H2

Scenario Summary

You are the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Middlefield Hospital. Middlefield Hospital is a 450-bed tertiary care facility in a major urban area in the Northeast. The hospital is an integrated health system that provides the full array of inpatient and outpatient services. The hospital enjoys a reputation for quality care in the area.

As the new CEO, you have learned that the hospital’s employee turnover rate exceeds 20%, and there are over 100 nursing vacancies. You have also learned the following facts that may be impacting these workforce shortages.

· A new hospital has recently opened in your market area that has produced competition for Middlefield Hospital.

· Employee morale has deteriorated over the last 12 months.

· Essex University (a local college) is considering eliminating its nursing degree program because there is continual difficulty in recruiting well-qualified instructors.

Your Role/Assignment

The board of directors has asked that you provide a 750-word report detailing your strategies and recommendations to overcome the workforce shortages and to improve employee morale. The strategies and recommendations should be as specific as possible and include the resources needed for implementation.

*Include a follow-up paragraph on how your recommendations would, or would not, change if a new federal law was passed that provided free nursing education to all students who work in an underserved area (which you would qualify) with rationale and justification.

Your primary text and journal and website research must be used as a reference to support your analysis.

Available Resources

Review the points of view of the following people to obtain further insights on this assignment.

Key Players

Dr. Rusty Gates: Internist

I have been admitting patients to Middlefield Hospital for 5 years. However, I recently moved my practice to the new hospital across town. The new hospital has much better facilities and the technology is state of the art. The staff appear much more invested in the quality of patient care and my patients seem happier.

Eileen Wright: Board Member for Middlefield Hospital

From my perspective, the employee morale at Middlefield has declined over the last 12 months. More and more employees are leaving Middlefield to go to the new hospital, and we have staffing shortages in most areas. The director of nursing is a great leader, but he is having difficulty retaining nursing staff. I am not sure what to do, but I don’t want the reputation of the hospital to suffer.

Anne Teaks: Registered Nurse for Middlefield Hospital

I have worked for Middlefield Hospital for 22 years. This hospital has always been committed to high quality in patient care. These nursing shortages have occurred many times through the years, and we will get through this one as well. I don’t like that we are short of staff on many shifts, but we all have to pitch in and make sure our patients get the care they need.