FINAL PROJECT REPORT : HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION

Evaluation covers the period 1/1/76 to 10/15/79 and consists of the final report of the contractor who implemented the project. The contractor effectively reorganized SMC"s administration and management. A financial consultant firm was called in to formulate a hospital budget, and a budget development team carried out the firm"s proposals. The materials management system was upgraded. Over the objections of the Director of Finance and Personnel, a hospital personnel system was established and a personnel officer hired. A Governing Board was set up whose chairman was the Minister of Health and whose members were SMC"s chief executive officer (as Secretary), the medical Chief-of-Staff, and the undersecretaries within the Ministry of Health. In its first meeting, this Board created a Medical Board composed of the chairmen of the hospital"s 11 clinical departments. The Medical Board was highly successful, providing the medical staff with formal access to the Ministry of Health for the first time. Within four months of the introduction of this new administrative organization, the staff was performing more responsibly and productively than ever before. The project"s success is reflected in the fact that major concerns listed by department heads at the beginning of the project -- job dissatisfaction, administrative confusion, communications breakdown -- were replaced a year and a half later by concrete job-related issues. Administration had ceased being a problem itself and instead was a means to air and resolve difficulties. Problems encountered by the contractor included severe communications difficulties, both cultural and administrative. Several key hospital staff members were reluctant to accept the new administrative structure and delayed its implementation for several months. Others needed an initial familiarization period before the system could begin functioning effectively. This project can be used as a guideline for most LDC"s undergoing rapid technological development and needing trained managers.