CASE STUDY 1( ANSWER BRIEFLY, READ THE ARTICLE CAREFULLY PLEASE)

1. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

2. ANALYZE THE PROBLEM

3. CREATE ATLEAST 5 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION

4. HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE SOLUTION?

5. EVALUATE THE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

6. USING THE ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION , MAKE THE 14 DEMINGS POINT BASE ON THE CASE STUDY?

Our Featured Organization: Griffin Hospital CHANGING THE FACE OF HEALTHCARE In the mid 1980s, Griffin Hospital's maternity ward was a nightmare for expecting mothers. Not only was the all-male obstetrical staff growing weary of the stress from working in the department and eager for retirement, but it was also rumored they didn't like women at all. At least one patient described the Griffin maternity ward as a "dungeon. When deliveries had plummeted by 50 percent, the hospital board met over whether to close Griffin's maternity ward and open a geriatric center. Nearly split down the middle, the board ended up listening to its only female member. She had (Continued) argued that the community was growing with people of child-bearing age and that if these newcomers did not choose to have their babies at Griffin, they would be unlikely to return to the hospital for other services. In the end, the board voted to save the maternity ward. According to Patrick Charmel, then assistant administrator of the hospital, this marked the birth of a new patient-centered movement at Griffin Hospital. Today when patients come here, they expect a superior patient experience. Certainly they expect to have a good surgical outcome, but they also want a good experience. They want a friendly environment that smells good, they want great food, their families embraced, their questions answered, explained Patrick.20 At such a critical juncture in Griffin's history, Patrick thought, I don't know a lot about maternity service, but I know who does: women of child-bearing age, especially those who have had children. That one seed of truth launched the philosophical shift at Griffin, from following old school principles to treating women like guests and finding out what they a wanted from maternity units. What seems obvious to many businesses today was not so obvious back in the 1980s. The concept that talking to customers and changing direction based on their input was both a novel and a good idea. In hospitals, however, you'd be lucky if you found any- one who believed that this practice was the least bit acceptable. Griffin orchestrated focus groups as a first step, but in Patrick's mind, that wasn't enough. So, he and a Griffin marketing manager turned them- selves into "secret shoppers." Posing as husband and wife, they contacted several hospitals around the country and pretended to be shopping for an obstetrician and a hospital suitable for delivering their child. Most hospital staff who received their calls were taken aback, stating, "we don't do tours. The rest viewed their request as a bother. After all, people were traditionally supposed to find their obstetricians first. Finally, a number of hospitals begrudgingly extended an invitation to Patrick and his "wife, who stuffed a pillow under her skirt to fake pregnancy. After several months of visiting various maternity units, they returned with great ideas and began knitting them together into what was to become a state-of-the-art program. Griffin emerged with a patient-centered, edu- cational focusone that embraced patients' families. Sibling preparation classes, grandparent classes, and intensive programs for both moms and dads were pioneered. Gone were the posted visiting hours that had frus- trated both patients and their families. And, the facility's facelift was just w staggering with its double beds, Jacuzzis for labor pain relief, and beautiful lounges where loved ones could wait. In came a brand-new staff of young, idealistic male and female doctors who understood what mothers wanted and needed. It didn't take long for Griffin to double its business and become the talk of the town with its new childbirth center, a place where expectant mothers were thrilled to go to bring their children into the world. "We looked at that and said, Wow-now we have seen such great success in using this consumer-research model, how do we take this hospi- tal wide?" recounts Griffin vice president, William Powanda.21 In keeping with their maternity behavioral paradigm of patient as guest," they took their employees to off-site retreat locations and asked them what they liked and didn't like as customers of healthcare. They knew that their employees were critical to the success of a new hospital model; after all, they would be the ones to live it each and every day. The retreats were a catharsis for many staffers who had been delivering patient service for 20 years and now realized that they hadn't really been meeting the needs of their patients. Some cried and asked themselves and one another, Why didn't I see this before?" To be fair, painfully few hospitals anywhere in the world were designed to support nurses in providing true "guest service" to their patients. And, surely there was no need for that in the old paradigm. Even with the escalating staff buy-in to a new way of life at Griffin, the facility was in such disrepair that fixing would be a daunting task. To begin with, the patients' rooms had no air-conditioning, although many of the nurses stations did. This was certainly inconsistent with the new model where the goal was to make patients feel at home. Patrick and the vice president of patient-care services were charged with transforming both the care delivery model and the facility. The primary goal was to build the facility to deliver the best care. On one fateful benchmark- ing journey, Patrick and his associate discovered a new humanistic model of health care called Planetree, which was alive and well in a 13-bed hos- pital unit in northern California. The Planetree environment was tranquil, with soft lighting and soothing music, and above all, it supported patient empowerment. The whole premise seemed to dovetail beautifully with Griffin's belief that creating a warm and caring place where patients are intimately involved in their care and treatment is imperative to delivering quality healthcare. Signs throughout the facility encourage patients to read their charts. Between 40 and 50 percent do, once, and about 15 percent do it a second time," Powanda says. When Griffin first proposed a ground-up Planetree construction project, there was something of a "giggle-factor. The state Commission on Hospitals and Health Care would not take the idea seriously. Charmel told us, "They thought it was too West Coast. But ulti- mately, the commission agreed to fund it as a pilot project, the only restric- tion being that it not cost any more per square foot than any other health facility would spend for a more traditional renovation. Bill Powanda says, We tried to be economical in purchasing equipment. For example, our furniture was custom-designed and purchased directly from the factory at a significant discount. I think we got maximum value for the total allow- ance that the commission gave us." Like Disney, Griffin does not try to cut corners in its "on stage patient areas, but "back stage" office areas are very Spartan-like. The result is the look and feel of a private hospital or fine hotel, for the cost of a not-for-profit facility. Having been inspired by its numerous positive effects on patients and their families, Griffin acquired Planetree in 1998. With Susan Frampton as its dynamic president, Planetree now assists other hospitals which are focused on adopting the practices that have brought Planetree interna- tional recognition. Under Patrick's leadership, Griffin has developed a unique culture where nurses and technicians walk the halls exchanging supportive comments like That's very Planetree," and these quips serve to reinforce a culture dedicated to creating only the best memories for everyone who passes through its inviting doors.2 22