Introduction
According to the World Health Organization’s Strategizing National Health in the 21st Century: A Handbook (2016) “Operational planning is the link between strategic objectives of the national health policy, strategy or plan (NHPSP) and the implementation of activities.” In shorter terms, an operational plan is a plan that brings the strategic plan into action. Although planning might be a daunting task especially in bigger organizations like a hospital, anyone can make an operational plan. Even a simple to-do list, a calendar of activities or a planned daily routine in one of the hospital’s departments can be considered an operational plan. For the hospital as a whole, the operational plan determines the day-to-day operation of the organization, this includes the allocation of resources and the schedule of the manpower involved. Finally, an operational plan is a practical plan of activities that can be easily understood by manpower at each level to specify what things they are responsible for. The best operational plans are usually created with the people who will carry them out. (1)
Operational planning and strategic planning may all be plans but they differ in a lot of aspects.
Vision -an operational plan’s scope can be for a shorter term like on a yearly basis.
Focus – The focus of a hospital’s strategic plan is the direction for the health sector while for the operational plan, it is a concrete plan of the activity implementation.
Time-frame – the operational plan can have a time-frame ranging from one year or even shorter.
Flexibility – An operational plan is at the mercy of the whims of the different circumstances surrounding it thus, it is easily adapted and modified depending on the given situation.
1. The Operational Plan must be included:
A description of the activities to be done and statement as to which major objective of the strategic plan it aims to accomplish.
Timing, sequencing, and scheduling of those activities.
The number of activities.
The person responsible of the activities.
The resources required for the activity and the source of the resources (this should also include financial resources).
A way of monitoring the progress.
An operational plan ensures you can identify areas that aren’t generating as much revenue as they should, or are causing losses, and can help you establish what needs to change. Being able to continually update and refer to a short-term plan enables a comprehensive understanding of what the goals are and provides a guide for every step of the process. As a result, your agents should be well aware of what’s expected of them and with the right tools self-manage meeting these targets.it bring accountability into daily tasks. By having a comprehensive plan of expectations for the performance of your business, if discrepancies occur, you should be able to analyze your plan and identify where these have taken place and how they can be resolved. These plans are a great way of managing other performance indicators too: shrinkage, the number of calls or average handling time, or which of your employees are achieving higher than their targets. (2)
Anew 300-bed hospital operating in New Alamin, we are requested to set Three Strategic Objectives.
Strategic objective (1)
Provide the highest quality, safest care. Provide patients with high-quality measures that will improve health outcomes across our customers within 1 year.
- Operations actions:
1. Drive best practice clinical care. Create and monitor clinical best practices and outcomes scorecard (Maximize productivity)
2. Enhance the culture of safety. Ensure staff understand their connection to patient safety. (Improving the customer service)
3. Achieve excellent clinical outcomes. Implement an award-winning Palliative Care Program. (Maximize productivity)
4. Align care with patient goals. Educate patients on the benefits of advanced care planning (Improving the customer service)
5. Leverage technology to improve delivery of care (Improving the customer service) (Maximize productivity)
Strategic objective (2)
Recruit and retain an engaged, high performing workforce within 3months.
- Operation actions:
1. Seek, hire and retain remarkable employees
2. Develop a highly engaged workforce. . Develop a workforce plan that incorporates projected workforce shortages and needs. (Maximizing Productivity)
3. Create a culture of high performance. Provide leadership development resource. (Maximizing Productivity)
4. Promote a thriving, rewarding provider practice that nurtures the provider-patient relationship. (Improving the customer service).
Explore the development of a Jefferson Healthcare Learning Institute.
5. Explore the development of a Healthcare Learning Institute. Support teaching and development for providers and staff. (3).
Strategic objective (3)
Adjusting the starting cost for the construction of infrastructure, including medical facilities and equipment within the first year.
- Operations actions:
1. Good communication with logistics, construction and supply companies and good negotiation to obtain appropriate costs for all needs through highly qualified team of supply chain managers. (Cost Optimization) (Business Processes).
2. Good and appropriate planning for all facilities and determining the appropriate spaces for all medical and non-medical devices without wasting through an efficient and experienced team of Asset managers (Cost Optimization)
3. Obtaining all licenses and accreditations in accordance with state and law regulations through an experienced team of legal professionals in good communication with officials.
Summary and Conclusion
To overcome the difficulties and challenges of starting any large startup business, a good choice of strategic objectives that align with the vision and mission of the institution must be made. Therefore, the focus was placed on optimizing the construction cost, infrastructure and equipment, and relying on the selection and recruitment of an efficient workforce capable of providing the highest levels of quality for the service provided and safety for patients, which returns later turn to achieve investment growth and sustainability.
References
(1) https://www.template.net/business/hospital-operational-plan
(2) https://calldesign.com.au/the-importance-of-operationalplanning-for-yourbusiness/#:~:text=Without%20an%20operational%20plan%2C %20you,establish%20what%20needs%20to%20change
(3) https://jeffersonhealthcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/JHStrategic-Plan.pdf
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