Heritage Valley Medical Center's

How have the changing definitions of diversity affected healthcare management and the delivery of healthcare services in this organization?

The organization has changed in a very dramatic fashion over the years. From the beginning the organization was a strong in its core values, mission statement and teamwork. The core values changed from a focused center on its patients to just providing care to Medicaid for all the people that came to the hospital. However, in recent years the organization has changed from providing to the patient to a organization that the staff cannot relate to. The climate of the hospital has changed as well. The viewpoint of the organization cannot relate to a culturally diverse background and associated field of culture rich employees. The organization needs to hire a more diverse staff in order to focus on the related patients that come to the place of business. By providing the organization with a more rich staff the organization will be able to understand the language and cultures that come to the place of business. The organization has to hire a more diverse staff in order to keep up with the staff of the future in understanding the needs of the clients. In doing so, this allows the patients to be fulfilled with patient care and customer service.

What does this situation say about Heritage Valley Medical Center's organizational culture and organizational competency, if anything?

It says a lot about the organization, management and their ethnocentric frame of mind. The staff is approaching the patients with a closed mind. If the management or staff cannot understand the patient, then the employee needs to get a staff member that can translate or relate problems associated with culture and diversity to the higher in order to change some things. This will help with client based surveys and the healthcare surveys when education and certifying services come to the hospital. This drives monetary funding from local, private and government funds to the organization. When staff members go out their way to patients, they can be rewarded in various ways other than monetary ways. This in turn will help them in future endeavors and other staff along the way.

If you were Ms. Harper, how would you handle this and what information would you present to the executive team, including measures and steps to change the attitudes and opinions presented?

In service training would be beneficial to the organization. Also, hiring more staff to accommodate the culturally diverse background of the patients would be beneficial to the organization. In doing so, the organization would know what the staff is saying and how they could relate to them. Surveys would be helpful in getting the opinion of the patients and the care they are giving. It also helps benefit the employees in their customer service role and helps to make improvements of the organization. The customer based survey can also shed light on major improvements that need to made within the organization and some changes that need to be made. Education is another way the organization can benefit from the scenario. In service workshops, client based training and a continuing education for management and cultural diversity can better equip the staff to handle the patients and their needs.

Buchbinder, S.B. & Shanks, N.H. (2007). Introduction to health care management. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

What ethical principles relate to this case scenario?

There are a few associated terms both in the text and in personal reasons that could relate to the scenario. The bopok talks about beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice as some of the ethical principles. According to the text, Buchbinder describes beneficence as doing what is good for the patient and the benefit is prevention of harm. All professional health care employees are obligated to care for the patients when