Healthcare System SWOT Analysis Report Sample

SWOT Analysis on Health Care System

The Healthcare System is one of the current sectors facing various forms of advancements as well as challenges in regard to service provision (Rhul, 2012). In this relation, governments and other concerned stakeholders have formulated rules and regulations that guide the provision of health care services and to ensure that quality service provision is maintained and observed. There are various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that have been associated with the current healthcare systems and that are believed to have a significant impact on the quality of service provided. This research will explore these issues and provide appropriate recommendations and suggestions on how identified threats, opportunities as well as weaknesses can be explored and improved. On the other hand, it will suggest how the current strengths of the healthcare system can be further explored to enhance sustainability and quality service provision.

Strengths

Existing Policies and Regulation: The current healthcare system is characterized by existing policies, guidelines as well as regulations such as the HIPAA Act, the Affordable Healthcare Act as well as other professional standards that have played a significant role in enhancing and promoting quality service provision (Ali & Nayaran, 2009). These policies guide activities within the healthcare system ranging from the use of medical information to patient service provision. They have ensured that ethics of professional service provision is observed within healthcare facilities leading high quality service and development of a positive rapport between Healthcare systems and patients.
Technological Advancement: This is also the strength of the current healthcare system; the government, research institutions and the healthcare service providers have explored various dimensions of healthcare technologies basically focusing on enhancing healthcare service quality. Some of the technologies that have been explored by the current medical systems are: Electronic Health Records, and enhanced communication devices that facilitates and efficient connectivity between healthcare service providers and their clients. On the other hand, modern technologies such as the CPR machines and other surgical technologies have been associated with high quality service provision, thus enhancing the performance of the current healthcare system.
Platforms for Skill Development, Research and Innovation: The medical system relies on appropriate skill development, research and innovation. This knowledge is pertinent for high quality service provision within the health care system and in other health sectors. Through various government initiatives and other non-government organizations such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, current medical healthcare practitioners have been provided with a platform for to research and create new ideas that could enhance the quality of service provided in the current healthcare system. On the other hand, these research and skill development centers provide a platform for skill development among individual health care service providers, leading to high quality service provision.
Stakeholder Collaboration and Participation: The current healthcare system has exhibited a high level of stakeholder collaboration i.e. collaboration between the US Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to perform research on how to improve certain aspects of health service provision (Walls, 2014). The concept of such collaboration is based on the desire to enhance collective knowledge generation and quality service provision.
Resource availability: It is also another important aspect of the current healthcare service provision; despite the fact that high population growth has created pressure on existing healthcare systems, availability of certain resources has ensured that the available limited healthcare systems provide high quality services. This is a great strength of the current healthcare system.

Weaknesses

Limited Resources availability: As aforementioned, the current healthcare system is facing a challenge in relation to provision of services to the current population as a result of limited resources. This has been attributed to the current high population growth, creating pressure on available healthcare systems (Milner, 2009).
Limited Knowledge: There is also limited knowledge in regard to provision of services to handle certain healthcare issues for instance: There is inadequate knowledge on how to treat certain diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Cancer and Diabetes (Velji, 2013).
Conflict of Ideas as a result of application of a multi-disciplinary approach: In as much as multidisciplinary approach in provision of health services has been associated with various benefits, it has also been considered a major challenge in medical decision making processes. This challenge occurs mainly as a result of conflicting ideas among the diverse stakeholders involved in decision making processes.
Inadequate Capacity to adopt rapid technological advancement: Technology is rapidly changing and getting advanced. The current healthcare systems have exhibited a major weakness in regard to exploration and implementation of certain modern health technologies. This has been majorly attributed to the fact that such technologies are subjected to constant debates and criticism regarding their impacts and benefits, thus limiting the chances of their application.

Opportunities

Rapid technological development: As discussed herein, technology is rapidly changing and getting highly advanced. This is an important opportunity that can be explored by the modern health care setting to identify how it can be applied in the health care set-up as a means of enhancing high quality service provision.
Research, Innovation and skill development Platforms: There are various research and development platforms i.e. the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which can be explored by the current health care systems to further their knowledge regarding provision of healthcare services.
Stakeholder Collaboration and Participation: This is a significant opportunity for knowledge among development among current healthcare service providers. These collaborations may be used as platforms for knowledge development through networking processes.
Government and Stakeholder Support: Most governments and health stakeholders such as the World Health Organization have provided support to stakeholders willing to research and create ideas on how health care service can be improved (Walls, 2014). This is an imperative opportunity that might be used to enhance healthcare service provision.
High rate of population growth: Just like any other organization, the current healthcare systems could benefit from high population growth rate. This occurs in the sense that a high population provides an opportunity to perform more research based on diversity. Additionally, high population growth provides a platform for exploration of different aspects of knowledge from the diverse population.

Threats

Ever changing rules and regulations: Governments and other stakeholders constantly modify rules and regulations as a means of improving healthcare service provision. The modification of such policies could act as a threat to the current healthcare systems by limiting the capacities of healthcare serviced providers.
Introduction of new rules and operational standards: There are also certain rules and operational standards that are currently introduced to enhance the services provided in the current healthcare setting. These rules and operational standards could jeopardize the services offered and the manner by, which healthcare service providers behave.
Introduction of alternative medicine: Alternative medicine plays a major risk to current conventional medical approaches. Most of these alternative aspects of medicine have not been scientifically proved to be effective and are merely based on theoretical approaches. This is a major risk to quality service provision.
Rapid population growth: Currently, the global population is high rising, this has created pressured on existing medical systems and has been associated with significant challenges in regard to high quality service provision (Velji, 2013). It is expected that with the current high rate of population growth, similar challenges could occur in future.
Emergence of new strains of diseases: Medical health care practitioners and the global population experience a great challenge from new disease strains that emerge from time to time for instance Ebola virus (Velji, 2013). These diseases are difficult to treat and manage and it has been assumed that with the current changes in global environment and human lifestyles, similar challenges could jeopardize health services in future.

Likely Organizational and Operational Outcomes that Could Occur if Changes are made based on the SWOT Analysis

Moreover, stakeholder analysis is identified as an opportunity for improving healthcare service provision. This opportunity could be explored to improve networking among health care service providers, thus enhancing their performance through networking and skill development. Technology plays a crucial role in various aspects of socio-economic development, with the exploration of this platform; the current health care service providers could improve their service through processes such as: Service automation and enhanced health care data management.

Future Viability of the Organization if no Changes are made based on the SWOT analysis

In case no changes are made, the healthcare system would face various challenges; the first challenge would emerge from population pressure in case the global population is not controlled. This would lead to reduce capacity of the available health care systems to handle global health challenges. In addition, the quality of health care service would deteriorate in case the available healthcare research platforms are not explored and properly used. With limited opportunities for stakeholder collaboration and networking, there would be reduced chances of knowledge and ideas exchange, therefore limiting chances of improving the quality of service provision. On the other hand, lack of government would limit the capacity of the health care system to offer high quality and efficient services.

Strategic Recommendations

In order to offer high quality service provision, the healthcare system should focus on the following five strategic recommendations:
Focus on research and innovation: Current health care systems should focus on research and innovation as a means of skill and knowledge development for purposes of high quality service provision
Creating global awareness: Creating global awareness programs should focus on informing the general public challenges that might be faced by the healthcare systems if they do not undertake lifestyle changes and conserve the environment.
Promoting Collaboration and Participation: The healthcare system should focus on promoting collaborative and participatory approaches to solving global health challenges. This is crucial for ideas and knowledge exchange, thus enhanced service provision.
Seeking for Government and Stakeholder Support: Resource availability is a major issue in the current healthcare system, in this aspect the current global healthcare system should seek government and stakeholder support to avoid challenges that might arise from limited resource availability.
Exploring Technological Approaches: In order to enhance high quality and efficiency in service provision, the current global population should focus on application of appropriate and highly advanced technologies.

References

Ali, M., & Narayan, K. (2009). The United States and global health: Inseparable and synergistic? The Institute of Medicine's report on global health. Global Health Action.
 
Milner, J. (2009). Sickness and Wealth: The Corporate Assault on Global Health. Global Public Health, 24(12), 115-119.
 
Rhul, M. (2012). Global Health Action Special Volume 2009: Climate change and global health: Linking science with policy. Global Health Action, 77-86.
 
Velji, A. (2013). Global Health Education Consortium: 20 Years of Leadership in Global Health and Global Health Education. Emergence of Infectious Diseases, 3(4), 323-335.
Wall, S. (2014). GLOBAL HEALTH ACTION – Fuelling a hands-on approach to global health challenges. Global Health Action.