Shouldice Hospital has had as object of activity the repair of hernias for over 55 years. “Our success rate has long been the benchmark for the medical profession internationally. Success sometimes breeds imitation. We often hear of institutions or associations proclaiming to be performing the “Shouldice Technique” or the “Canadian Method”, as if it were a secret formula that has been smuggled out of Thornhill. ” Thus, the method performed here has started to be used in other medical centers as well, but it did not achieve the same level of success; that is why it could be easily said that.
Shouldice Hospital is a “total environment. ” It might be said that Shouldice Hospital is very successful, and there are a lot of arguments which would sustain this theory. If these ideas were to be ranked, it should be mentioned that Shouldice is one of the medical institutions with the greatest tradition in the world. It was named after Doctor Shouldice who, by 1940 came up with a great innovation in the medical world through a totally new surgery method who helped seventy young American men join the army.
These persons were delighted by the chance they had been provided with and due to them Dr. Shouldice and his technique became so famous that the immediate consequence was the foundation of a hospital . Nowadays, Shouldice Hernia Centre is located in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, and its specialization is considered to be external abdominal hernia operations. “Their ten full-time surgeons perform over 7500 hemiorrhapies each year. The facility, which looks much like a mansion, is purposely comfortable, featuring a 23-acre property.
The hospital focuses on customer service, without compromising on speedy recovery. The medical centre represents the property of the corporation named Shouldice Hospital Limited” . Moreover, Shouldice Hospital is not only famous in Canada; 48% of its demand has come from the North of the United States. There might have been many reasons for its success, but among the most important one it must have been its experience of more than 55 years.
Moreover, the Shouldice management has contended that their success is due to several factors: the primary one would be the professionalism of the personnel and their ability to successfully deal with each case in part. In addition, there is also the social factor which allows the patients not to feel as if they were in a hospital; they are encouraged to eat in the cafeteria, together with the doctors and other patients, the institution’s policy being that a friendly environment would lead to a faster recovery.
Moreover, the patients share their room with another person who usually lives in the same professional environment; in the way the patients have the opportunity to develop friendly relationships with each other and the feeling that they are surrounded by the walls of a hospital is diminished. This purpose has been also fulfilled through another technique: the floor of the hospital is covered with carpets. The market segment the hospital has chosen also contributes to its great success rate; thus, the personnel do not deal with very complicated cases, which have few recovery chances.
Doctors and nurses are given a certain percent from the institutions’ profit, besides their usual salaries, so they share, to a great degree, the hospital policy. Shouldice represents, following the aspects mentioned previously, a good example of a combination between a business (with the main goal of maximizing its profits) and a regular medical activity. The open door policy has also been developed so as to help patients bring forth any problems they may have, not necessarily only medical ones. Discussing them with the professionals that help them is important in their recovery.
2) How do you account for its performance? It is obviously that the success of the medical centre could be measured in a first perspective through its gains: the hospital brings an annual profit of $441. 200; whileas the clinic brings a profit of $442. 000. Practically, the facts speak for themselves: the doctors from Shouldice have repaired more than 300. 000 hernias and their success rate has proven to be around 99%, while as this percent in the case of other hospitals is much lower, around 85%-90%.
Even though the hospital is quite small – it has only 89 beds – and it has a unique selling point, which is located in the hospital, more than 300. 000 people visit the institution’s website each year, while as there are received more than 10. 000 emails within 365 days which request information concerning the procedure. Shouldice Hospital has succeeded to attain this level without great advertising; practically, the information about their unique surgery technique has been transmitted from mouth to mouth, leading to a permanent occupation of 100% of the institution capacity.