Case Study    

Hospital

Faith Community Hospital

Case Study

Author Name

Author’s School Name


Faith Community Hospital

Case Study

“A good mission statement should accurately explain why the organization exists and what it hopes to achieve in the future. It articulates the organization's essential nature, its values, and its work” (Radtke, 1998, Para 2). A good mission statement is not the recipe for success in business; it is the grand global picture. To accomplish the goals identified in the organizational mission statement, identification of all stakeholders, support of key stakeholders, written policies, detailed written procedures, and effective communication are critical success factors. These critical success factors are the missing ingredients at Faith Community Hospital, the subject of this case study.

The systemic problems at the hospital as described by the CEO include:

  • Patients who refuse to take certain medical services that are in conflict with their religious or personal moral convictions.
  • Staff members who refuse to provide certain services that are in conflict with their religious or personal moral convictions.
  • Child Care Protective Services is preparing to file charges for alleged “failure to provide services.”
  • Hospital pharmacists filling uninsured prescriptions by accepting payment in installments.
  • Staff counselors treating some patients on a pro-bono basis without prior authorization.
  • Staff members who refuse to treat patients until insurance coverage is confirmed.
  • Residents ordering fruitless exams for the terminally ill.
  • Intensive Care staff members initiating Do Not Resuscitate directives without written orders.
  • The ‘per patient per day’ cost has risen from $217.00 to $240.00.

The hospital’s mission statement is as follows:

With the foundation and commitment of our spiritual heritage and values, our mission is to promote the health and well-being of the people in the communities we serve through a comprehensive continuum of services in collaboration with the partners who share the same vision and values.

The hospital’s mission statement is printed on their business cards, communicated daily, and frequently referred to as the data source for procedural decision making. The lack of detailed polices and procedures to support a common framework for applying the mission statement is endangering the hospital’s stakeholder and customer relationships and weakening the business.

There is no single recipe for success in business or for chocolate cake. In baking the terms tad, sprinkle, and pinch are open to a wide range of interpretation. The same ambiguity exists for the phrases “spiritual heritage and values”, “health and well-being” and “same vision and values” which are included in the Faith Community Hospital mission statement. According to Browne and Keeley (2000, p. 36), “Our language is highly complex. If each word or phrase had only one potential meaning about which we agreed, effective communication would be more likely. However, most words and phrases have more than one meaning.” “Definitions serve the purpose of limiting ambiguity. They generally set sharp boundaries so we know what we are talking about and what we aren't” (Lebensold, n.d., chap. 6).

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Without a common understanding, interpretation of the mission statement has become fragmented. As a consequence, stakeholders have only a vague idea on how to apply the hospital’s mission to their daily job tasks and responsibilities. Decisions, such as initiating Do Not Resituate (DNR) directives, are made based on individual values, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations.

Values are beliefs or attitudes about what is good, right, desirable, worthwhile, etc. The value system is the way one organizes, ranks, prioritizes and makes decisions based on these values. The values provide the foundation from which one makes their personal and professional judgments ...

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