Part A- Findings Report: Summary of Project Findings and Future Recommendations
Introduction
Established in 2007, the Health Authority- Abu Dhabi (HAAD) is the body that regulates the Healthcare Sector in Abu Dhabi. The task of the HAAD is to ensure quality healthcare services for the people of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi by overseeing their health welfare.
The tasks of HAAD vary greatly and range from regulating the Abu Dhabi healthcare system, endorse the embracing of healthcare practices practiced by developed nations to inspecting the regulations imposed on the healthcare providers (Trevor, 1982). It’s also upon the HAAD to endorse awareness on the residents of Abu Dhabi to adopt healthy living standards, controlling the range of the medical services, quality and settlement charges of the healthcare system in Abu Dhabi.
The task of dealing with the legal affairs and the internal audit falls squarely on the shoulders of the chairman of HAAD who is the most senior leader of HAAD. Below the chairman is the CEO, whose task is to control the strategy, financing of the healthcare system, management of emergency and disaster, and customer care services and corporate communication (Michigan, 2009). Nevertheless, there are five units that are headed by the CEO namely: the administration and finance sector, compliance of healthcare system sector, public health and policy sector, health regulation sector, and the corporate performance and operation sector.
The Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) finds ways on how to reduce the pollutant levels and also the human exposure to pollutants more so indoor pollutants. This is done through enforcing the compliance with recognized ventilation guidelines and standards so as to control indoor contaminants and human exposures. The HAAD caters for emergencies in the form of purchasing emergency vans or airplanes that ensure even the remotest areas are accessed within short time.
It is reported that Abu Dhabi has the highest rates of injuries that result from road accidents. The HAAD coordinates with the Abu Dhabi government to ensure that all the vehicles are installed with the highest safety standards and punishments imposed on the offenders of traffic rules. This ranges from imposing fines for over speeding, education programs on safety road measures, child safety seats and extensive insurance coverage incase of road accidents or injuries.
The HAAD cooperates with the international hospitals to enhance specialized and advanced healthcare abroad. It also seeks ways on how such specialized medical healthcare can be performed locally without the need of the residents travelling abroad for treatment by offering luring offers and allowances to the expatriates to attract them to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Future recommendations
Future recommendations can be based on the visions that the HAAD strives to achieve: `The two problems faced by HAAD are staff retention and the problem of annual performance appraisal. Also the employees do not understand why they get raise or not. Here’s the recommendation of how those problems can be improved.
Staff retention
Staff retention is the process of encouraging the employees to work in a particular organization for as long as possible or until the project is complete. Different employees vary greatly. Employees may “hop” from one job to another if they feel dissatisfied with one job (Group, The Report: Ajman 2008, 2008). However, it is upon the employers or the organization to retain their desirable staff or they will be left with undesirable employees. The bottom-line effect on retaining quality employees is that they lead to increased productivity and staff morale while in the meantime, lowering the affiliated turnover costs. Here are some of the recommendations that can be suggested to the HAAD.
Offering both fair and competitive payments
The loyalty of the employee cannot only be guaranteed by offering fair compensation, but it is worth noting if the staffs are offered payments that are below-market compensations, they will resort elsewhere. For the company to ensure that it retains its employees, it must strive to have habitual reviews of the salaries that it offers at all levels of its jobs, to the experienced employees and also to the supervisory job-entries. As 2004 ASRT Wage and Salary Survey aptly puts it, the organizations salaries should be evaluated with statistically consistent averages. Courtesy of Human Resource Management Association, 20.4% of health care employees one in five quit their jobs every year…” As reported by American Society of Radiologic Technologists,” if there are significant discrepancies, you probably should consider making adjustments to ensure that they are in line with the marketplace.”
Show your employees that they are valuable
The organization should both promptly and overtly recognize the achievements made by the employees including the small accomplishments.
Defined roles and responsibilities
The organization should design clear-cut positions whereby every staff not only knows what is expected of them but also making their own decisions and to who they should report to.
Lessen paperwork
The organization should lessen the burden of paperwork that the employees endure since it can be burdensome and stressful (Christopher M. , 2003). Instead, the organization should convert paperwork to electronic format, do away with unnecessary work or hire non-clinical staff to do much of the paperwork.
Have an organization’s mission and vision
The organization should have a mission and vision statement so that the employees can have the feeling that they are working toward a particular and meaningful objective. In this way, the way can feel that their contribution is worthy.
Designing a career ladder
In order to secure staff loyalty, the organization must have opportunities for career advancements. This involves searing in to the minds of the employee what they can do in order to be promoted (World Health Organization, 2005) Also the organization must assist them in the areas that are may lead to job promotions. When this are tackled they ensure that the staff stick around.
Job flexibility
The organization must understand that the employees are bound by other life commitments such as caring for their children, siblings or old parents and other personal issues. The organization could squeeze hours where the healthy care employees can work and at the same time spare ample time for their parents.
Importance of benefits: the organization should also know how to retain the employees in the company need to give the benefits offered by other competitors such as pension plans.
The organization should offer retention bonuses
Retention bonuses such as paid memberships after a particular period of time like say one year. Some of these memberships may be in the form of gym membership. These retention bonuses (packages) may also be in the form of salary increment to health care employees who work in certain specialty fields. A great contrast between retention bonuses and sign-in bonuses is that retention packages offer the enticement for staying at one job while sign-on packages motivate the employees to hop from one job to another.
Satisfaction surveys
The organization should have regularly surveys conducted regarding employee satisfactions but conducted anonymously. Questions regarding the welfare of the employees should be asked such as what they would like reduced or increased.
Teamwork
The organization should make teamwork of employees so as to increase the productivity, boost morale and improve the customer care (Shane, 2008)This can be done through: endorsing team members to appreciate and have an enthusiasm on remarkable accomplishments or performance by their fellow team members. The organization can include the employees in making of the decisions such by censoring. Another way is the organization ensuring that all the employees understand the function, mission and vision of the organization. The organization also needs discussion, involvement and sharing ideas. Teamwork can also be motivated by having rotational leadership roles according to the capabilities of the individuals and the requirements of the team.
Room for fun
The organization should have room for fun as the age-old adage soberly pipes it, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. The organization should celebrate when particular accomplishments are achieved. This could be through lunches, parties, conventions, staff picnics and other forms of contests. These celebrations should sear in the minds of the staff the importance of that organization.
Recognizing individual talents
The organization should identify the talents portrayed by the employees and find a way of improving them. This could be through the provision of various challenging assignments or assigning to work in challenging environments.
Motivating learning
The organization should create opportunities for the staff to improve their knowledge. This could be through seminars, discussions of recent journal publications, meetings or any conferences involving medical field.
Future planning
The organization should have future plan. This would involve designing who will succeed them in the organization. This can be by: investing in coaching and mentoring, cross-training and cross-experience.
Training programs
The organization should design training programs for the employees so as to improve their productivity bearing in mind that they are the organization’s greatest asset.
Detect triggers
The organization should look more attentively for factors that may make the employees to leave the organization prematurely or that lead to organizational satisfaction (Dennis, 2011).These triggers include life changes such as divorce, marriage, pregnancy among others.
Performance appraisal
Performance appraisal is the course whereby a manager examines and assesses the staff performance in comparison to the preset conditions, gets the comparison results and then in turn settles on a feedback based on the compared results.
The main objective of performance appraisal is to establish the staff(s) that requires training on specific fields, those who deserve promotion, being fired, demotion or being retained.
Recommendations of job appraisal
The credibility of the appraiser
There is dire need for the appraiser to be well acquainted with the job of employee and also the performance of the staff. The appraiser must also have credibility. With these factors in place, the staff will regard the appraisal as precise and reasonable and may recognize the feedback of the appraiser and also have great enthusiasm to adjust.
Endorse discussion
According to surveys, it is recommendable for an organization to give the employees the privilege of discussing freely about their performance. The employees will feel there have been given just appraisals if given a chance to tell their side of the story. If such chances where they are allowed to discuss, they may challenge and appeal against the assessment of the appraisal and their may be in a better position to meet future performance goals.
Have performance goals
Where there are set performance goals in an organization, it becomes motivation element (Fund, 2006). The performance goal inspire the staff, make them have focused attention, improves their endurance and it motivates the employees to seek better and fresh ways of working.
Positive intention
It is upon the organization to make the staffs understand that if they are given negative feedback, it is done with a positive intention such as assisting them triumph over the hurdles that they may be present in order to advance their performance in the future, and if the appraiser’s criticism is helpful and constructive, the staff will find the criticism to be useful (Group, The Report: Sharjah, 2008). However, it is up to the organization to shun, destructive criticism in the guise of appraisal since it may bring negative reactions such as tension, bad performance, workplace disagreements, resentments and in some cases, it may lead to anger.
Part B. Learning Report
When I was doing this project I was a doctor at the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. I was and still I am working in Abu Dhabi as an expatriate. Therefore, I have the knowledge regarding the health range and quality of health offered in the Emirate Abu Dhabi. I was aware that the medical providers and doctors were subjected to lots of workloads whereby the ratio of doctor to patient was overwhelming. To cap it all, I was aware of the harsh environment that was even more uncomfortable for those who Abu Dhabi is not their motherland.
There is a huge contrast between the environment of Abu Dhabi and that of our country in the northern hemisphere. However I was undeterred by all those factors and accepted the plea by the HAAD and the government of Abu Dhabi for the post of a medical expatriate. I knew that it would be tough for me but nevertheless, I consoled myself with the saying that was coined by Martin Luther King: the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. However, my acceptance of the post came as a bolt out of the blue for my family who thought that I had stooped too low.
I can see the importance of the HAAD and the tireless efforts by the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi of enforcing mandatory health insurance on every resident of Abu Dhabi. Many patients who saw their medical bills incur before the introduction of the compulsory health insurance have embraced the move by the Abu Dhabi government whole-heartedly. Still, the recent move by the government to use some of these former patients as part of the health insurance campaign is a move will bore fruits.
I saw the usefulness of studying the medicine field because you enjoy the act of busting beliefs that are founded on dust: crushed as easily as moths. Some people saw health insurance policy as hectic or wastage of money but they were like a rabbit caught in the spike at midnight, when they were unable to settle their bills. Many people who were at first reluctant and belligerent on the health insurance issue later accepted the move after they were in an analysis paralysis. Anyway isn’t it said: once beaten twice shy?
In my role as a medical expatriate, my task was to treat patients who had been diagnosed with diseases that couldn’t be tackled by the local doctors (Christopher, 2009). During such situations, when a patient has been diagnosed with a serious disease, even if it may not be visible there is a strong bond between a doctor and a patient. In such circumstances, you see-rather a doctor notices- the vulnerability of the patients regardless of his or her social status or rank held in the government.
One of the most difficult and strenuous times as a doctor is to console patients who have been diagnosed with incurable diseases or those who have to undergo treatment or body operations in overseas countries. Before an operation is carried out on a patient in a theatre, the belief of the patient greatly determines the outcome. If a patient believes that he or she won’t survive the operation, chances are very high they won’t.
On the other hand, if a patient believes that he or she will survive the operation, regardless of its complexity, there are very high chances of surviving. Therefore, it is upon the doctor to instill hope to the hopeless. This infamous saying sums it all: belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad. It brings joy and pride to one as a doctor when you instill hope to a hopeless patient before an operation and gets out of it alive. Even though the patients later appreciate with gifts, I feel it is my duty to encourage and take care of them even if there were no appreciations.
As a future necessity, there is dire need for the government of Abu Dhabi to invest more on biological sciences more so medical. Today’s students of such subjects will seek employment in the Abu Dhabi hospitals and if the HAAD invests significantly in that field, they will be tomorrow’s doctors who will edge out the current overseas expatriates.
When I was pilling up my findings, I noticed that the governmental rules on reducing road traffic accidents were not applicable on some government officials. The government should enforce the rules by setting the pace as an example. The residents of Abu Dhabi would be reluctant to adhere to rules that give privilege to some government officials. For example, it is known that leaders behind dark tainted car windows over speed in public roads yet the traffic law enforcers all they will ever do is to shove the other public road users off the road for the leaders to have easy access (Eric, 2010). In such a case, it would be important for the government to enact traffic laws that are not limited to any particular creed, class or color. When carrying out the findings, it came as a surprise that the very same leaders who are insisting that the laws be enforced do not abide to them.
The traffic department can also put high-tech equipment (that uses CCTV systems) to record law breakers in busy highways which can be used as evidence to align the breakers in court (Limited, 2003). The traffic police cannot be depended upon since law breakers are likely to buy their way out by bribing them but if such high-tech equipment, which has been tested in developed countries with outstanding results, can be manned by a number of traffic officials from a centralized location, road traffic accidents may reduce since road users will abide to the rules for fear of being aligned in court. In so doing, deaths that occur as a result of road traffic accidents can be minimized.
During my research, I found that the government has little or no vetting processes on engineers before they work on projects (Diana, 2002). If it’s only the qualified and the engineers who have a strong education background are given the tenders of working on projects regarding the building of governmental, residential or any other type of building will ensure that there are of world-class standards: such as proper ventilated and installed with systems that would prevent factors that cause respiratory problems.
It is a fact that the environment of the Emirate Abu Dhabi can be uncomfortably harsh at times. I found out that the government of Abu Dhabi doesn’t strive hard to conduct environmental conservational lessons or awareness campaigns (Ibrahim, 2004). Environment conservation classes should be included in the school curriculum as part of education so that students can grow knowing the importance of conserving the environment.
What was noticeable and evident about the population of Abu Dhabi is their dedication in seeking medical care at all costs. The government in conjunction with the HAAD should seek ways that ensure that its people get convenient and consistent medical care. Therefore the people should strive to offer to not only offer the services locally but also ensure that there is early diagnosis of the diseases(Group, The Report: Ras Al Khaimah 2011, 2011). I have learned that there is need by the government to see the importance of counselors as well. I found out that the advice on patients was left solely to the doctors who have to juggle their task of treating them as well.
Even though the HAAD does a recommendable task of cooperating with the overseas hospitals, I found the need for the HAAD to have constituents of those reputable hospitals based in their country so as to reduce the strain that its locals endure when seeking medical care in overseas countries in terms of transport.
I also discovered that the health sector pays poorly to its employees. The government should cut back the working hours of its employees (Esveld, 2009). Doctors and healthcare providers should have payment increments so as to motivate them to work in the health sector not only as a source of income but also with passion.
I also found out that there was the problem of language barrier when the patients went to overseas countries for treatment. If the residents ate familiar with the language spoken in their motherland only, some details may be omitted by the translator during doctor-patient talks. Different words may be translated differently and if they are mistranslated may be sensitive in such as crucial field as medical.
I found out that exotic languages don’t count much in Abu Dhabi. It would be very important for the government of Abu Dhabi to put insist on the importance of such languages to its population (Group, The Report: Abu Dhabi 2007, 2007). This could be in the form of introducing the languages as a constituent of the school curriculum. This could improve the doctor-patient relationship and ensure fluent communication without the need for a third party as a translator.
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