Abstract
Faith Community Hospital is in a state of chaos due to problems stemming from organizational process, ethical issues and lack of communication. In this paper I will attempt to show how the lack of a clear and concise mission statement is the root of their problems.
Framing the Problem
As stated by the Director in the article the three main issues occurring at Faith Community Hospital are organizational processes, ethics issues, and communication systems. The underlying problem linking all of these factors is the Hospitals' mission statement. The employees have failed to understand the intent of the arguably ambiguous mission statement. Without clearly defined and agreed to mission and vision statements, organizations frequently find themselves adrift, in real financial trouble, and unable to make an ongoing, impact on the community. The lack of a coherent mission statement is, in my opinion, the root cause of the aforementioned problems.
It's not surprising that in a busy, demanding and complex environment such as a hospital occasional differences of opinion arise about care of a patient, either among family members, nurses, physicians or other caregivers. Often opinions differ about issues regarding acceptability of a patient's quality of life or likelihood of survival. Sometimes the medical care team has difficulty accepting that the patient is not going to survive; other times it is the family who has trouble coming to grips with a terminal outcome. Occasionally they must deal with a family that is demanding care that the caregivers believe is unwarranted. In the currently chaotic state that is Faith Community Hospital, this has become a very common occurrence.
Making the Decision
Ethics
To ...