The role of managers in healthcare delivery and professional development

Jul 19, 2015 News

By Dr Zulfikar Bux
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

I believe that healthcare managers should be the link between the daily operations and the strategic planning of a healthcare organization. They have dual roles whereby they are involved in developing the plans of the organization and also

Dr Zulfikar Bux

ensuring that these are reflected in day-to-day operations. They therefore represent the interest of the healthcare organization, the staff they supervise, and the patients that benefit from their input.
The best way they can represent the interest of the organization is to develop effective and efficient goals, resources, and policies which will govern the daily operations of the system. An example of this at my institution is the development of treatment policies for patients.
The manager is responsible for the formulation, implementation and adherence to the treatment policies. He/she will collaborate with the medical staff and then appropriately develop treatment policies. These policies will be proposed to the hospital board for approval and the manager will have to ensure that he/she collaborates with the medical staff to ensure that the policies are delivered towards the enhancement of patient care.
Other than treatment policies, managers are supposed to collaborate with medical staff on various operational matters which should serve to improve patient care and staff satisfaction.
At my institution there is the provision of specialty training to emergency doctors. As the head of my department, I function in a similar capacity. My role is to ensure sustenance of the specialty training programme in emergency medicine. I am able to improve staff satisfaction by improving their medical knowledge and skills. This will be then transferred to more effective patient care.
A similar model is urgently needed for the nurses if we are to continue to strive for the betterment of patient care. As like other developing systems, managers will face resistance to improvements like these, but they should not let this deter them from achieving the higher goal, which is improved medical care for the patients.
Effective patient care is achieved when efficient and effective management of patients is delivered. This can only occur when patients are satisfied and have appropriate outcomes from their illnesses/injuries. A manager is therefore required to ensure that quality improvement measures are implemented and followed up. We routinely do patient mappings where patients are tracked from the time of their presentation to their disposition. Feedback is then given to the staff and the institution, so that commendations and improvements can be made when necessary.
This therefore highlights the dynamic role of managers in healthcare delivery. It is an ever-changing role in an ever-changing field. I conclude by sharing my rule on how I manage my system at home. I am a believer in the 80:20 rule I have developed to guide my practice as a manager. It is basically a guide which means that at any point in time, 80 percent of my staff should agree with my plans; a minimum of 80% of patients should be happy with the care they receive and at least 80 percent of my plans for the department should be achieved. While all of this is happening, I am busy focusing on finding opportunities to minimize the effects of the other 20 percent.