Health services managers use various "tools" every day to fulfill their roles and responsibilities in their organizations. It is important to understand what these tools are and how they are used by health services managers. This project introduces several tools used by health services managers, and also gives you the opportunity to develop "real," workable examples of your own for a set scenario. If in the future you accept a position working as a health services manager, you will then be equipped with the knowledge and skills to create and use managerial tools to effectively perform your role.

Goal of the Project

In this project, you will prepare tools that a health services manager would use in a set scenario. You will be asked to expand the scenario and prepare the necessary tools for management.

Assignment

This week you are asked to prepare the policies and procedures for the clinic scenario that was presented in the Course Project Introduction in Week 02.

Policies and Procedures

Policies are a type of plan from which goals can be set, action taken, and decisions made. Organizations usually have both organization level policies and also department level policies. Therefore, health services managers at all levels in an organization are involved with writing policies and procedures. Regardless of level, each must be consistent with the mission, vision, and values of the organization. An organization or department should have a policy manual. Most of the time these are found on an intranet; we rarely see the traditional paper manual any more.

Procedures are another type of plan. Procedures are a series of steps to accomplish a specific task. They are plans for action. Procedures are usually developed for repetitive tasks to give it uniformity and for training purposes. Each step in a procedure should be numbered. Careful attention should be given to the writing of the steps to ensure that each is clear and brief. Also, each step should begin with an action word.

Organizations most often have a standard format, heading section, and numbering system for the development of policies and procedures. These should all be adhered to for consistency purposes. Both policies and procedures should also be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are kept up-to-date. To help with this process, always include a "date written" and a "date revised" for each.
Conduct research to view examples of policies and procedures. It is best if these are from health care organizations, but any examples will suffice. Make note of how each of these is written and the types of things that are included. This will help you to determine what sections and information to include in your own document.

Through experience and/or research, you will need to be familiar with the area or process that you choose. Examples might include the following: Confidentiality, Email Usage, Faxing, Sexual Harassment, Patient Registration, or other topic of your choice.
Compose a policy or a procedure for the fictional organization described in theCourse Project Introductionin Week 02. Keep in mind that sometimes a policy and procedure might be combined into a single document. You may write a policy or procedure for the organization as a whole or one for a specific department.

*Week 02

This week you are asked to prepare the mission, vision, and values for the clinic scenario that was explained in the Course Project -Introduction.

Mission

It is a general statement of an organization's overall purpose and philosophy. The statement explains why the entity exists. It focuses on today; what the organization is now. The statement is the foundation for all other planning. It should not be changed often, but rather occasionally reassessed to ensure that it is still consistent with the organization.
The statement is usually only one or two sentences. It is easily understood and communicated. Employees should know be able to easily learn and know the mission of the organization.

Vision

This statement explains what the organization wants to become in the future. It focuses on tomorrow and presents a picture of the future that the organization hopes to achieve. The statement should not be abstract, but rather a concrete picture of a desire state.

Values

These are deeply held beliefs within an organization. They explain how an organization expects its employees to behave. They should remain consistent over time.
Conduct research to view examples of missions, visions, and values for several health care organizations. Make note of how each of these is written and the types of things that are included.
Compose a mission, vision, and values for the fictional organization described in the Course Project Introduction.
Submit your completed assignment to the drop box below. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.
Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. (Mac users, please remember to append the ".doc" extension to the filename.) The name of the file should be your first initial and last name, followed by an underscore and the name of the assignment, and an underscore and the date. An example is shown below:
Jstudent_exampleproblem_101504

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