Shouldice hospital offers an enriched and comfortable experience for patients accepted into the program for hernia operations. As soon as they arrive at the hospital they are interacted with very closely. Administrators and surgeons spend time with their patients prior to the operation to ensure that their needs are met and that their stay at Shouldice is a comfortable and successful one. After a normal hernia operation at a hospital or another institution, patients are encouraged to check out, whereas Shouldice recommends a resting period for up to four days to recover fully, with the help of on-site nurses.
This four day period is also a small vacation for patients, which after any surgery is important in the healing process. The hospital encourages patients to exercise and interact with other patients going through the same experience to enforce that this surgery can be a pleasant one. Shouldice offers a more committed involvement with the patient compared to a normal hospital, which is why they excel in their specialty, with the statistics to prove it. The target group of customers is males and most commonly come from the 41+ age group.
Females and younger patients are very rare (Exhibit 3). Most of the patients at Shouldice are from outside the greater Toronto area. The success rate and the patients’ experience at Shouldice have proven that word of mouth is the best advertisement, rather than a recommendation from a personal doctor. The process in which the benefits of Shouldice are delivered is very standard and reoccurring. The process begins with a patient being diagnosed by mail or in person using a medical information questionnaire.
Based on the information in the response, both doctors and surgeons determine whether or not the patient has a hernia, or if there are other factors such as body weight or any underlying medical conditions that may signal risks associated with the surgery. Once all medical history is accounted for, the patient is given a surgery date and a brochure is sent describing the hospital and the Shouldice method.
When arriving at the clinic the day before the operation, the patient joins the other patients in the waiting room that will then be examined by the surgeon who is going to being performing their operation. After checking administrative details about an hour after arriving at the hospital, the patient is directed to their room number. Patients with similar jobs, backgrounds, or interests were assigned to the same room to make the experience both familiar and comfortable. Later that same day, patients are required to attend a nurse’s orientation and familiarize themselves with information about what to expect; including the need for exercise after the person undergoes surgery and how to change their daily routine.
Dinner is then served following by further recreation. Nurses encourage attendance at this time because it provides an opportunity for pre-operative patients to talk with those whose operations have been completed earlier that same day, for encouragement and to decrease anxiety associated with both the surgery and the recovery. Patients who are to be operated on early are awakened at 5:30am to be given pre-op sedation. Patients were then taken to the pre-operating room where the circulating nurse administrated Demerol, an analgesic, 45minutes before surgery.
Upon the completion of the operation, during which a few patients are usually “chatty” and fully aware of what’s going on, patients are invited to get off the operating table and walk to the post operating room with the help of their surgeons. In a normal hospital or clinic, walking after any surgery is not encouraged for the patient, but with Shouldices’ technique, it forces the patient to begin recovery right away and prove to themselves that they can do it. This technique is an important start to a quick recovery with the help of guided exercise routines.
The day after the surgery, all patients are ready and able to walk down to the dining room for tea and cookies, even if it means climbing the stairs. On the fourth morning, patients were ready for discharge. During the stay, patients were encouraged to take advantage of exploring the premises and make new friends. Patient’s attitudes were the most important element of the Shouldice program. On many occasions, patients tend to request to stay an extra day because it is so relaxing. The process in which the patient goes through, the end result defiantly matches the value and benefits in why people choose Shouldice for this specific operation.
* Tangibles: The Shouldice Hospital contains two facilities in one building—the hospital and the clinic. On the first level, the hospital contains the kitchen and dining rooms. The second level contains a large, open lounge area, the admissions offices, patient rooms, and a spacious glass-covered Florida room. The third level has additional patient rooms and recreational areas. The recreational rooms range simply from pool tables to an exercise gym. All patients’ rooms have no telephone or television, which is to promote exercising.
Patients will then be forced to walk in and out of their rooms if they would like to use other facilities, with the added bonus of exercising to help with a quick recovery. The whole hospital is also floored with carpet to offer a comfortable environment, compared to a hospital where there is a disinfectant tile smell. * Reliability: Shouldices’ reliability has a very good track record from patients who finish their four day stay at the hospital. Everything they are known for and promise in their brochure is demonstrated from the moment they check-in.
Each patient experiences everything that is guaranteed during their stay from close interaction with the staff and surgeons, to the comfortable and relaxing environment. * Responsiveness: The nurse’s provide prompt help to the patients from when they awake from the surgery to the time they leave and are recovered. The nursing staff is an important part of the recovery service because if nurses did not have the motivation and willingness to help patients and provide a reliable service, Shouldice would not be as successful as they are now.
In terms of recovery, it is not only about what pain medication the patient is using, or even how accommodating the facility is, but how the nurses connect with the patients, and relate to them mentally. Mental recovery is just as important as physical recovery, and as seen, the nursing team at Shouldice provides each patient with a feeling of comfort and tranquility. * Assurance: The surgeons and nurses can simply be put as the best of the best. The surgeons do 750 or more hernia operations a year compared to the typical surgeon in a hospital or private clinic.
This makes them the most experienced and consistent in this field, reassuring both trust and confidence in the patient and their families. * Empathy: The staff as a whole at Shouldice Hospital provides much care and attention to each individual patient. Surgeons evaluate each patient and spends time to monitor them closely so they know everything about them to make certain the operation a success. All these dimensions of service quality which Shouldice Hospital contributes to, is what makes the overall image of the hospital and continues to keep itself the best of its kind in the marketplace.
Shouldice offers a superior value of proposition relative to its competitors because hospitals, being its main competitor, do not offer the experience and expertise in this particular operation like Shouldice does. Based on numbers, Shouldice Hospital is very successful with the capacity always being full and still being able to provide the superb service on a regular basis to every patient. When maintaining any institution, it is important to have it running smoothly, high in quality, but even more importantly low in cost. Being a medical establishment, where the surgeries are performed need to be sanitary and equipped accordingly.
Therefore, although each operating room costs $35,000 to create, it contributes to the success of each individual surgery. Beyond that, the income for each employee is also essential when managing a medical practice. It is important to keep employees content to guarantee that they work in a timely and orderly fashion so that each day goes by smoothly. Shouldice is not about how many patients they can undertake, but how many patients they can perform surgery on while ensuring each person walks out of the hospital satisfied. The quality of patient care at Shouldice is what keeps the patients coming, which in turn ensures a steady income.
The happier the patient, the more they talk about their experience. With this, more patients will be referred to Shouldice either through a doctor, or according to the article, by word-of-mouth. While the Canadian acute care hospital average ratio of nurses to patients was 1:4, Shouldice ratio was 1:15. Shouldice nurses spend an unusually large portion of their time in counseling activities for patients. They do not use bedpans, and according to a manager, “Shouldice has a waiting list of nurses wanting to be hired, while other hospitals in Toronto are short-staffed and perpetually recruiting.
” The environment at Shouldice is typically a routinely work habit. In comparison to a hospital, nurses can being doing anything on any given day, and with a non-flexible schedule to go along with all that, the amount of work and the stress levels associated with the hospitals’ daily routine leads right back to a major problem; why Toronto hospitals have a shortage of nurses. In terms of the hospitals’ growth, there are many options available for Shouldice to consider.
Growth alternatives for Shouldice could include a branching off into a number of different types of operations. This idea can be manipulated into various manners. The level in which Shouldice specializes in hernia surgeries, the same level of expertise can be put into play with many other types of operations. Increasing the hospital’s patient capacity is another growth alternative, and is probably one of the most effective ways to increase the hospitals’ income. On the other hand, the administration and staff must be able to deliver the same quality of service.
All these factors must be taken into consideration when exploring expansion ideas. This is because the quality of patient care and service must be maintained in order to uphold a reputation of successful hernia surgeries. My recommendation for this proposal would be to continue focusing on hernia surgeries and expand the current facility to increase patient capacity. There are no other facilities like Shouldice that focuses primarily on one type of surgery. Specializing and perfecting one surgery has proven to be a smart and successful path to continue on.