additional staff stemming from the fact that current physicians are at maximum capacity. The hospital is holding interviews for orthopedic, neurosurgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, and additional physicians for cardiovascular services currently. The interviews confirm that physician recruitment is one of the priorities of the hospital’s strategic plan . Kosnik (2006 ) explained that the healthcare future depends on identifying initiatives for change, which form a synergy between the professional objectives of caregivers and strategic aims of organizations in the healthcare business. Change approaches identification also helps in affording effective,personal-oriented, and safe care of a patient. The change enterprises should be easy to use and focusing on job satisfaction, workload management of workload, and staff empowerment. Trinity’s mission is the provision of quality healthcare for everyone who needs help. The decision to hire additional staff proves that the hospital is right to its mission statement because the more the employees, the more support will be extended to the growing numbers of patients five years to come.

The hospital has emphasized the recruitment of additional members of staff to accommodate the forthcoming surge of patients in the three critical areas of care. However, the hospital management has also neglected other vital aspects that affect the assessment needs, such as health education, time scheduling, and equipment. Managing the anticipated growth in all three service areas requires that management caters to the remaining factors since it will ensure the smooth running of the hospital and provision of excellent services in the next five years and beyond.

Facilities and Equipment

Trinity community hospital recognizes the need to add equipment; however, the strategic plans do not feature this aspect; hence there is no budget for especially for oncology. Equipment and facilities cannot contain the growing volumes of cancer patients as a shortage in advanced imaging equipment, chemotherapy units, operating suites, and linear accelerators are noticeable. The assessment proves that Trinity should upgrade to so that it can handle the upcoming surge in demand for care in critical areas in five years. The strategic plan also does not mention facility expansion for orthopedic services to handle future requests, specifically for outpatient processes. Another obvious need for additional facilities is in cardiovascular services since, according to the assessment, all county hospitals have to add new cath labs and surgical suites while expanding the cardiac rehab capacity. The evaluation brings to light that in the next five years, among other cardiovascular services, angioplasties will also grow; hence the hospital should have put plans in place to cater to it; however, there is no mention of approaches to that expected growth.

Adding and enhancing facilities and equipment should go hand in hand with additional physician recruitment. Bohmer et al. (2020) suggested the improvement of supply chain management, acknowledging that proper management will never be a substitute for skilled and dedicated medical staff. Effective supply chains are, however, crucial in ensuring that medical practitioners have readily available resources to make their jobs easier. The recruitment of the additional physicians is an excellent initiative and plan by the hospital; however, without other facilities and equipment for them to work in, a new problem would be created instead of solving the issue at hand. Apart from adding new equipment, Trinity hospital also needs to expand its 150-bed facility considering that inpatient services for the joint and spine procedures will rise by 30 %.

Health Promotion Programs

Trinity being a community hospital, should be at the forefront in ensuring that members of that community observe healthy living. Unlike other areas of business, in the healthcare sector, a surge in demand could mean a bad thing. Human life is crucial, and all hospitals exist to ensure that human health is at its best; hence low demand in healthcare services means that people are doing well healthwise. However, a spike in the need for healthcare services means that a community is not doing well. Hospitals should be at the forefront of spreading health knowledge. Conduction of general education for certain illnesses that seem to be key health issues is for the benefit of a community.

The assessment proves that there is ignorance in health education, especially for the three primary services. Trinity hospital recognizes the need for community education but has not put measures in place to accommodate that deficiency. Largely, Trinity hospital has missed out on screening for cancer prevention and control apart from general education. It is Trinity hospital’s duty as well as other hospitals located in the same locality to educate the community at large on lifestyle modification. Community education is part of an attempt to prevent and control diseases. Prevention and control lower costs hence improving outcomes. The hospital is a not-for-profit organization; therefore has the aim of cost minimization.

Although the strategic plan notes the need for community education, Trinity community hospital is yet to place measures of addressing this issue. Community education not only sparks an urge for people to live healthily but also encourages people with particular symptoms to undergo testing, for instance, for cancer and cardiovascular diseases to enable early detection. Apart from educating the community, Trinity hospital should also make available cancer sites for prostate, GI, breast, and lung for early diagnosis and treatment. In orthopedics, community education is essential, although its incorporation in the hospital’s plan does not exist. Considering that 15% of the service area will be above 65 in five years, the promotion of health is vital, especially for the seniors. Athletes are also in need of education programs like fitness techniques, accident prevention, and weight management programs.

Time Scheduling

A fragmentation and poor coordination of service also exist facilitated by delays in scheduling. Even though the expansion of bed-facility is vital for anticipated inpatient demand surge in areas like orthopedic, proper programming is also constructive. Trinity hospital has not yet put in place a strategy of hiring and incorporating patient care coordinators, especially in the orthopedic service line, as well as other areas of service. Patient coordinators could prove helpful in scheduling services in a timely fashion hence ensuring that Trinity hospital achieves its mission of helping everyone in need of healthcare services.

Health Planning Summary

The process of planning at the hospital commenced one year back, and the board of Trustees acknowledged the essence of a long-term plan for the reversal of declining performance. The evaluation was the first step in putting together the strategy. The second phase was to come up with a vision for the hospital to enable Trinity to become an integral part of the delivery system of the county’s healthcare. The five-year plan was to respond to four basic questions, i.e., services for the development, outcomes for the chosen services, investment capacity needed, and if contemporary programs would offer margin enough for generating satisfactory resources for imminent growth. Kosnik (2006) explained that matching demand to service capacity in a hospital is involved and to achieve the perfect match, and there should be a wide-range cultural change. Inter and intra department collaboration depends on the cultural shift to function efficiently in any healthcare organization. The strategic plan of Trinity hospital was to ensure that demand matched capacity for the effective running of the three services. Trinity’s strategic plan was dependent upon the capital reserve of $25,000,000, which was as a result of previous profitable operations. The capital reserve was found reasonable for the expenditures expected for the three services. The plan had three main goals.

Goal 1: To Develop a Regional Cancer Center Noted for Clinical and Service Excellence

The achievement of this objective was dependent upon three approaches. Strategy one included the offering of unique services such as clinics for lung, prostate, breast, and GI cancer. Other programs included comprehensive medical, radiation, surgical, and help services as well as an evidence-based treatment. The second approach was the emphasis on prevention and cancer control via public education, risk assessment, and outreach programs. The third strategy was the enhancement of service accessibility via navigation of patients and fast-track scheduling. The budget intended for this project was $8,000,000 for the oncology center, infusion suite, simulator, renovation, and linear accelerator.

Goal 2: To Develop a Regional Orthopedic Center Noted for Clinical and Service Excellence

For excellent orthopedic services, clinical services such as rehab, spine, total joint, and hand were in place as well as best protocols and practices. There was an emphasis on injury prevention via screening, education, and outreach services. For good service, fast-tracking and coordination of services was a must. Capital capacity set for orthopedic was $600,000 for a new 5,000square-foot physical therapy/rehab center constructed on campus. If the center was to be purchased adjacent to the campus, then $700,000 seemed fit.An additional $3...