Introduction
The health care system is a broad and ever-changing field. New technologies are invented, medical information changes regarding recent trends, and a health care force increases daily; however, it does not match the need. Most of the countries have invested a lot in this sector to improve their citizens’ health status. Countries with an improved medical system are way better in managing this crisis, especially in times of a pandemic. Recently, the COVID 19 pandemic outbreak stirred up a conversation about healthcare in many countries. As such, strengths and weaknesses were identified, forming a platform to improve the state of health.
A leadership role is a significant responsibility that determines the direction of an organization. As a department manager for Women for a health organization, WFHO, this short essay expounds on this organization’s challenges and the possible solutions. It also provides possible solutions to these challenges highlighted.
Challenges facing health organization and their solutions
Inadequate staffs
An inadequate health care workforce. For a long time, the health sector has suffered a shortage of human resources. Most of the facilities in the world have an inadequacy of staff. Such a deficiency is a setback for a facility that serves many clients. Clients have to wait for long queues or days; health care workers get overworked, needy patients do not get immediate attention, and or service delivery reaches lower. There is a gap in meeting the patient needs as well as the staff’s level of performance. Therefore, the state of health care delivery in such a facility is termed inadequate. However, this calamity is widespread, and most health facilities have been unable to manage it.
The available solution to this challenge is that professional development is needed to ensure an adequate number of well-trained personnel. Additionally, such organizations should create programs that facilitate several workers’ absorption to obtain competent and experienced care providers.
Corruption
Secondly, corruption and embezzlement of funds remain to be a potential threat to service delivery in health care. According to WHO 2019, more than 30% of the resources allocated to meet health care needs in most organizations are never held accountable. The reason is that most of these funds are intentionally stollen by the people charged with handling them responsibly. Such problems create gaps that had been planned for and budgeted.
Some of the possible solutions to this threat include ensuring accountability at every step, holing corrupt individuals responsible for their actions, and involving all the stakeholders in decision making to ensure that all activities are coordinated. Furthermore, creating a committee in charge of resources and surveillance ensures that every project is done according to the plan.
Weak health care systems
A weak health system is another challenge that hinders effective service delivery. According to Da’ar et al., 2020, COVID 19 pandemic revealed a challenge of health systems worldwide. It proved that many countries could not handle an intense demand for health services. This conclusion is derived from the fact that most nations could not provide intensive care for patients in need, had small hospital capacity, inadequate staffing, and insufficient physical resources. Such evidence indicates that efficient health systems are necessary to ensure a healthy nation.
To resolve such a problem, health organizations need to go back to goal setting and countercheck their previous goals. Identify goals met and those unmeet, set new goals, or refine old plans. Goals provide an avenue to predict future problems and provide their solutions today.
Insufficient technology
Technological advancement has not been very significant in most health organizations. According to Oleribe et al., 2019, there is a weak health care information system in most health facilities. Such a challenge is experienced in record keeping of patient information. There is current coordination between hardware and software, such that most of the machines are linked through IoT, making information processing easy.
Solutions intended to resolve this challenge include acquiring advanced devices in the market and connecting with manufacturers in the industry to get products that meet current needs. Training individuals who can optimally operate these machines too is another a long-lasting solution.
Weak educational systems
Professional insufficiency is another challenge that involves the non-use of evidenced-based interventions. WHO, 2019 report shows that worldwide the health care system still has an inadequate competent workforce. The data indicate that technical problems are challenging to handle when staff are not well trained or do not have the necessary competence. Oleribe et al., 2019 study suggests that technical issues take longer to solve and get more complicated before handled.
The available solutions to such a problem are revising learners’ training schedules to ensure they are informed about the current trends. Also providing an on-job training and frequent reports to ensure staffs are updated. Additionally, organizing benchmarking and seminars allows individuals to share opinions and ideas on solving current and future challenges.
High disease burdens
Most of the organizations have an unending disease burden. A perfect example is the recent outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic that overwhelmed several nations globally. WHO is the organization charged with providing guidelines, funding, resource mobilization, and overseeing this pandemic’s management. Such a task is overwhelming, especially when the organization still has other serious health concerns to attend. Oleribe et al., 2019 report shows that the diversion of attention paralyzes other organizational functions operating optimally.
Such a challenge calls for health-related organizations to unite and coordinate in such times. Unity among these organizations reduces the intensity of the problem, enables resource mobilization, and improves the interventions employed.
Poor leadership and governance
Leadership challenges still hinder the progress of an organization. According to Kouzes et al., 2017, leadership role plays an essential role in determining an institution’s direction. An organization that does not have competent leaders suffers the risk of embezzlement of funds, improper resource allocation and utilization, and inadequate staffing. Such deficiencies create gaps that may not be filled due to their impact on an organization’s performance.
The possible solution this challenge is for an organization to employ competent leaders, perform a periodic appraisal and evaluation. Involve everyone in decision making to enhance cooperation within an organization.
Conclusion
Most of the problems affecting health organizations are undeniably tremendous but have solutions. Leaders play a significant role in defining these problems and working collectively with junior staff and other leaders to provide answers. Goal setting and a periodic review of these goals are among the most remarkable ways to achieve each organization’s vision and mission.