Arnold Palmer Hospital

The Arnold Palmer Hospital (APH) in Orlando, Florida, is one of the busiest and most respected hospitals for the medical

treatment of children and women in the U.S. Since its opening on golfing legend Arnold Palmer's birthday September 10,

1989, more than 1.5 million children and women have passed through its doors. It is the fourth busiest labor and delivery

hospital in the U.S. and the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the Southeast. And APH ranks fifth out of 5,000 hospitals

nationwide in patient satisfaction.

"Part of the reason for APH's success," says Executive Director Kathy Swanson, "is our continuous improvement process.

Our goal is 100% patient satisfaction. But getting there means constantly examining and re-examining everything we do,

from patient flow, to cleanliness, to layout space, to colours on the walls, to speed of medication delivery from the pharmacy

to a patient. Continuous improvement is a huge and never-ending task."

One of the tools the hospital uses consistently is the process flowchart. Staffer Diane Bowles, who carries the title "Clinical

Practice Improvement Consultant," charts scores of processes. Bowles's flowcharts help study ways to improve the

turnaround of a vacated room (especially important in a hospital that has operated at 130% of capacity for years), speed up

the admission process, and deliver warm meals warm.

Lately, APH has been examining the flow of maternity patients (and their paperwork) from the moment they enter the

hospital until they are discharged, hopefully with their healthy baby a day or two later. The flow of maternity patients follows

these steps:

1. Enter APH's Labor & Delivery check-in desk entrance.

2. If the baby is born en route or if birth is imminent, the mother and baby are taken by elevator and registered and admitted

directly at bedside. They are then taken to a Labor & Delivery Triage room on the 8th floor for an exam. If there are no

complications, the mother and baby go to step 6.

3. If the baby is not yet born, the front desk asks if the mother is preregistered. (Most do preregister at the 28-30-week

pregnancy mark). If she is not, she goes to the registration office on the first floor.

4. The pregnant woman is taken to Labor & Delivery Triage on the 8th floor for assessment. If she is ready to deliver, she is

taken to a Labor & Delivery (L&D) room on the 2nd floor until the baby is born. If she is not ready, she goes to step 5.

5. Pregnant women not ready to deliver (i.e., no contractions or false alarm) are either sent home to return on a later date

and reenter the system at that time, or if contractions are not yet close enough, they are sent to walk around the hospital

grounds (to encourage progress) and then return to Labor & Delivery Triage at a prescribed time.

6. When the baby is born, if there are no complications, after 2 hours the mother and baby are transferred to a "mother-baby

care unit" room on floors 3, 4, or 5 for an average of 40-44 hours.

7. If there are complications with the mother, she goes to an operating room and/or intensive care unit. From there, she

goes back to a mother-baby care room upon stabilization or is discharged at another time if not stabilized. Complications for

the baby may result in a stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before transfer to the baby nursery near the

mother's room. If the baby cannot be stabilized for discharge with the mother, the baby is discharged later.

8. Mother and/or baby, when ready, are discharged and taken by wheelchair to the discharge exit for pickup to travel home.

Source: http://www.arnoldpalmerhospital.com/

Answer ALL the questions in this section.

QUESTION 1 (20 Marks)

All good managers perform the basic functions of the management process which is planning, organising, leading and

controlling. Operations Managers (OM) apply this management process to the decisions they make in the OM function.

Evaluate if the ten (10) strategic operations decisions at Arnold Palmer Hospital can be implemented to improve their competitiveness.