Staff Shortage in Health Care Management

This essay discusses the challenges of staff shortage in health care management and how effective leadership and management can improve service delivery. The author uses Gibb's model to reflect on their experience working in a hospital and highlights the importance of teamwork, empathy, and continuous learning. The essay also includes action plans and references to relevant studies.

Running head: HEAELTH CARE MANAGEMENT
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Staff Shortage in Health care management
Name
Institution Affiliate

HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT 2
Introduction
Having an effective organization requires leadership and managerial skills for the
purpose of steering the organization in achieving its objectives and goals. In healthcare and in
medical fields there is much more consideration to be involved other than meeting the daily
objectives of the organization. Every individual in health care plays a very important role to
ensure ethical standards and health policies are adhered to for the purpose of maintaining the
health care standards and the workers in order of serving the patients effectively. In this essay,
we will focus on the leadership and managerial roles in a hospital reflecting on Gibb’s (1988)
model standards.
Gibb’s model describes how learning can be acquired through engaging in the cycle of
activities through description, feeling, evaluation, analysis, and conclusion. The model best fits
in the medical field and teacher development programs to promote learning (Mahlanze, Sibiya,
& Govender, 2015). By use of this model ensures that learners keep on learning through the
cycle which enhances their learning and improving on service delivery in the organization they
are working on. Continuous learning improves the leadership and the management in
implementing and making changes where necessary in the organization.
Description
I happened to work in one of the hospitals in town as a practicing nurse where I spend a
couple of months. I had been hired as an attaché in the hospital. The hospital used to receive
patients with different condition. Being the main hospital, we used to receive many patients both
adults and children. The shortage of workforce was the main challenge due to health work

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policies that stipulated the minimal working hours. Working at night shift we face a shortage of
doctors and nurses since the majority were working on day shifts. This led to the high demand
from the patients. Attending to outpatients and inpatients require attention but this did not play
well due to the density of patients. Diagnosing the patients was a great challenge since it
required the practicing doctors to do so. With the shortage of staff, this created bottleneck
resulting in the frustration of patients due to slow service delivery. Lack of enough surgeons was
another challenge that led to long queues as patient requiring surgeries had to wait for days and
some weeks depending on the urgency of the surgery. This inadequacy of health workers could
lead to long working hours due to the high demand from patients. Another issue that led to the
shortage of health workers is the annual leave. This forced some of us to extend working extra
hours to fill the gap of the absent doctors.
Feelings
Working as the caregiver can be so emotional sometimes. Having people all around you
with needs to care for require a lot of patient and self-control. The dedication can tear oneself
energy and sometimes weakening due to lack of rest. Sometimes you become sick emotionally
due to pain and stress. The management would allow us to have rest when there was no much
workload also we could be allowed to relieve one from duty when need demanded. The hospital
management did not force us to work but on voluntarily we were encouraged to work for extra
hours to compensate for absent doctors. This made us feel free and encouraged by hospital
management. The hospital used to give us incentives to facilitate our personal needs but these
were given to encourage and compensate for extra working hours. Our supervisor encouraged us
to be involved much with the health practitioners to gain more skills. The hospital management

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would invite health experts to give us short arranged training which enabled us to interact with
other doctors and professionals. These made us fill appreciated despite the high demand of the
patients. The management would encourage us to work as a team. We used to work with senior
doctors and other professional doctors who encouraged us to appreciate medics and learn the
challenges they face on day to day (Rotar, Botje, Sunol, & Plochg, 2016). Being empathetic is
one of the key tools a caregiver should possess while attending to the patient. Listening to the
patient and connecting with the patient emotionally play a major role in hospital management.
Trying to see the patient at the point of their view demonstrate a caring heart and makes the
patients feel being cared for. Before engaging and trying to care for the patient using this theory
it felt hard and the patient was lacking but with time you end up appreciating the result when you
see what it can do to both the patient and the caregiver. Learning the art of understanding others
feeling especially the patients can be tiresome especially on the first timers but you end up
appreciating the result when you see a happy patient and the relationship created between the
patients and the caregiver. When the leadership and management apply this model, it makes the
hospital have a good reputation from the patient which improves the quality of service delivery
and patients’ satisfaction. Having effective management, the hospital facilitates effective service
delivery due to motivated workers and satisfied patients.
Evaluation
Evaluation focuses on what is viable and what is not. Where some action may work for some
people, it does not guarantee to work to others. With the high demand for service delivery, we
used to manage the workload with the help of the management. The hospital management
ensured that there is an availability of the tools and medication and ensured that there was no gap

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in service delivery. The hospital management ensured that patients were satisfied with the
services and that the staff was motivated. There was good coordination between different teams
working in different shifts. This was successful due to the proper channel of communication
enhanced by the hospital. Through the hospital chart, we would know where each one was
required to report on the next duty. This helped us to familiarize with various hospital duties and
how to deal with different patients and new challenges. The hospital ensured that all the staff was
cared for. The hospital used to cook food and tea which made us feel appreciated. We did not
have to go outside the hospital to look for food since these needs had been catered for by the
hospital. The management ensured that were picked from our home at a specified time which
prevented us from experiencing heavy traffic. This also ensured that we were punctual and we
never wasted much time on the road. This made us want to continue working even when we did
not feel like. Knowing the bus will be hooting at your door, would make you an early riser to
show a sense of responsibility (Powley, 2013). The management would involve staff in meetings
to find out the challenges we were facing as staff and the patient. The management would make
structure changes depending on the agency of need and for effective service delivery (Paterson,
& Chapman, 2013). Teamwork encouraged and motivated us to work effectively and deliver
service effectively due to the consultation involved in teamwork (PR Newswire. 2016). The
management can keep on evaluating different scenarios and make an appropriate strategic
decision to provide quality services and maintain the health standards of the organization
(Fowler, et al. 2019).
Analysis

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Effective leadership and management are tools that can enhance growth and opportunities for
skills and career development (BUPA SWOT Analysis. 2013). Working in this field for the first
time was an opportunity to grow my career and as a practicing nurse. through this tough
experience, I learned how to handle the workload and how to work with different teams. The
hospital management was a driving force for steering and impacting change. Through this
experience, we learn that we all need to depend on each other and that no man is an island. By
working together we promote change in our lives and societies (Janati, Hasanpoor, Hajebrahimi,
& Sadeghi-Bazargani, 2017).
Conclusion
Through the use of Gibbs strategies, we find that the process of achieving success matter a lot.
Everyone in the hospital field matter a lot. With effective hospital management that understands
that every stakeholder is a human would lead to achieving the expected goal where everyone is
happy. Everyone from the managers to the staff needs to be appreciated in one way or another to
deliver services effectively. I learn that no hurdle is too big to handle where there is coordinated
teamwork.
Action plans
Being faced with such scenarios in my workplace I engage my workmate to apply the
same skills to cope with the hard situation with the patient and the management. Also we advised
the patient’s caregiver not to feel threatened by the patient situations. We advise them on how to
handle the patient professionally by trying to understand their emotions and listening to them.

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This has greatly helped both the patient and their caregivers in building strong relationship and
the organization (Leggat, Karimi, & Bartram, 2017).
Conclusion
Leadership and management play a key role in the health care organization, this ensures
that the standards of the organization are maintained, patients are satisfied by the organization
services and workers are motivated to work effectively. Through the use of Gibb’s management
model, it enhances the quality of service delivery by encouraging the cycle of learning through
engagement. This model works well in health organization and in teaching programmers. The
cycle entails a description of the situation, the participant expressing their feeling, evaluation,
analyzing the situation and concluding on viable action to take when faced with similar
situations. The model can be very effective when used since it can make the organization in
formulating quick decision and problem solving since the management is able to collect daily
data and report from the participants. The management is able to know the strength, weakness,
opportunities, and threats in the organization. These can be a guide to the organization in making
and taking appropriate actions.

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References
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improving undergraduate student nurses’ levels of reflection. African Journal for
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Sharp, L.-A. (2018). Reflective Practice: Understanding Ourselves and Our Work. Australian
Nursing & Midwifery Journal, 25(10), 48. Retrieved from
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(Supplemental)
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