In this course, you develop a comprehensive Course Project: Promoting Health Care Quality. To initiate this project, this week you examine the systems and structures of an organization with which you are familiar. This analysis will serve as a foundation for developing a plan to address a quality improvement issue.
Section 1: Organizational Systems and Structures Evaluation
When a problem related to health care quality and patient safety arises, there can be an inclination to focus on a specific event rather than to examine the larger context surrounding it. Analyzing the systems and structures within an organization provides a foundation for generating a fuller understanding of how and why the event occurred and for developing strategies to address the underlying issues. Perhaps more importantly, such an analysis can be used to proactively identify potential challenges and improve organizational systems and structures in order to promote positive outcomes.
In the first section of your Course Project, you analyze the systems and structures of a health care organization with which you are familiar.
To prepare:
- Identify a health care organization with which you are familiar; one that you will be able to sufficiently analyze to complete the full scope of the Course Project. (Refer to the Course Project Overview as needed.) This may be the same organization that you addressed in this week’s Discussion.
- Select two or more of the following frameworks:
- Learning organizations
- Complex adaptive systems (CAS)
- Clinical microsystems
- Good to great
- The 5 Ps
You may use the same frameworks that you addressed in this week’s Discussion.
- With these frameworks in mind, analyze the systems and structures of the organization. Be sure to research and consider:
- Mission, vision, and values
- Strategic plan, goals, and objectives, if possible
- Key operational processes and patterns
- Information technology use
- Organizational priorities and investments, as indicated by financial data
In Week 4, you will receive instructions for integrating an analysis of organizational culture into development of Section 1 of your Course Project. Once you have completed your evaluation, you will write a 3- to 5-page paper, which is due by Day 7 of Week 4.
PART 1
Project 1: Promoting Health Care Quality
Section 1: Organizational Systems and Structures Evaluation
As you continue your evaluation of a health care organization, it is essential to pay attention to culture. Organizational culture provides the context in which all interactions and processes occur, and is therefore central to any effort to enact change.
To prepare:
- Continue to analyze your selected organization, as indicated in Week 3 (Section 1 of the Course Project).
- In addition, consider the ideas and information exchanged in this week’s Discussion. Continue to analyze essential elements of organizational culture and evaluate the influence of culture on the ability to achieve goals within your selected organization.
To complete:
Write a 3- to 5-page paper in which you:
- Provide a description of the organization you selected
- Present your analysis of the organization with attention to:
- Its mission, vision, values
- Strategic plan, goals, and objectives
- Key operational processes and patterns
- Information technology use
- Organizational priorities and investments, as indicated by financial data
- The essential elements of the organization’s culture
- The influence of culture on meeting organizational goals
