Hospital Management: 5 Tips to Improve Your Hospital’s Performance

Hospital management takes a lot of hard work. It’s not easy to meet the demands of patients, manage diverse staff members, and juggle multiple responsibilities.

In this article, we’ll share what hospital management is and its challenges. We’ll also provide tips for improving your hospital management.

What is hospital management?

Hospital management is overseeing every aspect of a hospital, from the big picture to the daily operations.

Managing the big picture of a hospital involves anticipating and preparing for challenges. Managers need to analyze situations and factors that could affect the hospital, and make informed decisions to keep the hospital going.

Hospital management also involves focusing on the smaller details in the day-to-day operations. This includes many aspects:

• Maintaining the facilities
• Optimizing operations
• Managing and scheduling staff
• Monitoring expenses and budgets
• Adapting to patients’ needs
• Ensuring compliance with laws and regulations

As all of the above aspects are interconnected, you need to manage them effectively to keep the hospital running and accommodate conflicting demands.

Challenges of hospital management

The most common challenges of managing a hospital include:

Financial sustainability

Costs of medical supplies, advanced technology, and labor keep increasing over time.

Managers must navigate complex payment and insurance systems, control revenue streams and adapt financial strategies accordingly.

Workforce management

Ensuring adequate and qualified staffing is not easy.

The stressful environment often causes burnout and exhaustion, which affects staff retention and quality of care.

Communication

The diverse staff in a hospital requires clear, purposeful, and effective communication.

Maintaining and improving the quality of care also requires effective coordination among healthcare staff and patients.

Staying up to date with technology

Hospitals now rely on technology for managing records, diagnostics, and treatment processes.

Integrating and using high-tech systems, using data to improve operations, and maintaining security requires staff training and advanced equipment.

Compliance

Healthcare laws and insurance regulations are constantly changing.

To ensure compliance, you need to stay up to date with them and be careful in your practices.

Flexibility

Hospital management requires flexibility at both daily and organizational levels. It enables hospitals to quickly adjust to new situations.

Daily tasks, schedules, and meetings must be managed flexibly, and the overall organization must be adaptable to changing circumstances.

Crisis management

Hospitals must be prepared to respond to emergencies, natural disasters, and public health crises.

To navigate through crises, you need to maintain emergency response plans and ensure adequate resources and supplies.

5 hospital management tips for improving your hospital’s performance

Managing a hospital effectively does not have a one-size-fits-all approach. Each manager may have their own unique style.

But there are some hospital management tips that can be useful for you:

1. Prioritize preventing burnout

Did you know that approximately 50% of healthcare workers in a recent survey reported burnout?

In a fast-paced, work-overload hospital environment, burnout is not uncommon.

And it’s better to prevent burnout rather than wait until employees show signs of quitting to take action.

Here are some strategies to help avoid employee burnout:

• Prioritize mental health. Make it a top priority to communicate the importance of mental health to your staff. Encourage open conversations, provide access to resources, and promote a supportive work environment.
• Balance work-life needs. When creating schedules, avoid prioritizing the bottom line over your employees’ work-life balance. While compliance laws may pose challenges, consider implementing flexible scheduling options. This can help maintain adequate staffing levels while giving employees more control over their personal lives.
• Avoid knee-jerk punitive responses. Instead of reacting hastily when issues arise, take a step back and consider the underlying causes. Address problems constructively, focusing on solutions rather than blame.

But remember self-care as well. Hospital managers, with significant responsibilities, are not immune to burnout. Don’t neglect taking breaks, time off, or personal time away from work due to the overwhelming workload.

2. Acknowledge evolving patient expectations

Patients’ expectations are evolving. Here are some key areas where patient expectations have shifted:

• Enhanced facilities. Patients desire more comfortable and inviting facilities that prioritize their comfort and well-being.
• Human-centered care. Patients want to be treated as human beings, with empathy and understanding, rather than being reduced to mere medical cases. They seek a more personal and compassionate interaction with the hospital staff.
• Specialist access. Patients expect access to specialized doctors and healthcare professionals who can cater to their specific medical needs.

To understand patients, use surveys to get feedback and suggestions. By acknowledging and addressing changing patient expectations, you can create a more satisfactory hospital experience.

3. Prioritize staff training

Healthcare staff needs ongoing training to keep up with the changes in the industry and to care for patients better. Skills such as communication or management may not be directly linked to their roles, but have a significant impact.

Training is the key to preparing your staff to meet expectations. Revisit the training needs of your staff regularly. Provide them with the necessary training and support, whether through in-house sessions or online courses.

4. Foster accountability throughout your team

A robust accountability system helps you:

• Ensure all staff members are responsible for their tasks.
• Identify and address poor performance and inefficient processes in your system.
• Recognize employees who may be overloaded and at risk of burnout.

Accountability should not be viewed as a punitive measure. It’s about effectively communicating expectations and supporting your team in meeting expectations together.

5. Embrace the benefits of technology

Technology can be a game-changer when managing a hospital, especially in areas like communication and scheduling.

For example, scheduling healthcare staff is notoriously challenging due to several factors:

• The balance between patient demand, staff availability, and skills
• Different shift preferences
• Unexpected absences or tardiness
• Compliance with labor laws and regulations
• Ensuring coverage while avoiding staff burnout
• The complex nature of healthcare operations

Balancing all the above factors can be time-consuming. Using digital scheduling software like Camelo can significantly ease the burden and help you save time.

Use the Camelo Scheduler to assign shifts quickly:

If there are schedule changes, message employees to discuss or announce updates using Camelo Inbox:

When employees clock in and out through the app, worked hours are also recorded into automated timesheets. Use Timesheets feature on Camelo to export timesheets for payroll.

These benefits are just a fraction of what the right technology tool can provide. You can automate cumbersome processes and get real-time, accurate data to make strategic decisions.

Final thoughts

Effective hospital management is an ongoing process.

If you follow the above tips, you’re on your way to improving the performance of your hospital and providing better patient care.

But digital tools can help you get there faster and more efficiently.

Camelo offers a suite of scheduling tools to help you with assigning shifts, processing timesheets, and communicating with your team.

They’re immensely helpful for anyone who’s serious about managing their team. Sign up for a free account today.