The case study under question is fascinating considering that the team of medical personnel is dedicating to ensure that the patients under their care get the best orthopedic support. While this is the case, it is true that Dr. Christopher is still not satisfied with the strain that this noble job may be giving to some of the surgeons who work for long hours which could compromise the quality of care that his patients receive. This happens as a result of the increased growth rate I n the number of patients that this clinic receives weekly. In as much as Dr. Christopher has come up with a schedule to outline the working hours and a number of breaks to be taken in between surgeries, there are still some surgeons who rush from one surgery to the other without taking breaks. This is in spite of these surgeons having a lot of patients to attend weekly which constitutes of four days since these surgeons attend to other clinical matters on Fridays and weekends.
Options to improve the quality of care given to patients
Dr. Christopher is concerned on the possible options that he should adapt so as to ensure that the patients get quality care. To do this, he can reduce the number of patients who require surgery per week. This is in consideration that the number of patients who are slotted for surgery is twenty as per exhibit 10.8 against two surgeons A and B. Additionally, this number of patients can be overwhelming to these surgeons considering that they only work four days a week. On Fridays and weekends, they attend to conferences and professional meetings in addition to resting. As such Surgeon A ends up handling eight surgeries while Surgeon B handles 12 patients. This then could be the reason why these surgeons do not rest in between surgeries in order to finish their work. This could contribute to doing shoddy work and compromising the quality of care given to these patients. Dr. Christopher can also hire more surgeons in order to split the workload and ensure that the surgeons are optimum state of mind when conducting surgeries.
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Applying the Theory of Constraints in this medical practice
The theory of Constraints which is a very fundamental theory in any field focuses on identifying the limiting factors and consequently dealing with those elements so as to ensure that they are no longer limiting factors (Balakrishanan & Cheng, 2008). In this case study, Dr. Christopher finds the extreme work load a limiting factor which instead strains his surgeons which he fears will compromise the quality of care given to his orthopedic patients. Additionally, Dr. Christopher is worried that his surgeons do not stick to rest time slotted between surgeries which then means that they rush in between surgeries. The Theory of Constraints can be applied here so as to make these challenges come to an end by increasing the number of surgeons to divide the work or reduce the number of patients. This way the surgeons will be less drained and will give their best which will improve the quality of care accorded to patients who visit this clinic.
References
Balakrishnan, J. & Cheng, C.H. (2008). The Theory of Constraints in Academia: Its Evolution, Influence, Controversies, and Lessons. Operations Management Education Review, 2, 97-114.
