| As Hospital Administrator I perform a staff management
role to the Hospital Director, advising on a wide range of academic, programmatic
and operational issues. I have line management responsibility for all
non-academic services supportive of VMTH clinical and teaching activities.
This includes functional responsibilities for organizational
design, staff personnel management (465 FTE), budget development and
coordination (115 expense and 65 income accounts), fiscal management ($30
million), facilities management (150,000 square feet) and residency
program administration (115 residents).
Administratively, there are a few things I believe we have done exceptionally well, and these things have given us a foundation upon which to build a responsible and responsive staff support team. |
 Paul R. Brentson BA, University of California, Irvine MBA, University of Arizona |
Organization
The organization has been structured in a way that facilitates local decision making and action, as well as accountability and consistency across the organization. Meaningful decisions are made daily by the front-line staff and supervisors, but they are not made in a vacuum. Significant augumentations in staff have occurred over the past ten years, and they have been largely in the areas of patient and technical support, rather than administrative support.
Financial Decision Support
An accounting system was designed that has provided us with significant detail about financial activity relating to a specific case, a clinician, or a service entity. This has enabled us to perform ad hoc queries to answer virtually any financial question, and to make sound operational decisions based upon rationale that can be understood and believed by all.
Computerization
The VMTH computer system (developed in-house) is extremely well integrated, merging pieces of demographic, financial, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and medical information as they relate to clients, patients, or specific visits. The system now contains a wealth of information that is useful for case management, clinical instruction, and retrospective research. It also provides a primary link to our referral community. The system is constantly evolving in attempts to provide more types of clinical information and to make that information more readily available.
Client Service Orientation
A great deal of emphasis has been placed on assuring that all staff understand that their primary responsibility is to satisfy their clients' needs. Staff realize that their "clients" may be faculty, residents, other staff, referring veterinarians, patients, their owners, or any combination of the above. With this underlying philosophy, it has been easier to develop effective partnerships and teams to provide the level of teaching, patient care and client services desired.