Effective change management can lead to improved efficiency and higher profits. It is therefore vital that an organization handles the change process professionally so that it can result in the required benefits. As such, it is essential to identify the change to be undertaken, the processes involved, the phases of the process, the change agents involved and both the external and internal influences relating to the process. In Virtual Hospital change management is meant to improve operations by addressing the internal and external factors.
Change to Be Undertaken
The management of Virtual Hospital should introduce unlimited sessions for patients and doctors. Currently, most virtual doctors have fixed meetings with their patients to ensure that they can handle as many clients as possible. However, this results in patients having to rush through their symptoms, causing to wrong diagnosis and medication, leading to adverse outcomes for the patients. Based on this change, management can have two categories of online doctors. The first category should be doctors who deal with patients within the fixed sessions, while the second category should be doctors who have sessions that are not limited to any time durations. One disadvantage of this plan is that it can lead to less patients being seen within the facility since physicians will not be in a hurry to complete sessions with their patients. Currently, there are no facilities using this system as virtual hospitals are a relatively new concept. The main objective of this strategy is to increase the rate of positive health outcomes among patients, by giving physicians sufficient time to diagnose patients and treat them.
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Change Process
The three phases involved in the change management process are unfreezing, changing and refreezing stages (Anderson, 2016). Various steps undertaken during the process include the need recognition for change within the hospital, development of goals, change agent identification, assessing the current situation, development of a plan and implementation.
Phases of the Change Process
The unfreezing phase involves creating awareness within the organization regarding the benefits that the change could have to the organization, in comparison to the current situation. In this phase, there will be an illustration that outlines the factors that lead to dissatisfaction among patients using virtual hospitals, one of which should be the limited sessions with physicians. The staff will then be informed of how the fixed sessions can lead to a wrong diagnosis, which can potentially lead to legal suits against the company. During the changing phase, adjustments are made, and employees within the organization are trained on the best way to embrace it while they carry out their assigned roles. The phase will involve running a trial of the new sessions that lack time restrictions and then completing shifting the patients and physicians to the new system. The final step of the change management process is the refreezing phase, whereby the change is reinforced and solidified within the organization. In this case, physicians who adopt the unlimited sessions will be awarded a bonus for each patient encounter while patients will get discounts.
Change Agent
The change agent is management team, is interested in increasing positive outcomes to patients while also eliminating the chances of legal suits against the physicians and the hospital (Marquis & Huston, 2017). Some of the roles of the change agent include identification of ways that operations within the organization can be improved and also assessing the external environment to identify any threats that can affect the daily activities. There are specific skills that are needed by change agents; these include flexibility in their approach to business, having excellent communication skills, being responsible and being focused towards organizational goals.
Internal and External Influences
The internal influence relating to this particular change is to attain the maximum potential of physicians by creating an optimal environment for them to carry out their duties (Marquis & Huston, 2017). An external force relating to this change is the legal requirement that determines the conduct of physicians when they are interacting with their patients. When there is negligence, there are high chances that the organization will be sued, leading to the closure of the business.
Conclusion
The introduction of unlimited sessions for clients and patients within the virtual hospital will have a positive impact on all stakeholders. Internally, it will significantly increase the efficiency of physicians since they will get optimum time to interact with their patients. Externally, it will eliminate the chances of legal suits against the company.
References
Anderson, D. L. (2016). Organization development: The process of leading organizational
change. Sage Publications.
Marquis, B.L. & Huston, C.J. (2017). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Th
eory and application (9th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. ISBN-9 781496349798
