Operational Excellence in Secondary Care Hospital in India

In India, we have 3 types of Hospitals, Primary, secondary & tertiary care Hospitals. Secondary care hospitals shall be defined as a mini tertiary care hospital. They have in-patient as well as out-patient facilities, laboratories & consists of doctors from various departments like Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology etc., nurses and paramedics. Mainly, the secondary care hospitals receive the patient referred through general physicians from primary care hospitals for specialized investigation. Though the secondary care hospital may look small in size, they need to follow certain standard operating procedures to have a smooth work flow in order to achieve the operational excellence. We can precisely focus on three main categories to acquire operational excellence, namely;

Secondary care Hospital faces a lot of challenges which holds back in giving 100% effectiveness in operation. The common challenges faced by secondary care Hospital overall in our country are listed as follows;

The organization who knows to manage finance can manage any other circumstances. Basically a hospital deals with huge transactions every day. The financial resource to the Hospital should be very strong. Continuous support from the shareholders is necessary to run the organization without financial shortages. If the hospital aims to reduce the operational cost & improve the quality, will lead the hospital to a next level where we run the organization by rotating the profit earned and the operation becomes easy.

Patient safety is one of the quality indicator. It means protecting the patient from injuries, medical errors and infection. This could be achieved only when the care givers strictly follow the standard operating procedures while rendering service to the patient. If no incidents are reported then the hospital can achieve the operational excellence. Continuous training, awareness programmes & education to the care givers are the key parameters to reduce and eliminates occurrence of incidents within the hospital.

Accreditation is a prestigious recognition given to the Hospital to reward the quality of service given. It is now compulsory for every hospital to get NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare provider) certification. The NABH standards systemizes the operational flow in the Hospital. NABL certification for the lab is also essential for the Hospital laboratories. The Hospital should compulsorily follow all the government policies and regulations which gains an advantage among the public. Therefore accreditation of the Hospital gives a positive impression to the people and increases the patient flow of the Hospital.

Purchase & stores department act as a backbone of the Hospital in supplying all necessary raw materials. Cyclic monitoring of the stock level is compulsory for the functioning of the Hospital. The re-order level, lead time shall be keenly noticed to eliminate the pitfall in the supply of goods. Because personal shortages cease the complete operations and disfigure the name of the Hospital.

The doctors are the magnets of the Hospital to get patients. Many people prefer to take treatment only for a good physician rather than any other facilities in the Hospital. The bond between the Doctor and the Hospital should be very strong to have a continuous patient flow without disturbing the operational flow.

The location & accessibility to the Hospital are the prerequisite to have a good patient flow. So that, the operation of the Hospital will be unbroken & will continue to increase the productivity. Hospital security system makes the Hospital very alert & avoid major incidents. Because one incident, example –theft of new- born baby can rotate the Hospital upside down which terminates the entire functioning of the Hospital. Hospital security system is a vital department for a Hospital to operate in an organized way.

Be it a 50 bedded or a 200 bedded hospital, updating the technology helps to increase the productivity & effectiveness. Technology needs initial investment but it gains tremendous benefits to the hospital. Electronic medical record, Hospital Information system, software for generating automatic lab reports etc. can boost the operational effectiveness to attain excellence in service.