Imagine if you worked at an organization where every department operated in isolation of the rest of the organization, where 6 forms exist to capture the same piece of information but each with different labels/structure and level of details, where many of your key staff members are really self-employed and have more influence on your work and reputation than you do, where it is claimed that customers come first but in fact staff come first, where knowledge of how things are done exists only in someone’s head and things fall apart when he/she goes on vacation. If you’re nodding your head in agreement as you read this then congratulations, you work at a hospital.

From what I’ve noticed since I finished my undergrad studies and started working in healthcare is that while healthcare organizations claim that the patient comes first, sadly what I’ve seen in many cases is the exact opposite; it’s all about what the doctor wants. While it is not the case for all organizations, it does seem to be somewhat of a pattern where doctors and hospital staff have the last say over what processes to follow based on what’s more convenient for them rather than what’s actually good for the patient. On top of that, consider the fact that physicians here have their own practices within hospitals rather than being directly employed by the hospitals. This gap in the structure opens room for the adoption of many internal processes based on each practice’s preference. Read the rest of this entry