Read the case below and respond to these questions

1) does it make sense for Kaiser to use teams, and,ifso, what kind ofteams should it use and where?

2) howshouldpeopleho work onteamsbe trainedandpaid?Youhavetoflnd awayto encourage individualinitiative,whileatthe sametime encouragingpeopletoworktogetheron teams. Also,it'sincredibly difficult toattr ct and retain nurses and highly trained medical personnel, sodon't overlook that as youconsider what todo.

3) wholeads the teams, physicians, managers, or employees? And whatrolesshould,thoseleaders play?

4) how large orsmallshould theteamsbe andhowdo youbuildcohesionandmakesure the team normsarefunctionalandproductive.Ifyouwere in charge at Kaiser, what wouldyoudo?

REFERENCE

KAISERPERMANENTE

KaiserPermanente, Oakland, California.With8.5million healthplanmembers inninestates andWashington,D.C.,148,884employees,12,879physicians,37medicalcenters,400medicaloffices, and$31.1billion inoperating revenues, Kaiser Permanente is thelargest not-for-profit managed care organization in theU.S.Overall, Kaiser has asolid reputation. Consumer Reports ranks Kaiser

Pennanente as an average ar better hospital systemTT SNews and World Report ranks Kaiser PermanenteNorthernCalifornia58thoutof257healthplansandKaiserPermanenteSouthernCalifornia

as88th.

Butlately Kaiser hascomeunderintensivescrutiny foraseries ofmanagement and patientcare issues. Forexample, after Northern California KaiserPermanente began anin-house program that required kidney transplant candidates toobtain medical treatment through theirlocalKaisermedical center,56peoplereceivedkidney transplants, buttwice thatmanydied waitingforakidney. Incontrast, at otherCalifornia transplantcenters,morethantwiceasmanypeoplereceived kidneys thandiedduring thesame period. Another serious problemcametolight whentheCalifornia Office of Statewide Health Planningand Development determined thatKaiserhad5 of the28hospitals withthehighest pneumonia deathratesin the,state. This was particularly troubling because pneumonia, thesixth-leading cause of deathintheU.S.,canbeprevented withgoodcare."Timelydiagnosis andtreatment cangreatlyimprove a patient's chances of surviving," said MaryTran,apatient dataanalysis manager whohelped with the studyforthestateagency.Inotherwords,frequentpneumonia inyourhospitals meansthatyourmedical control processes arebreaking down. Awell-run hospital systemlikeKaiser should not haveproblems treating pneumonia. Something is going wrong. But what?

You immediately pull your topmanagers together toanalyze theproblem and come up with potential solutions. Oneof your vicepresidents mentioned that she had read thatanumber of hospitals useteamstoimprovepatientcareandservice,maintain acleanandsanitaryenvironment,managecosts, reduce patient mortality rate,and reduce medical errors. Forinstance, Baptist Memphis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, empowered Rapid Response Teams tocallin the hospital's Medical Emergency Teamtocare forseriously ill patients whosecondition was worsening. After doingso,thenumber of cardiac arrests dropped by 26percent, and survival ratesnearly doubled from13percent to24percent. Likewise, Stanford University Hospital usesPatient-Centered CareTeams, who are responsible for everything from admission todischarge, and Process-Centered CareTeams, whoarechargedwith identifying hospital processes and making themeffective and efficient.

Successful teams might help Kaiserreduce medical errors, increase quality of patient care, increase customer satisfaction, andcould helpreduce costs. And, you have totry new approaches, becausenottakinganyactionisnolonger anoption. Yourealizeif youaregoingtouseteamsthat you'll have todoyour homework by answering these questions.