CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

78
ESSENTIALS OF CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
Critical Reminder
Organization of Health Care
Facilities
• Board of directors includes chief of
staff , administrator or CEO, attorney,
business leaders, and in some cases
committee chairs and representatives
from the major departments within
the hospital
• Chief of professional services
• Department supervisors for all
ancillary departments, such as
laboratory and pharmacy
• Section supervisors of areas within
a major department
• Shift supervisors who report to
section supervisors
• Staff (considerable ranking among
staff, with the professional staff of
persons who are licensed , registered,
or certified at the top of the
group in their scope of duties and
responsibility)
the hospital. With increasingly complicated business systems within a hospital,
this official is now generally awarded a title with the same terminology as that
used in most business enterprises. This reflects the greater demand on health
care institutions to be more cost conscious and to use good business practices.
In past years, this was not generally the case, when traditionally a physician
with no business training held this position. Many of the other officers of the
various departments within the hospitals are frequently called assistant administrators
and are often categorized by the area over which they exercise authority
and responsibility. For example, larger hospitals may have an administrator for
finance, computer services, clinical services, support services, and so on.
Professional organizations for individual employees and for the institution
itself play a major role in the functioning of a health care facility. Facilities voluntarily
ask for accreditation to present themselves as abiding by a certain set of
professional or institutional standards. A hospital would encompass a number
of occupations that could be addressed by these accrediting agencies. This meeting
of the requirements for accreditation assures the public that the institution
is seeking to provide a high standard of care; it is also a form of self-policing.
Hospitals are dedicated to providing the best care possible, and they should seek
to employ only qualified personnel to meet their responsibility to their patients.
Accreditation agencies monitor the credentials of workers in a facility. In communities
with more than one major health care facility, there is
often competition for the better employees and, with personnel
shortages, less-qualified personnel may be hired out of necessity.
Since hospitals are accredited and also licensed in most, if not
all, states, they must meet regulations and standards required to
be in good standing with government and accrediting agencies.
Most job positions in a hospital require that personnel be registered,
licensed, or certified in their respective field. As a condition
of the hospital accreditation and licensure, employees must meet
the standards for entry into the profession when they present
themselves to the public as practicing professionals. Most often
there are continuing requirements for remaining in good standing
with the respective accrediting bodies, and the health care facility
will either furnish training or aid the employee in efforts to maintain
skills and certification. While most states require both facility
licensure and accreditation for medical facilities, the requirements
for accreditation and licensure are often similar, and in fulfilling
a requirement for one agency, the other’s requirements may be
satisfied.
Hospitals are highly organized entities with various levels of
supervisory managers existing in every department. The CEO provides
coordination for the various areas within the hospital. In the
larger facilities, the assistant administrators, who focus on broad
areas such as finance, nursing, ancillary service, etc., report to a
CEO. The lines of authority in a large hospital are typically complex
and are based on the number of ancillary services and satellite
clinics associated with the medical center. Some hospitals are
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