Cindy has been employed by Memorial Health System for the past 25 years, working her way up the organization’s hierarchy. She started working for the organization as a medical coder after obtaining her bachelor’s degree. After 10 years, Cindy returned to school to earn a master’s degree in health services administration so that she could qualify for management positions. After many years of hard work, she became the system’s director of compliance. However, she has recently been hearing rumors that the organization is not doing well because of the national health reform changes and that layoffs may be announced in the near future. This is causing Cindy stress and worry. Memorial is the only organization she has worked for! She has tried to stay focused, but it is extremely difficult for her to do so, especially after she talked with Harry last week.

Harry and Cindy went to graduate school together and have kept in touch over the years since Harry moved to another state to work for a larger health care system. Last week, Harry told Cindy that he had been laid off 3 months earlier and had not been able to secure even an interview with other provider organizations because of the uncertainty in the marketplace due to the reform changes. Knowing about Harry’s experience further stressed Cindy as she thought about how she could be in the same situation soon. She tried to get reassurance from her boss about her job security, but he just seemed to give her the runaround. Because of her preoccupation with her job security, Cindy’s quality of work began slipping, and she became forgetful of project deadlines. She now spends most of her time worrying and has had to call in sick a few times over the past 4 weeks because she had stomach cramps and headaches.

Discuss Cindy’s situation using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.