Organization and Unit Mission, Vision and Values; Shared Governance

Introduction

For over 50 years, Los Angeles Community Hospital has diligently serviced East Los Angeles and surrounding communities. The hospital has over 130 beds and offers a comprehensive range of medical services. One of the elements that have played an integral role in the success of the hospital is the strong presence it has in the community. The hospital has impacted the community in several ways such as the way they deliver healthcare and collaborating with the community in the delivery of care. Consistently, we consider how the organization’s unit mission, vision, and values can provide a strategic direction within the clinical practice.

Organization Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals

Mission: Los Angeles Community Hospital is committed to maintaining excellence in the provision of quality care to the community aided by a team of compassionate and dedicated professionals in a culturally rich and ethical healthcare setting.

Vision: the organization is committed to enhancing the healthcare standards of the community. Secondly, the organization is committed to creating an environment of quality, respect, and dignity for people seeking their services. Lastly, the organization is committed to providing quality care by collaborating with their team of medical staff and attracting and retaining qualified and professional caregivers.

Nursing Mission of the Organization

At Los Angeles Community Hospital and affiliated medical groups, we are committed to working closely for the benefit of our patients and the community. We seek to build comprehensive networks of quality healthcare services designed to provide our patients with highly coordinated, personalized care, and improve the quality of life of our patients by helping them lead healthier lives. Through collaboration, we are committed to providing our patients and medical group members with quality and affordable care.

Unit Nursing Mission and Consistency with the Organization

According to MacLeod (2016), a nursing mission, vision, and values initiative should be visible throughout the entire organization. The mission, vision, and values of a nursing unit represent the core elements upon which the service of the organization is built. Consistently, drawing upon the nursing mission/philosophy, it is consistent with the larger organization’s mission. In particular, the Los Angeles Community is committed to maintaining excellence in the provision of quality care to the community supported by a team of professionals. Similarly, the nursing unit is committed to building a comprehensive network of quality healthcare services, which is consistent with the organization’s commitment to providing quality care through the hospital teams.

Individual Role of the Unit’s Mission

My current position at the organization is House Nursing Supervisor and I am responsible for providing expert clinical patient care. I also assume shift accountability by setting measurable goals and objectives to enable the delivery of sensitive, caring, optimum quality, and cost-effective care in an environment of compassion and respect and inconsistent with the unit’s mission.

Nursing Department Structure

The nursing department structure is a decentralized structure that utilizes the shared governance model. Ideally, according to Huber (2014), decentralization means that decision-making is distributed throughout the organization. Although nurses are accountable to the supervisors and the nurse managers/leaders, they are at liberty to create care environments that support excellence in patient care. Additionally, the organization also uses shared governance to promote the process of decision-making and enhance accountability. According to Myers et al. (2013), active shared governance enables organizations/ teams to communicate change and get feedback in an established method that fosters collaboration, accountability, and ownership. 

Pros and Cons of Organizational Model

Decentralization has both advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, on advantages, it has the overall ability to improve health system performances; it reduces levels of bureaucracy to achieve efficiency, promotes innovation, enhances stakeholder participation, and empowers employees to make decisions on their own among others (Liwanag & Wyss, 2018). On the other hand, some of the disadvantages associated with the structure include, it is challenging to measure outcomes when it comes to the use of a decentralized structure. Secondly, it does not have a standards form of operation, which makes it complex.

Nursing Strategies to Strengthen the Mission and Vision

Nurses make up the majority of the healthcare workforce. In this case, they are better placed to strengthen the mission and vision of an organization. Consistently, one of the ways that nurses can strengthen the organization’s mission and vision is by communicating it to the nurses and providing the necessary infrastructure and resources necessary to strengthen the mission and vision.

References

Huber, D. (2014). Leadership & nursing care management. St. Louis: Saunders/Elsevier.

Liwanag, H. J., & Wyss, K. (2018). What conditions enable decentralization to improve the health system? Qualitative analysis of perspectives on decision space after 25 years of devolution in the Philippines. Plos One, 13(11), 1-20.

MacLeod, L. (2016). Aligning Mission, Vision, and Values: The Nurse Leader’s Role. Nurse Leader, 14(6), 438-441.

Myers, M., Parchen, D., Geraci, M., Brenholtz, R., Knisely-Carrigan, D., & Hastings, C. (2013). Using a Shared Governance Structure to Evaluate the Implementation of a New Model of Care: The Shared Experience of a Performance Improvement Committee. Jona: the Journal of Nursing Administration, 43(10), 509-516.