DOCTORATE WRITERS: LDR-615 Contemporary Organization Evaluation Strategies Used in the Change Plan

DOCTORATE WRITERS: LDR-615 Contemporary Organization Evaluation Strategies Used in the Change Plan

MUSC combined several strategies to maximize telehealth outcomes in response to the government’s COVID-19 control guidelines. According to McGhee (2020), MUSC established virtual screening and mobile testing sites for patients with suspected COVID across South Carolina. The second strategy was a remote home-monitoring program primarily for patients with less severe COVID-19. The other important strategy was a telesitter program for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Regarding success, each strategy impacted outcomes differently but positively. Virtual screening and mobile testing sites have been integral in determining the risk level and interventions required. Testing and testing promotes early intervention. A remote home monitoring program reduces contact as much as possible to control the spread of COVID-19. As Valenta et al. (2020) highlighted, a telessiter program enables health care providers to monitor and communicate with patients through an audiovisual monitor. Doing so minimizes health care providers to COVID-19 and helps them to preserve personal protective equipment.

Effect of Change on Stakeholders

Stakeholders are key change drivers in health care organizations since they can support or resist change. Since organizational change affects stakeholders directly, chances of successful change vary according to stakeholder support and resistance (Valenta et al., 2020). The shift from primarily ambulatory to predominantly virtual care affected stakeholders significantly. According to Valenta et al. (2020), MUSC leaders had to work towards new goals and visions as their routine roles changed. For instance, instead of organizing how patients would be received and attended to when seeking medical help, MUSC leaders started planning how to facilitate care across populations via telehealth. Health care teams required restructuring and reorganization to ensure that they embraced change and accepted new roles.

Organizational preparedness reduced resistance to change considerably. According to McGhee (2020), major stakeholders, including leaders, medical directors, and departmental heads, worked collaboratively to build a unified response. Resistance was further reduced by adequate preparation for change since the state of South Carolina had invested in telehealth programs in MUSC for a long time. The investment had increased expertise in health care teams and readiness to pivot when COVID-19 arrived (Valenta et al., 2020). As a result, shifting to virtual care via telehealth was implementing change at the right time. “No one ever said no, even if they were required to work into later hours” (McGhee, 2020). Stakeholders knew the change had to happen hence maximum support.

Implications on Interdepartmental Collaboration

Organizational change affects departmental relationships, and collaboration is vital for successful change adoption. Shifting to virtual care compelled MUSC leaders and departments to work together since the change affected them equally. According to McGhee (2020), the MUSC telehealth team and bioinformatics experts worked together to accelerate the change process. The bioinformatics team reached the extent of shelving its research roles to enable MUSC to meet the urgent clinical need. The interdepartmental collaboration was excellent, and other organizations can learn from it. However, everything depends on the organization’s culture and how it prepares its members to react to change.

Leaders Planning and Preparation

From a personal viewpoint, MUSC leaders responded effectively and had prepared for the change. It is also right to deduce that preparation was instrumental in facilitating the effortless transition to virtual care. Valenta et al. (2020) noted that preparation to provide care virtually started before the first COVID-19 case was reported in South Carolina. The work on telehealth technologies was an institutional project that MUSC improved as time advanced. Anticipating change depicts an organization with a change-driven culture, instrumental in earning employees support and reducing resistance.

The response from leaders was effective too. James McElligott, the MUSC Health Center’s executive medical director for telehealth, reported how leaders had a battlefield-type mentality to form a new structure (McGhee, 2020). Furthermore, the hospital leadership gave telehealth leaders full support. With the colleagues in bioinformatics providing technical and logistical support, the entire team worked towards a new vision as they fashioned existing tools to be COVID-19 relevant. The other response strategy is staffing up health care providers to meet the anticipated demand. Generally, an understaffed health care workforce is unproductive. In response, MUSC leaders increased telehealth providers for facilitating