APA (edition "APA 7") Health Care and Life Sciences

Process Reengineering

For this discussion question, you will again be referring to the article Death of Patient in Waiting Room Ruled a HomicidePreview the document. In Unit 4, serving as a consultant to Vista Medical Center East, you were asked to perform an objective, post mortem examination of the existing triage process utilized in ED, and then recommend a course of action that the facilitys leadership team should undertake to minimize the likelihood of similar instance occurring in the future. For this discussion assignment, it is assumed that the leadership team has come to realize that changes are, in fact, necessary to strengthen the triage process and minimize the likelihood of future, avoidable deaths in the ED.

Below is a brief recap of the scenario:

On July 9, 2016, the Lake County coroners jury determined that the death of Beatrice Vance, a woman who presented to the Vista Medical Center East Emergency Department (ED) with a complaint of chest pains, was victim of a homicide. The jury made this determination based on what was perceived to be a gross deviations from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in the situation. The Board, upon the formal recommendation of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vista Medical Center East, has sought the services of outside consultants to help them address serious concerns within their ED and assist the hospital and system in formulating and implementing a plan of damage control.

Change is never an easy process, since it means doing things differently than before. Even when it is widely understood and agreed upon that changes are necessary, the actual act of making the changes can trouble the psyche of those affected. In fact, it has been posited that when people are directly impacted by change initiatives, they grieve the loss of the old way of doing things. More specifically, they find themselves going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Axelrod, n.d.). Some will progress through these stages quickly, while others will take more time, and yet others seem to get stuck in a particular stage. Many changes undertaken within firms are the result of central planning and are intended to more effectively manage capacity. In order to effect the change, organizations need to employ sound project planning and control. Failure to do so can have dire consequences for the company and its key stakeholders. 

Source: Axelrod, J. (n.d.). http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/
Students are to refer back to the previously read article Death of Patient in Waiting Room Ruled a Homicide. If necessary, the article should be reread prior to completing this discussion assignment and peer responses. Based on the information provided in the article and on an outside review of the relevant literature and media sources, the student, serving as the external consultant, has been retained by Vista Medical Center Easts CEO, Mr. Jones, and asked to formulate an action plan that once executed will strengthen the EDs triage process, allowing for it to better manage capacity and minimize the likelihood future medical errors that could result in client fatalities. The plan should be logically presented, well-supported, and thoroughly vetted.

The initial posting should be prepared as a Microsoft Word document, and then attached to the unit discussion thread. There is no minimum or maximum in terms of the word count; however, the response should explicitly address all required components of this discussion assignment. The document should be prepared as a practical business deliverable (single-spaced) and reflect higher-level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). 

Support the initial posting with at least 3 references of credible or peer-reviewed sources. The in-text citations and the list of references should be consistent with the APA writing style (7th ed.). To earn the maximum number of points for the initial posting, the overall quality of the writing should be consistent with that expected of a graduate student and industry professional.

Use 3 United States references in APA 7