VOLUME 6 , ISSUE 2 ( July-December, 2018 ) > List of Articles
DK Sharma, Vijaydeep Siddharth, Angel R Singh, Mohammad Kausar, Rahul Ranjan
Keywords : Control room, Decision making, Hospital administration
Citation Information : Sharma D, Siddharth V, Singh AR, Kausar M, Ranjan R. Hospital Administration Control Room: An Effective Concept for Managing Hospital Operation Issues: A Study in Tertiary Care Public Sector Hospital. Int J Res Foundation Hosp Healthc Adm 2018; 6 (2):82-90.
DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10035-1097
License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Published Online: 01-03-2018
Copyright Statement: Copyright © 2018; The Author(s).
Introduction: Hospitals are complex organizations comprising of the myriad of core clinical, diagnostic and support services departments. Conventionally, administrative issues at public sector hospitals are managed by medical superintendent with a mainly clinical background. In the hospital understudy, there is a hospital administration control room managed by resident administrators attended to various routine and challenging issues in hospital operations. A study was contemplated to explore the modality of organizing control room services, the issues encountered and their management for the benefit of hospital administrators faced with similar challenges related to hospital operations Methodology: A descriptive and observational study of various issues was conducted from March to June 2017 in the Hospital Administration Control Room at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. At the control room, all matters reported were recorded in a report book and submitted before the medical superintendent. Review of those daily reports for the year 2016 was conducted. Frequency distribution tables of issues were made. Important issues were described in brief. Results: The infrastructure of a control room had all the communications channels and other wherewithal needed for accurate inputs for implementing quick decisions—management information system, monthly duty roster, a big chart listing the important phone numbers, telephone directory, hotline, news on television. It was manned by a senior resident administrator holding an MD degree in hospital administration and a junior resident administrator pursuing it. For further support, the matters were escalated to medical superintendent, and support from residents and faculty concerning their hospital areas were sought. Training was provided as understudy duty and supervised duty. Centralized repository of important circulars, resident manual, hospital administrators manual were available in the control room. The duty officer was responsible for ensuring statutory and legal compliances like brain death, coordinating organ transplant, examination of an asexual assault victim, bed management, local purchase (LP) in an emergency. The duty officer initiated a well-established VIP emergency plan or the disaster management plan by informing all concerned, personnel management and took necessary actions including escalations to ensure smooth delivery of patient care services. Duty officer got arranged ventilators and provided directions regarding ABG machines. In dispute resolution duty officer played a crucial role. During fire issues, the security cum fire control room was informed, and the quick reaction team (QRT) was activated. At workplace violence, local police were also informed. Conclusion: The study introduces to a time tested the concept of the administrative concept of control in a hospital room and succinctly describes and management of important issues encountered. It adds to domain knowledge where little is available.