Scientific Management Theory and Inefficiencies in Healthcare
Based on the scientific management theory, what are some of the routines in health care that seem to be inefficient? What examples of participative decision making exist in your workplace? Provide your rationale. The Scientific Management approach was initially described and theorized by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In his book “Principles of Scientific Management”, first published in 1911, Frederick Taylor formulated a view on management that was highly inspired by engineering principles.
As such, the studies of Frederick Taylor can be seen as a culmination of a series of developments occurring in western industrialized countries, in which engineers took the lead in developing manufacturing productivity and in industrializing organizations. Frederick Taylor developed Scientific Management out of the belief that tasks could be optimized scientifically, and that Scientific Management could design the best rational way of performing any task, which would lead to enhanced productivity and profitability.
Enhanced productivity would not only lead to greater profits for the employers, but also for the workers, who would be given the tools and training to perform at optimum performance. The development of best practices should be based on detailed observation of work processes, and on vigorous training and selection of the best-suited workers. The routine that seems to be inefficient in my work place is the procedure of blood transfusion.
In my hospital before and after each blood transfusion the nurse has to verify all the papers with a second nurse and the nursing supervisor. This is very time consuming and delay the treatment especially at the time of emergency transfusions. So we notified this issue in the meeting and they changed the policy. Instead of nurse supervisor, nurse manager in each unit can verify the papers before transfusion and after blood transfusion nurse supervisor can review the papers.
