You Decide: Middlefield Hospital

You Decide: Middlefield Hospital

Keller Graduate School of Management Health Services Systems- HSM -541 Dr. Eric Oestmann

Respectfully submitted by: Wanda H. Jones sisjonz@yahoo.com March 17, 2013

BACKGROUND

Middlefield Hospital is a 450-bed tertiary care facility in a major urban area in the Northeast. The hospital is an integrated health system that provides the full array of inpatient and outpatient services. The hospital enjoys a reputation for quality care in the area.

PROBLEMS

• A SWOT analysis revealed three major threats to Middlefieldʼs future: Employee Morale/ Attrition - Over the past year based on employee surveys - we have learned that employee morale has significantly decreased contributing to an employee turnover rate of 20%. We are also experiencing a nursing shortage of 100 nursing positions. • Competition- A new hospital has recently opened in our market area that has produced significant competition for our facility. Upon further examination of our attrition rate we have learned that many of our former employees have left Middlefield to go work in this new facility. • Education- Essex University has announced that it is considering closing their nursing degree program because of difficulty recruiting quality instructors. If the University does eliminate its nursing program this would seriously impact our recruiting efforts as the nearest school with a nursing degree program is more than 100 miles away.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order for Middlefield to provide and deliver quality care and increase employee retention, I recommend three major changes to our operational strategy for 2013- 2014. First and foremost we must invest in our employees. As it stands now we have no incentives to motivate our employees to stay with us for the long-term. The average length of service for a newly hired RN is five years. In looking at our costs of nurse turnover it costs us approximately $22,000 to over $64,000 per nurse to train new staff. Through...