Management Functions

Globalization

According to this year's U.S News best hospitals report Cleveland Clinic ranked at number three among 5,189 hospitals evaluated nationwide. Cleveland Clinic sees patients from over 80 countries. The globalization efforts of the Clinic are foremost in the health industry. Cleveland Clinic not only cares for patients in over 80 countries they also employee some of the worlds best doctors and is responsible for developing one of countries most elite nursing programs. The use of the internet further provides Cleveland Clinic with the opportunity to reach patients, professionals, and students.

Cleveland Clinic has launched Real World Connect, an innovative web portal that will make available a wealth of educational resources online. Developed by Cleveland Clinic's Office of Civic Education Initiatives, Real World Connect will provide online learning opportunities in the areas of math, science, health and wellness, the arts and innovation. Making available this broad array of educational resources online will strengthen lesson plans, enhance materials available for school projects and research papers, and improve the access to current health information.

The resources include:

* Worldwide Classroom - a curriculum of state-of-the-art distance learning courses.

* Infotrac - a nationally recognized database of health information resources.

* My Health Librarian - a personalized service that provides answers to health questions.

* Earl's Virtual Garage - a narrated, minds-on educational playground for children.

* Online X-Ray Library - a student-created database of authentic medical images.

* Virtual eXpressions Exhibition - an online collection of award-winning student art and the scientific research that inspired it.

In September, Cleveland Clinic and StarBak Communications, the leading provider of integrated network video solutions, agreed to collaborate to enhance learning opportunities available to Cleveland-area schools through state-of-the-art distance learning programs. StarBak is providing its Integrated Network Video platform to facilitate video streaming and archiving in order that Cleveland Clinic's video archive and distance learning programs be more accessible to regional students in a variety of formats. The technology is improving the Clinic's ability to offer Real World Connect.

Technology

Technology has grown significantly over the last decade and is continuously changing the way healthcare is being provided today. Electronically enhanced healthcare has long been promoted as reducing costs, improving quality and efficiency and treating more patients with the same or fewer resources. According to www.ClevelandClinic.org, the Cleveland Clinic has capitalized on technological advances by providing eCleveland Clinic, a Web-based health program that uses digital information systems to deliver e-health services. One type of e-health service is MyConsult, which offers remote second opinion consultations to patients. Another e-health service is MyChart, which is an on-line health management tool that provides patients with a personalized patient chart. A patient can access test and lab results from MyChart at any time and from any location. Dr.Connect is an e-health service that provides physicians direct and immediate access to their patients' charts. This advanced technology allows physicians and patients to quickly access vital information and should ultimately prevent delay of treatment. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are functions the manager must consider when initiating and implementing a Web-based health service or other technological advancements. For advancements of this magnitude to be successful, changes must take place with current working practices. Internal factors such as patients, physicians, and healthcare providers must be mobilized to learn and accept new ways of providing healthcare. Improvements in technology will make no difference if hospital management and/or healthcare professionals don't move in the right direction to take advantage of new technology. An external factor such as a competing healthcare system is a prime example of why Cleveland Clinic offers the most advanced technological services. Every healthcare system in the same vicinity as Cleveland Clinic is competing for the same customers. The latest technology keeps the customers satisfied and will ultimately prevent the customers from switching to competing hospitals. By promoting new ideas, providing education, and leading staff in the right direction, managers will be able to keep staff up to date with all the technological advances in healthcare. As a result of using the latest technology in healthcare, hospitals should be able to operate more effectively, efficiently, and more profitably.

Innovation

Innovation at the Cleveland Clinic is a necessity for the growing medical center. New ideas and methods, otherwise known as innovations, are required as this growing company expands and at the same time remains reputable as a world renowned medical center. New ideas and methods will impact the planning, organizational, leading and controlling functions of management. The Cleveland Clinic strictly enforces "patients first" to all employees. This medical center is continuously structurally and departmentally expanding and so is the amount of patients. Every Cleveland Clinic employee is required to perform in a manner where patients' care, trust, confidence and satisfaction are to meet limitless expectations. It can be intimidating and not understood by patients how the Cleveland Clinic is such a massive campus with a multitude of satellites, and patient information is organized in a way that is accessible and accurate by a large percentage of Cleveland Clinic employees. Not too long ago the Cleveland Clinic implemented an innovation for collaborative software called Epic. The Cleveland Clinic uses Epic to store patient information including demographics, past and current appointment information, test results, surgery information, device descriptions, MRI dictations, ordering patient charts and etc. Schedulers, physicians, technicians and nurses are examples of Cleveland Clinic positions that have access to Epic. Management can track all patient and appointment information in Epic and can assess what goals need to be made to improve patient service. Provider information, appointment order information and schedules are available in Epic which provides information for