In benchmarking, the most effective practices are sought after and aligned with best practices at the most cost-friendly prices. It mostly occurs after a comparison is made between different organizations` activities. The main agenda appears to be coming up with a point of disparity which is the benchmark against which the rest of the factors are compared. After Xerox introduced benchmarking, the concept moved across the industrial sector as it constantly underwent a series of changes. Benchmarking tools promote the culture of safety in healthcare organizations as will be demonstrated in the next section.
In a healthcare center benchmarking can occur internally whereby various departments get to learn from each other. In this case, teams from various departments consolidate efforts together to secure the healthcare organization. The same can also be done externally, whereby the institution seeks to learn from others. In such a case, the center aims for an average performance at first before moving to be the best in the industry ( Ross, 2014 ). Benchmarking ensures that credible goals for improvement are identified in the process ( Ross, 2014 ). Internal benchmarking, nevertheless, appears to be the most effective and easy form since data is readily available for comparison as opposed to other forms of benchmarking.
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When coming up with a benchmark, an organization must first establish what it is going to benchmark. In the healthcare system, for instance, one can seek to understand why the patients opt for a particular organization at the expense of another. This could probably be due to the affordability of the preferred institution ( Ross, 2014 ). Secondly, targets have to be subjected to scrutiny to determine how they will be attained. It is apparent that most organizations may not be eager to share their success incentives with rivals; the scenario is, however, different for the healthcare system since they might be able to find a facility in a different geographical location that is willing to share with them ( Ross, 2014 ). This is what has come to be termed as collaborative benchmarking which ensures the health facilities are able to secure themselves by learning what others are doing. There have been successful incidences of benchmarking with the first having occurred at the Institute for healthcare improvement in Massachusetts ( Ross, 2014 ). Collaborative efforts are consolidated among different healthcare organizations to establish a common goal.
It is apparent as illustrated above that benchmarking is an effective technique whose importance is due to the fact that it promotes the culture of safety in healthcare organizations. This can occur internally where different teams come together with an aim of enhancing the performance of the organization. This can also be done externally with mutual agreements among healthcare organizations operating in different sectors. It is, therefore undeniable that benchmarking is indeed an effective tool for any organization which seeks to enhance its performance.
Reference
Ross, T. K. (2014). Health care quality management: Tools and applications. Somerset, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
