Stakeholders In An Acute Care Hospital

According to Walston (2014), “stakeholders are individuals and groups that have some investment in an organization and/or obtain some benefit from it” (p. 119). Stakeholders are classified into internal and external groups. Internal stakeholders are those who have a direct relationship with the organization whereas external stakeholders are those who are not directly linked to the organization, but are affected by the outcomes and activities of it. As a matter of fact, there exists a strong and reciprocal relationship between an organization and its stakeholders. As stated by Dr. Panagiotou (2013), “an organization that does not have the ability to satisfy its stakeholders defeats the purpose of its existence.” This statement exhibits that

It includes acute care services such as emergency rooms, urgent care centers, short-term in-patient stays, out-patient surgical centers and out-patient follow-up clinics. The several internal stakeholders involved in an acute care hospital are hospital trustees, board committee members, hospital employees and investors. The hospital trustees are responsible for determining the administrative leaders of the hospital, providing essential equipment and facilities for delivering a safe, effective and high quality of care to the patients and surveilling the financial health and stability of the hospital. Also, they are required to perform these responsibilities in compliance with an approved licensure standards along with the governmental laws and regulations. The board committee members enforce legal and ethical management policies throughout the organization to achieve a sustainable growth in the market. Further, the hospital employees include: 1. Doctors – who provide treatment to the patients. 2. Nurses – who provide ongoing care to the patients. 3. Allied health professionals (such as pharmacists, physiotherapists, etc.) – who provide services to help with the diagnosis and recovery processes. 4. Other supporting staff members (such as clinical assistants, clerks, etc.) – who

Stakeholders can benefit from its organization’s success and can even get harmed by its failure. Different stakeholders have different ideologies, interests and strategies. Thus, it is very important that stakeholders understand the actual vision, mission and values of the organization. One of the ways to express this to the stakeholders is through the statement of strategic intent. “Strategic intent is a key gauge of an organization’s relationship with its stakeholders” (Waltson, 2014, p. 121). It defines an organization’s beliefs, goals, ways of accomplishing them and their expected consequences. If an organization’s strategic intent is clear, realistic and well-defined, then the stakeholders can certainly benefit from