Fresenius Medical Care is an organization that has its roots in Frankfurt, Germany. Having joined Hirsch Pharmacy earlier on, Dr. Eduard Fresenius entered into the dialysis market in 1966. This marked the beginning of Fresenius Medical Care as it is known in the present day. Today, the company has its operations in over 50 countries worldwide and employs more than 115,000 people. The company is focused on dialysis treatment for chronically health patients. It is the world’s leading provider of dialysis treatment. The organization is accredited by CMS, which requires it to comply with regulations and conditions for coverage as well as conducting routine audits to ensure that there is optimal patient care. Also, it has initiated some positive relationships with the community. For example, through the Fresenius Medical Care Foundation, it raises awareness in the community on kidney diseases and the available opportunities that are there on the transplant. The organization's main aim is to ensure that it provides much-needed healthcare to patients with chronic illness.
Examination of the Organization
Fresenius Medical Care serves in a very critical industry. As such, it must ensure that it continues to deliver exceptional services to the patients that it serves. Its mission and philosophy are organized alongside ensuring that the services provided are of quality that gives patients unique experiences.
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Mission Statement and Philosophy
The organization’s mission statement is that “To deliver superior care that improves the quality of life for every patient, every day, setting the standard upon which others in the healthcare industry are judged”( Fresenius Medical Care, 2020). For it to live by its mission, all stakeholders will play a critical role. The employees that work at Fresenius Medical Care must be well-qualified to ensure that they give the quality of care that the company seeks to offer. The mission statement is read at the beginning of every meeting and corporate functions to emphasize its important role in guiding business operations.
The organization's philosophy usually is its core values that guide how the company operates. The core values include Patients and Partners First, Honesty and Integrity, Quality and Compliance, Collaboration, and Results-Oriented (Fresenius Medical Care, 2020). The core values are the guiding principles on which the management expects every employee to conduct their affairs based on.
Organizational Structure
Fresenius Medical Care is structured on specialization and division of labor. As such, some units are established to deal with different aspects of the operation. In such a set-up, there is an express chain of command that is visible in the organization. There is a manner in which communication is expected to flow, with every departmental head knowing their span of control and can delegate duties to their juniors to oversee the execution of a particular job. At the apex of the administrative structure, there is the group's CEO and the Chief Medical Officer, who, in conjunction, are its top-level managers. However, each of them oversees different areas of the firm’s operations. Each of the departmental heads in the organization must report to either the CEO or the Chief Medical Officer. The CEO oversees areas such as the finances of the company, human resources, compliance, marketing and communication, and other administrative affairs in the company. The Chief Medical Officer oversees typically areas to do with Clinical and Scientific Affairs, research activities, and other functional areas that lean more on the operation rather than administrative aspects.
Each of the departmental head knows the specific office that they should report to, either the CEO or the Chief Medical Officer. If there are any changes that they would want to initiate in their department, for instance, at the clinical level, then the relevant authority, which in this case is the Chief Medical Officer, must approve any such changes (Fresenius Medical Care, 2020). If it is a change to do with the finance department, then the group's CEO must approve the same.
The organization's management understands that communication plays in ensuring that there is a smooth flow of information and that any changes or directive is communicated effectively. Official communications are initiated at the top going downwards and are delivered via email. Upon receiving any communications, the departmental heads channel it to the staff across the various departments. They also foresee the implementation of all directives. If it is a report that is being given, then the communication will be done upward, from the staff to the departmental head, which in turn reports to the Director of Operations or the Clinical Managers for them to report to their respective bosses, either the CEO or the Chief Medical Officer. This is a clear indication that there is a chain of command in the organization.
Strengths and Limitations
One of the main strengths that are visible in Fresenius Medical Care’s operation is its organizational structure, where there is a chain of command upon which orders are given. It would have brought a lot of communication problems if, in such a company, there was no well-defined chain. So, whenever there is any matter that arises, there is a clear guideline on who should handle it. If a patient brings any complaint, then it is handled to their full satisfaction without escalating the matter. The chain of command arrangement also ensures that all sectors of operation are attended without failure. The other main strength that it possesses is that there is a lot of teamwork in the way they operate. Collaboration in the organization contributes to its success in dealing with patients and helping in their recovery. The fact that in the many countries that the company operates, it uses the same policies is another strength. This makes it possible for an employee, in whichever category, to be able to adapt to any working environment within the need to be trained further. As such, the company is saved from the expenses that it would have incurred in training such employees.
A major weakness at Fresenius Medical Care could be seen in the manner in which communication is conducted. The fact that all communications in the organization are done through the use of emails implies that an urgent matter may be overlooked because the mail failed to be received or checked at the right time (Sullivan, 2017). If such urgent matters could be done through phone calls, then it would be better because it would make sure that any critical communication has been received, and nothing will go out of hand for such reason. The parallel management structure, where there are a CEO and Chief Medical Officer at the top, might bring confusion on whom to report to. At times, the two leaders may bring up contradicting policies, which might bring chaos in its operations. For instance, in attempts to cut the costs of operation, the CEO may initiate policies that would affect the overtime wages that are paid to nurses who work during the same time. At the same time, the Chief Medicare Officer might demand that workers should work overtime to attend to any patients that are available and cover-up for the absent practitioners or due to other reasons. This would bring confusion to the medics because the two policies contradict and thus leaving them at the crossroads. The two leaders must work in consultation to ensure that the policies that they introduce will not be detrimental to the efforts of the other and ensure that the organization can meet its set goals.
Care Delivery System s
Fresenius Medical Care delivery system is operated to ensure that they provide safe and effective healthcare. The care delivery system that is used at Fresenius Medical Care is patient-centered. At any given time, there are two RNs, four patient care technicians, one social worker, one dietician, and a secretary must be present at the facility. The charge nurse has a responsibility to ensure that all the patients are safe and ensuring that they are checked regularly while admitted at the facility. It is also their responsibility to respond to any emergence that a patient might exhibit during the treatment process and also document patient details (Fresenius Medical Care, 2020). Patient care technicians are responsible for monitoring any signs and symptoms of distress in patients. After their monitoring, they usually report to the RN Charge Nurse and the RN Team Lead.
Outcomes and Measurements
An organization needs to measure its level of performance according to the set goals and objectives that it wanted to achieve. Whereas most businesses are run with the primary purpose of making super-profits, this is not the primary goal at Fresenius Medical Care. The organization is run with the primary objective of ensuring that it provides quality services to the patients. The Patient Experience Report is one of the outcomes that the organization monitors. The report provides information on whether the patients have been attended to in time. The patients then give their ratings on how they were attended to. They have to fill data indicating whether any delays were experienced when seeking medication in the hospital. This information is typically sent to the management every week for proper analysis and action thereof. The organization's goal is to ensure that at least 75% of the patients have been attended to in time. For instance, it monitors labor reports to ascertain the duration taken before the first patient to be treated. The goal of this report is to ensure that there is not more than 4.5 hours before all the staff and the time when the patients start checking in for treatment (Fresenius Medical Care, 2020). However, this report might be affected by the delays that might be caused by patients. It might also be affected due to the fact; at the end of their respective shifts, nurses might delay as they document their report and do certain analysis if what they have been involved.
Further, there is a survey that is conducted to get the patients' feedback regarding the quality of services that they received in the facility. They have to live their overall rating on any medic or any section that they were attended to. This is essential data as it will be used in evaluating the physicians and analyses of any areas that the firm has to improve on. This policy is seen to have contributed significantly to the organization's continuance improvement.
Conclusion
All organizations in different sectors have an organizational structure that is based on their goals and the set mission. All stakeholders in an organization are vital in enabling it to achieve its set goals. However, this is only possible if all their efforts are directed towards achieving a common goal, which is the mission that the company wants to achieve. For this to be achieved, there must be proper structures that define the policies and procedures that will be relied upon in determining how the business conducts various activities. In this case, the management must play the lead role in ensuring that the employees are aware of their role in helping the organization achieve its set goals. This implies that there should be proper channels of communication upon which the management will be able to communicate various decisions regarding the organization to the staff for their implementation. For the Fresenius Medical Care, the company has chosen a chain of command structure that defines where each department gets the authority from and how communication should be done. Having such an arrangement ensures that the organization avoids problems that might come as a result of a distinguished manner in which instructions should flow. In return, this may result in a lack of responsibility in the event a matter that needs to be handled emerges. Ultimately, every organization ought to have a well-defined structure that is understandable to all its stakeholders.
References
Fresenius Medical Care. (2020). Company profile.
Fresenius Medical Care. (2020). Our mission, vision, strategy, and values.
Sullivan, E. (2017). Effective leadership and management in nursing (9th edition). Pearson
