final proposal

Women Veterans Mental Healthcare During Pregnancy

Healthcare is one of the vital sectors in society, but not everyone appreciates its prevalence. In that light, a recent study depicts that at least 47% of healthcare consumers posit that healthcare and life sciences focus more on the field than the patients’ needs (Gabriel et al., 2017). In other words, healthcare institutions focus more on the industry needs and less on customer needs, thus deemed not being customer centric. Significant commercial giants such as Amazon, Apple, and Google have successfully implemented their consumer-centric business models, whereby healthcare institutions should learn from them (Gabriel et al., 2017). Therefore, it would be necessary to change from the traditional industry needs-centric towards customer-oriented organizations. Health care institutions should change their perception about their consumers that need to be wooed with flawless experiences. Considering the repercussions that could emanate from negative customer experience, especially on sales, healthcare practitioners should focus on excellent medical treatment and render a positive customer experience.

Therefore, to address customer experience, it would be recommended for healthcare institutions to reinvent their business strategy to a more customer-centric business strategy. Most successful organizations are customer-experience businesses, which helps amplify customer loyalty and consumer satisfaction alongside the revenue due to increased business transactions. Therefore, healthcare institutions should suppress negative healthcare customer experiences from lousy customer service by administrative staff, time wastage, focus more on paperwork than patients, and substitute with constructive practices.

Therefore, changing the paradigm in the healthcare customer experience would significantly help resolve the issue. Improving customer experience would eventually amplify consumer engagement and strengthen the relationships that would constructively enhance the overall experience (Harkins, 2017). It results from consumer-friendly practices that encourage direct interaction between healthcare practitioners and the consumers and significantly address consumer needs. The aim is to understand the consumers’ needs and provide personalized healthcare services that improve their relationships and the overall customer experience in the industry. Besides, when healthcare providers focus on the consumers’ needs, consumers feel acknowledged; thus, they tend to be loyal and more satisfied with the institution. Increased consumer loyalty and satisfaction positively impact both the experiences and revenue for the organizations (Gabriel et al., 2017).

Therefore, various significant organizational resources would be vital to accomplish the change towards establishing consumer-centric practices. Human resources would be the significant resources that would contribute towards achieving the changes. Employees operate directly on the patients and other consumers as they interact personally, and the services provided are highly subjective. Therefore, it is required to adequately train healthcare employees to adopt customer perspectives in their practices to contribute towards achieving a customer-centric environment.

Besides, organizational technology would be required to streamline the journey towards achieving a customer’s-centered environment. For instance, website analytics, centralized records system, telemedicine, internet of things, and other technical aspects of the institution would help achieve the changes. It is required for healthcare practitioners to effectively use the technological resources to identify customers’ needs and efficiently serve the consumers. Significant focus on improving customer experience helps implement patient-friendly technologies.

Essentially, identifying strategies that create a clear vision for external and internal stakeholders regarding the changes would be vital in a healthcare environment. The strategies help build internal momentum for initiatives to establish significant customer experience, as articulated in the following section.

Healthcare institutions should clearly define their aspiration focused on customers’ needs and how they could affect their business. The aspiration of changing towards customers’ experience practices would translate into the overall mission and new culture. Therefore, healthcare management should strive to understand and address consumers’ fundamental needs and wants to determine great experiences (Martin et al., 2016). To effectively define the aspirations, it is vital to engage the stakeholders in the process.

The following strategy would be dissecting the customers’ profiles, their needs and preferences, their motivations and their fundamental causes of satisfaction. Doing so would help design and implement a sophisticated program and convince the employees to acknowledge the objectives. The key focus here is to bring the customers’ perspective into focus and help staff conform to a customer experience program and link with consumers more effectively (Hinchcliff et al., 2016).

Achieving a customer-experience perspective in the healthcare environment would require aligning the central role of staff to deliver a compelling customer experience. Therefore, training the employees about the services, products, and effective customer service is necessary and should be highly embraced (Shea & Gresh, 2016).

The leadership should spearhead in addressing the issue and the solution where their employees follow suit. Frontline leaders play a pivotal role in establishing a common aspiration in an organization.

Stakeholders whose expertise would create effective workgroups include internal stakeholders such as the Director of Public Health, Head of Health Intelligence and Information, Communications, Public Health Strategists, Women Veterans Program Managers to assist women Veterans. She can help coordinate all the services they may need in which the Services include primary care, pregnancy care, psychiatric care, inpatient medical/surgical care, programs for homeless women veterans, and quality of care issues. In addition, external stakeholders such as patients, service users, suppliers, media, and customers. Upon initiating the proposal, several outcomes would manifest. For instance, there would be more engagement among the stakeholders, and it results from their roles in ensuring that the organization achieves its aspirations. Besides, stakeholders would be coordinating to achieve a common change goal (Hinchcliff et al., 2016).

Also, redefined healthcare procedures and operations would ultimately lead to enhanced customer experience. It would result from personalized customer service, quality services, a deep understanding of the consumers, and effective relationships between practitioners and consumers. The combined efforts and perspectives would shape the effectiveness of the implementation of the customer experience strategy.

Pregnancy in women veterans is often associated with anxiety, depression, and other stress disorders. The incidence of these diseases is high in women veterans due to significant endeavour’s during military services (Creech et al., 2019). The implementation plan for pregnant veterans includes providing financial aids and sufficient resources to improve their mental health during pregnancy. The proposed change plan comprises certain strategic interventions to reduce the ongoing incidence of mental health problems during pregnancy in women veterans.

The proposed change plan comprises certain modifications in the management of pregnant veterans by providing them with adequate funds, quick medical access, and paid pregnancy leaves. Similarly, the organization should pay attention to the fault lines of the already implemented plan. To maintain the change, there should be active leadership that prioritizes the success and sustenance of the change plan. The other strategy that can make the implementation plan easy and productive is empowering women veterans through effective communication and negotiation. This strategy will ultimately help to reduce the mental stress and grievances of pregnant veterans. Hence, the change plan can categorically operate.

The major stakeholders are healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, paramedical staff, and pregnant veterans as a patient of prime focus for this change plan. Additionally, hospital management and leadership also play a significant role in implementing the proposed change plan (Nillni et al., 2021). Similarly, there are certain private investors and NGOs that work for the mandate of the organization and patient care. Insurance companies are also one of the key stakeholders of the implementation plan. Similarly, pharmaceutical firms and government subsidies are also supportive elements for the implementation plan. All these stakeholders will provide affordable health care costs and quality medical care for pregnant veterans.

Doctors and nurses are the first-line workers to assist the patient and provide the baseline for effective implementation. Efficient staff will introduce interventions that will improve the mental health of the veterans. Similarly, the insurance companies and other private investors directly fund the patient and hospital management to increase the plan’s efficacy. This strategy will ensure the safe delivery and life of the child and mother (Nillni et al., 2021). Additionally, the NGOs also work to support the plan by financing the organization or assisting the women veterans directly to ensure the good development of the child in a healthy environment.

Effective communication is a crucial element for the success of the change plan. The change plan proposes having a comprehensive communication center that will allow the veterans to discuss their difficulties with the staff members. There should be representatives and ambassadors for the organization that regularly maintain clear and transparent communication with the subcontractors, investors, and other stakeholders. The plan includes regular meetings between the veterans and health professionals to share their experiences regarding treatment outcomes (Creech et al., 2019). In this way, women veterans can effectively communicate with the other stakeholders.

The change plan will positively affect the organization and its shareholders because the change plan was applied to meet the organizational goals. The plan has short, medium, and long-term outcomes that include multiple benefits to the veterans and their children. This change plan will ensure healthy therapy, full funding of the veterans that will reduce the depression stress conditions of the veterans. In the same way, the plan will provide high-quality treatment for depression that will ultimately increase the work output in the military. Collectively, the stakeholders will find new trends to meet the aspirations of the organizations. These strategic change plan models can shift the organization stakeholders into a master body that holds the position of leader.

The outcomes of the change plan are exceptionally compelling because the change plan will increase the efficiency of the medical care provided to women veterans. The major barriers are the communication gap, lack of funds, resources, lack of strategic leadership direction, and absence of a professional will (Katon et al., 2017). All these barriers are debilitating the process of mental therapy of women veterans during pregnancy. The change plan can be made effective by fulfilling all requirements for mental therapy of women veterans.

The barriers can be reduced by promoting diversity and opportunity. There should be inter-professional meetings to take account of emerging problems during the mental therapy of the women veterans. Fund issues can be solved by making contracts with insurance companies and NGOs working for women veterans. Similarly, the veterans should be in regular contact with their therapist to reduce the communication gap hindering effective mental treatment (Katon et al., 2017). Hence, professional coordination and the personal will of the veterans can help to reduce the barriers to the successful implementation of the change plan.

The information below relates to the evaluation and dissemination of women veteran’s mental healthcare during pregnancy. The plan ensures that women veterans get the proper financing and resources they need during and after pregnancy.

There are some ways to consider in evaluating the changes in the military. Changes will take place and will have an impact on the operations of the organization. Change can be assessed based on the attitude of female veterans on the ground (Nillni et al., 2021). Their behavior towards themselves and others will reflect the change that is needed. If the planned changes occur, then women’s satisfaction will be high, enhancing their ability to develop proper networks with other colleagues (U.S., n.d). Moreover, female veterans will have reduced stress as they have been educated on overcoming stressful situations.

Several women also face financial challenges in pregnancy, and others will opt not to be pregnant. If the planned changes are to occur, then the number of female veterans who become pregnant in their line of duty will increase. It also relates to how these women see how others are treated in the labor force (Mattocks et al., 2010). If women are treated fairly, the environment will be conducive and friendly and allow the female veterans to communicate some issues when they arise.

Some of the resources needed in the evaluation include seminars where women and men talk about social life also address their issues and solutions. Other resources include counseling department should be implemented in the military base that offers all resources required in therapy (Creech et al., 2019). A health unit should also be institutionalized as some women get pregnancy complications in their early stages and emergency operations need to be executed. Other resources helpful in evaluating the project include filing questionnaires by veterans explaining some of the issues they face at work.

Information sharing is vital in all institutions as it creates awareness. The plan must be disseminated so that all parties understand how the planned course of action has been practical. The information will be publicized once it has been approved and implemented in the institution. Through the department of veteran administration, the government will sponsor most, if not all, events (Katon et al., 2017). Other stakeholders will offer their services, and they include non-Governmental organizations, Insurance companies, among others. The dissemination will be given at the discretion of the project team leader in liaison with the administrator in the military. They will also discuss how the information will be disseminated.

Some of the internal mechanisms of disseminating information include the mandatory check-up by all military persons in the healthcare facility. It will ensure that all personnel have undergone proper check-ups and that veterans receive equal care as men. All veterans will be required to fill in questionnaires based on the work done. People will be educated on the need to ensure proper care for female veterans and respect one another. Healthcare administrators will hold seminars to advocate for the mental care of women veterans in the military and how others should respectably treat them (Nillni et al., 2021). Information will be disseminated externally through podcasts, media platforms, documentaries on military grounds. Data can be shared through military gazettes, brochures, or websites where people can access with ease.

Information shared will ensure people understand the need for mental care for women

veterans. It will also ensure that proper funding is processed to guarantee continuity of care in the military base.

References

Gabriel, P., McManus, M., Rogers, K., & White, P. (2017). Outcome evidence for structured pediatric to adult health care transition interventions: a systematic review. The Journal of pediatrics, 188, 263-269.

Harkins, M. K. (2017). A. I HealthCare.

Hinchcliff, R., Greenfield, D., Hogden, A., Sarrami-Foroushani, P., Travaglia, J., & Braithwaite, J. (2016). Levers for change: an investigation of how accreditation programmes can promote consumer engagement in healthcare. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 28(5), 561-565.

Martin, L. T., Plough, A., Carman, K. G., Leviton, L., Bogdan, O., & Miller, C. E. (2016). Strengthening integration of health services and systems. Health Affairs, 35(11), 1976-1981.

Shea, G. P., & Gresh, B. (2016). Healthcare in America: Try Thinking This Way-Part 2. Healthcare Transformation, 1(2), 120-137

Creech, S. K., Pulverman, C. S., Crawford, J. N., Holliday, R., Monteith, L. L., Lehavot, K., … Kelly, U. A. (2019). Clinical Complexity in Women Veterans: A Systematic Review of the Recent Evidence on Mental Health and Physical Health Comorbidities. Behavioral Medicine, 47(1), 69–87. doi:10.1080/08964289.2019.1644283

Katon, J. & Lewis, L. & Hercinovic, S. & McNab, A. & Fortney, J. & Rose, S. (2017). Improving Perinatal Mental Health Care for Women Veterans: Description of a Quality Improvement Program. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 21. 10.1007/s10995-017-2285-0.

Mattocks, K. M., Skanderson, M., Goulet, J. L., Brandt, C., Womack, J., Krebs, E., Desai, R., Justice, A., Yano, E., & Haskell, S. (2010). Pregnancy and mental health among women veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Journal of women’s health (2002), 19(12), 2159–2166. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2009.1892

Nillni, Y. I., Fox, A. B., Cox, K., Paul, E., Vogt, D., & Galovski, T. E. (2021). The impact of military sexual trauma and warfare exposure on women veterans’ perinatal outcomes. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. doi:10.1037/tra0001095

U.S. D.V.A. (n.d.) Women Veterans Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.womenshealth.va.gov/programoverview/faqs.asp

https://www.womenshealth.va.gov/womenshealth/programoverview/wvpm.asp