Hospital Case Study In any case study, it is important to gather information concerning the topic, or "case," and then ask three questions. The questions are, "What's going on right now?," "What can we do about it?," and "What can we do about it?"

In the case of Faith Community Hospital, there are several problems going on that can be divided into three categories:

Organizational process issues.

Ethics issues.

Communication system issues.

The first group of problems that we are having at the hospital fall under the heading of Organizational Processes. The current problems in this category include a lack of organization regarding the creation of a central concept of operation. Everyone from the CEO, to the doctors, pharmacists, and general staff seem confused about just what their role is in terms of ethical, belief-based, and "bottom-line" issues. The Mission Statement of the hospital is symbolic of this problem. It reads:

With the foundation and commitment of our spiritual heritage and values, our mission is to promote the health and well-being of the people in the communities we serve through a comprehensive continuum of services provided in collaboration with the partners who share the same vision and values.

Not only is this statement vague (as is the line between ethics and beliefs), but it points to the glaring hole in the hospital's ability to organize a process by which the "shared vision and...

oppositional law.
Hospital ethics/beliefs can sometimes clash with current law.

Patient beliefs can also clash with law.

Patient respect of hospital policy.

Patient may want service hospital does not condone.

Hospital may want to provide service/action patient does not accept.

Clash of staff vs. patient belief.

Staff may act out of belief against patient wishes.

Staff may refuse action based on belief.

Doctor responsibility to patient vs. doctor responsibility to hospital.

Doctor may put patient needs ahead of interest of hospital.

Doctor may put perceived needs of hospital before that of the patient.

Money/rules vs. patients, or patients vs. money/rules.

Staff may put financial needs of patient over that of the hospital.

Staff may put perceived needs of hospital over patient interest.

The third problem area is the issue of communication systems. The problems identified here include:

Muddled and complex mission statement.

Lack of communication across all levels of…