Running a successful hospital requires a talented hospital manager who can manage budgets and deliver quality patient care. There’s a fine balance required when you’re trying to meet the priorities of stakeholders, contain costs, deal with insurance companies, meet patient demands for more services and ensure that all operations run smoothly. While there are many moving parts for a hospital manager to balance, there are a few keys to success that can help run a successful hospital.
1. Communicate the vision to your team.
As a hospital manager, you need to develop an annual vision that will help your hospital grow. This vision will need to be shared with your staff members across all departments so they can understand the future of the hospital and their roles in achieving this vision. A great way to develop a vision is to choose five focus areas within the hospital, summarize each area, and define your goals in clear, easily explained terms. The goals you set for the hospital should be reflected in the planning and prioritization of activities throughout the year.
Check in with your staff members by asking them how they feel they contribute to these goals. Your staff members should be able to quickly and clearly explain how their actions align with hospital goals. A great way to keep staff members motivated is to encourage excellence and innovation through awards, incentives and recognition. Empowered employees are motivated to make changes in their routines when they feel that their ideas are heard and that their actions make a difference.
2. Stay ahead of the curve.
The medical industry is constantly evolving due to advances in medical treatments, government regulations, technological innovation and health insurance initiatives. A hospital manager can stay ahead of the innovation curve by becoming a member of an industry association or subscribing to professional journals.
One area that requires constant diligence is the commercial or industrial systems and facilities used in your hospital. Your facilities need to be constructed properly, updated in a timely fashion, and receive routine maintenance and necessary repairs. Granite Mechanical Inc. offers boiler and mechanical services provided by skilled workers who are up-to-date on the latest technologies and techniques. The company prides itself on safety first and delivers outstanding quality of work.
Granite City Mechanical keeps your boiler in efficient condition through inspections, upgrades, repairs and maintenance that increase the longevity of your equipment and prevent dangerous and costly problems. Their contractors also perform mechanical services including installations, repairs and tailored advice for your facility and industry. The layout and the function of your mechanical room need to be in safe operational condition and perform with peak efficiency.
3. Let metrics and data drive your decisions.
A hospital manager should make business decisions based on metrics and data and remove all emotions from the equation. Compassion is vital to delivering quality patient care, but emotions are not a basis for setting strategic priorities. Setting up measurements for your team members can help determine if you are performing at the necessary level, if you’re delivering what your customers want and whether or not your staff is receiving enough support and mentoring.
OKR software from Workboard can help business leaders keep teams moving toward results by giving team members the capability and capacity to have a positive impact. Establishing clear OKRs (or Objectives and Key Results) helps you to align strategic priorities across departments, simplify accountability for distributed teams, and identify where business leaders can provide more support and ongoing mentoring. Sites like workboard.com provide software that can help keep your strategic priorities on track and provide the visibility you need drive business and realize your vision.
Running a successful hospital takes a talented hospital manager who can set and achieve a vision, knows how to stay ahead of the innovation curve and uses the right metrics to make business decisions. Use the best tools out there, and you’ll be on the road to success.
