Effective Implementation of Strategies in Healthcare
Healthcare is one of the key sectors in a given economy or nation. The health care system is charged with coming up with most suitable strategies to improve the services offered to the patients and the citizenry at large. The change initiatives are for a real purpose, but research shows that nearly 60% to 70% of the reforms introduced fail because of one reason or the other (Ginter, 2013). The failures can be traced back to few missing ingredients that may be overlooked in the process that ends up derailing the whole program.Effective Implementation of Strategies in Healthcare
All of these barriers combine to form what may be called a perfect storm that will require critical thinking to come up with comprehensive solutions. Repeatedly, the invisible cultural barriers derail best-laid plans in the healthcare system, especially if not identified and addressed in the early stage of implementation. One of the obstacles is the resistance or skepticism from staff within the health system. The success of any changes within the system is dependent upon a radical acceptance of the team, which is brought about by most people not understanding the impact the changes has to service delivery (Grol & Grimshaw, 2003). An example of a strategy that continues to face resistance is the introduction of information technology meant to boost service delivery. Therefore, institutions should come up with strategies that help the staff transform and accept the changes to observe effective implementation of policies. Additionally, addressing skepticism from staff requires the stakeholders to develop an analysis and use a team-based problem-solving approach. This method helps eliminate some issues that the staff have a particular strategy, and in the process, people get a clear view of the policy and what it will accomplish in achieving the set goals.
Another barrier to effective implementation of strategies in the health sector is the shortage of internal resources to lead change initiatives. Institutions come up with strategies that help them achieve the set-out goals in the long-term. However, such policies are wide ranged to an extend of making it impossible to use the facilities’ resources to drive the new strategies. Therefore, in addressing changes, health institutions require to enlist outside help to drive the initial project that helps produce immediate results. In this case, outside help comes from collaborating with other organizations in a similar line of duty, including non-governmental organizations and private groups in the health sector. The initial phase will ensure the staffs receive training and mentorship that helps establish a foundation for proper implementation of the strategies.Effective Implementation of Strategies in Healthcare
Another setback for effective implementation of policies is the uncertain role and or lack of accountability (Glasgow, et.al. 2003). Change is good for any institution to achieve its set out goals, but there are instances where new strategies are introduced, and in the process, appropriate roles are not clearly set out. Such confusion provides a platform for unaccountability in areas that have failed with no plan of determining the source of failure. As such, institutions should adopt management systems and structures that explicitly link projects and performance with overall strategies in an effort to curb such a situation.
Change is undeniably hard for any institution, whether it is aimed at improving service delivery or for the benefit of the organization. Even though there are excuses that may arise in implementing change initiatives, there are positive results obtained from adopting such changes in systems. It is vital for organizations to observe the need for these changes and come up with a better way of implementing it to achieve better results.Effective Implementation of Strategies in Healthcare