The following is an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities (SWOT) associated with Swedish Medical Center, which is the largest nonprofit health provider located in the greater area of Seattle.
Strengths
A review of the functioning of Swedish Medical Center indicates that the facility has several notable strengths that have played a key role towards ensuring that it grows towards becoming one of the largest health providers not only in Seattle but also in the United States. The first significant strength that the health facility enjoys is the stakeholder relationship that has been able to create with other health-related institutions. Nordstrom & Marshall (2002) argue that Swedish Medical Center is a nonprofit organization, has been expected to engage in partnership with institutions that would help in providing it with a front through which to support the services that it delivers to its clients.
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Some of the partnerships that Swedish Medical Center has created include relationships with Craig Hospital, Colorado Neurological Institute, as well as, Radiology Imaging Associates. These stakeholders play a critical role in ensuring that the center can provide quality healthcare services to the people that would require such services at no cost. The second notable strength that Swedish Medical Center has been able to build for itself is on the fact that it has become a public facility both in and outside the United States. That has played a vital role in attracting donors from different parts of the world, who are ready and willing to support the services that the center is providing to its clients. Additionally, this has also been of great value towards enhancing overall possibilities on improving capacity for the facility to offer services at no or low costs.
Weaknesses
On the other hand, it is essential to take note of the fact that Swedish Medical Center faces several vital vulnerabilities, which impact on its capacities to deliver on the best possible services matching demands among the people in Seattle. The first significant weakness to note is that the center operates within multiple locations, which has become challenging in the area of communication. Communication remains as one of the critical expectations in health care facilities, as it enhances the overall possibilities of ensuring that the services offered match consumer demands (Wang, Kung, & Byrd, 2018). However, in the case of Swedish Medical Center, it is clear that the center faces a fundamental challenge touching on the issue of communication, which results in a situation where the facility finds itself lagging in the provision and delivery of quality services.
The second major weakness that Swedish Medical Center faces is on the issue of accountability focusing on donor funds directed into the center as a way of ensuring that it provides quality and affordable health care services. The center has been embroiled in cases where some of the employees have been accused of misappropriation of funds coming into the facility for purposes of maintaining the services offered. That has not only affected the stakeholders but has also changed the corporate image that the center holds among its donors. The outcome of this is that the top-level management has been engaged in processes seeking to ensure that the persons handling finances within the center remain accountable for the same with the aim of avoiding or dealing with this particular weakness.
Opportunities
Swedish Medical Center has several key opportunities that it ought to embrace as part of its approaches towards building its capacity to deliver quality and affordable care. The crucial first opportunity for the center is the ability to focus on the research and education units with the view being towards promoting research and development. Swedish Medical Center may build itself as a hub for research and development, which would have far-reaching impacts in the medical field. The center may take advantage of the fact that it is considered as being the largest nonprofit organization to enhance its involvement in research and development. Taking advantage of this opportunity would mean that the center would be expected to direct some of the funds from donors and other sources towards creating research and education units with the view being towards advancing its capacity to deliver on positive results in the healthcare industry.
The crucial second opportunity that Swedish Medical Center may have is expanding into other states and regions not only in the United States but also in other countries such as Canada and Mexico. Expansion of Swedish Medical Center would serve as a critical advantage for persons that are not able to afford the rising costs of health care in the country, as this particular center would offer both quality and affordable care (Torre & Bendixen, 2013). Thus, this acts as a clear indication of the fact that indeed the center may use this as a critical opportunity for it to achieve more significant impacts on society. Additionally, this would also mean that more people would be able to access the quality of services that the center offers with the view that this would build some form of guarantee for positive outcomes.
Threats
Lastly, it is essential to take note of the fact that Swedish Medical Center is also facing several vital risks, which are essential to consider as part of its analysis. One fundamental threat that the center is facing is threats from other nonprofit health facilities that offer similar services to the population that cannot be in any position to afford the same. An example of a nonprofit health organization that is fast becoming common among the people of Seattle is Denver Health Medical Center. The facility has been on the forefront in creating a new approach to providing quality care with the focus being towards matching needs and demands to the quality of services offered. The outcome of this is that the number of uninsured persons willing to seek treatment at the facility is increasing at a significant rate. For the Swedish Medical Center, this acts as a critical threat, as the demand for its services is fast reducing at a rapid pace.
The significant second threat that Swedish Medical Center is facing revolves around the issue of staffing in the facility. Staffing is considered as a critical threat in the healthcare sector, a majority of the health facilities find themselves in positions where they are understaffed or having staff that are not qualified to handle complex health expectations (Kingma, 2018). In the case of Swedish Medical Center, the issue is that the facility finds itself in a position where some of the staff including nurses are facing burnouts as a result of being understaffed. Thus, this acts as a vital issue of consideration for the top-level management at Swedish Medical Center as it seeks to enhance performance for the center.
References
Kingma, M. (2018). Nurses on the move: Migration and the global healthcare economy . New Jersey, NJ: Cornell University Press.
Nordstrom, K. J., & Marshall, M. (2002). My Father's Legacy: The Story of Doctor Nils August Johanson, Founder of Swedish Medical Center . Washington, DC: University of Washington Press.
Torre, R. L., & Bendixen, M. A. (2013). Direct Mail Fund Raising: Letters that Work . New York, NY: Springer.
Wang, Y., Kung, L., & Byrd, T. A. (2018). Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change , 126 , 3-13.
