How the SWOT Analysis Can Help You Plan for Success

Strengths 

The presence of dedicated employees improves the provision of quality services at the organization. Coupled with the affordability of the services offered at the institution, the hospital can attract more customers than it did before. Able and competent managers who approach their leadership duties from a transformational angle supervise the dedicated employees. The managers, therefore, influence the employees' dedication and train them to be more willing to attend to the patients who come to the organization in large numbers. Lastly, the hospital has invested in sufficient medical equipment, which are serviced and repaired from time to time to ensure that they deliver accurate medical results for the patients. The strengths further increase the efficiency of the institution in offering medical services to its extensive client base. 

Weaknesses 

One of the pitfalls of the organization is the lack of timeliness. Given the many patients who seek the services of the institution at any given time, the lack of proper timekeeping significantly reduces the ability of the workers to attend to the patients while giving them enough time. Besides, the hospital is lacking enough facilities such as waiting areas, as the patients have to wait outside or in the overcrowded waiting room before they can see a doctor. The hospital has also been reported to have marketing deficiencies, which prevent it from reaching many customers. The last weakness is that the hospital offers its patients a limited-service line, which reduces the number of healthcare services offered. 

Opportunities 

The emergence of new technologies in the medical sector is an opportunity for the organization. The new devices and equipment resulting from the new technology will expand the hospital's service line. Additionally, the new medical services realized after medical research around the world will increase the number of services that the institution offers to its patients. The other opportunity that the institution has is the lack of dominant competition in the locality from the other medical institutions. The lack of dominant competition enables the organization to attend to more patients in its locality and is thus more profitable at the end of a financial year. Lastly, the opening of new branches of the hospital in other locations will increase the number of clients that are attended to while expanding the service offering to a greater area. 

Threats 

The first threat that the healthcare institution faces is competition from the other prominent healthcare institutions from the other areas. The presence of competition reduces the area covered by the hospital, and the client base served outside its locality. The other threat that the institution faces is cyber insecurity. The advancement of technology in the medical sector has also raised cybersecurity concerns, which have placed the hospitals at the risk of cyberattacks. The adverse government policies may also affect the institution negatively by reducing its ability to offer medical services to the patients. The change in insurance policies is the other threat that faces the organization. A change in the insurance policies may mean that fewer patients are attended to by the hospital due to the rising cost of the services. 

How the SWOT Analysis helps in Planning 

Strategic planning is part of any healthcare institution in operation. The healthcare institutions use their SWOT analyses for the planning. The healthcare institution can, therefore, use its SWOT analysis to determine its current level of advancement or growth (Gürel & Tat, 2017). The level is determined by the strengths and weaknesses of the institution. For instance, the organization has dedicated employees who are faced with timekeeping issues. The SWOT analysis is also used to reflect on where the institution wants to be in the future (Phadermrod, Crowder, & Wills, 2019). For instance, the institution intends to make use of the new technologies and the lack of dominant competition in its locality to beat the competition at the other localities in which the institution is present. Therefore, the SWOT analysis enables an organization to focus on its specific problems and fix them. 

References 

Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT Analysis: A Theoretical Review. Journal of International 

Social Research , 10 (51). 

Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance Analysis 

Based SWOT Analysis. International Journal of Information Management , 44 , 194-203.