Respond to each post with a minimum of 220 words each. Give educational insights and feedback related to the topic POST#1 The organizational structure of my current workplace is interesting to say the least. I work for an ambulatory surgery center that used to be physician owned locally. About a year ago, our center was acquired by a national surgery center organization that has centers all throughout the United States. While this did bring some financial stability to our center, it has complicated some of the day-to-day operations. At the top of our organizations structure, we have a CEO, CFO, COO, Chief dental officer, chief medical officer, VP of revenue, and several VP of operations. Underneath that structure, we have our center administrator, medical director, and director of nursing. The next level of the structure are the hourly staff members including nurses, nursing assistants, and dental assistants. The culture of the company is overall positive as it is a newer company with innovative ideas and young leadership. It is difficult at times to get things done or set policies and procedures as everything has to be approved by the top level of the leadership structure. Different states have different medical laws, so it is not always a one size fits all. It often boils down to communicating with many different people trying to figure out the information and getting passed around a lot. I feel like the company does a good job communicating their overall goals, sometimes it is just a little confusing how we are expected to meet those goals. We have blanket policies that we can refer to, but they are all very vague.
Our textbook describes power as the ability to influence other people despite their resistance (Weiss & Tappen, 2015). People at the top of the organizational structure often have the most authority, but they do not hold all of the power (Weiss & Tappen, 2015). Power can be both positive and negative. Authority is a type of power granted to someone to control resources and guide decision making based on their position within the company (Weiss & Tappen, 2015). Reward is a type of power that promises some type of benefit- such as an extra weekend off in exchange for working overtime (Weiss & Tappen, 2015). Control of information is a power that is based on the knowledge someone possesses. Power dynamics between healthcare providers affect strategic choices that can directly influence patient experiences (McDonald et al., 2012). Using power to establish trust between healthcare workers can encourage collaboration among different health care providers (McDonald et al., 2012). On the contrary, abusing power can create distrust among healthcare workers which can cause one discipline to not want to work with another (McDonald et al, 2012). POST#2 The organization that I currently work for is considered one of the largest private not-for-profit organizations in the nation. It is a catholic based health system and returns a large portion of its revenue to community-based charities. When researching the differences on profit and not for profit the differences are not always clear. The private not for profit and the private for profit are often hard to distinguish from one another because they both compete for patients and obtain government reimbursements through Medicare and Medicaid (Weiss et al., 2019). One interesting fact about not-for-profit hospitals is that they are required to have policies in place that are directed towards charitable care but any unreimbursed care that is provided due to under or uninsured patients in the form of bad debt does not count towards fulfilling this charitable requirement (Valdovinos et al., 2015). It seems like a tricky situation. The clinic that I work for makes a lot of money for the hospital. I can deduce that this money is used to cover other areas such as emergency care that do not generate a profit instead of lining the pocket of a CEO. The goals of this system revolve around being charitable and helping the less fortunate. While the organization is deemed not for profit there is still the goal of being able to purchase the best equipment and employee high quality staff (Weiss et al., 2019).
One type of power that is exhibited frequently in the health system is authority. Everyone seems to have another person that controls them or directs their activities (Weiss et al., 2019). In my clinic the nurse manager presides over the nurses and the clerical staff. There is also a charge nurse that has the authority to direct the activities in the clinic of other nurses and the radiology technicians. The reward power is often used when staffing is short and there are monetary bonuses offered for people to pick up a shift. This is a highly motivational power because everyone loves money. Another type of power that nurses can have been the power of impact. Nurses can have the ability to make a difference everyday with their patients and their peers (Weiss et al., 2019).