Assignment 2: Religious Health
Care
Due Week 8 and worth 200 points
Religious Health Care
operates in a community of 225,000, called Middleville. Summary statistics on
Religious and its competitors, from the AHA Guide, are shown in Table 1. All of
the organizations in the area are not-for-profit. Although Samaritan Hospital
and Protestant Hospital have religious origins, they now view themselves as
secular, not-for-profit organizations.
Table 1: Middleville Health Care
Systems

The
governing board of Religious hired a consulting company to evaluate its
strategic performance. As part of the consultant’s evaluation, several leaders
of Religious’ units were asked their perspective of the organization’s
performance. 
You are working for the consultant. Your job is to identify
the issues from the response that should be considered further by the consultant
team and possibly discussed with the governing board and the CEO. The firm has a
rule, “Never offer a criticism or negative finding without suggesting how the
client organization can correct it,” so you must indicate what sort of
correction would be recommended as part of your list. Because you know there
were about two dozen other interviews, you decide you should rank your issues in
importance, to make sure the most critical are discussed.
Write a six to
eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Describe the five (5) important elements of the governing board’ s agenda
   for areas of improvement in core functions.
2. Many organizations now use a balanced scorecard or multiple dimensions of
   performance measurement, such as productivity, profit, market trends, quality,
   patient satisfaction, and worker satisfaction. Describe three (3) key
   performance dimensions (other than those mentioned here) and include specific
   measures that Religious Health Care could use to improve overall institutional
   performance.
3. Determine the performance measures Religious Health Care could use to
   evaluate nursing staff performance in its Emergency Room. Explain the rationale
   for each performance measure.
4. Suggest the steps that should be taken next by Religious Health Care to get
   better at managing specific patient groups. Explain the rationale for each
   step.
5. Decide what strategies Religious Health Care could implement to enhance its
   public image and increase market share. Explain the rationale for each
   strategy.
6. Describe two (2) technology-based data-collection strategies that Religious
   Health Care could use to conduct an internal management audit.
7. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not
   qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these
formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch
  margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format.
  Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s
  name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and
  the reference page are not included in the required page length.

The
specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Explain how public policy has shaped the development of the U.S. healthcare
  system.
• Examine how healthcare management concepts and theories are applied to
  critical issues in healthcare organizations.
• Analyze the critical management issues, purpose, functions, and performance
  measures of different departments within healthcare organizations.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in health
  services organization management.
• Write clearly and concisely about health services organization management
  using proper writing mechanics.

Grading for this assignment will be
based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and
writing skills, using the following rubric.
Click here to view the grading rubric.

   What is alcoholism and how does it begin?

On a base level, drinking alcohol is considered a socially acceptable way to have fun or relax. While the effects of drinking alcohol irresponsibly are well documented, underlying reason behind alcohol intoxication is not necessarily common knowledge. Alcohol is a depressant that is converted from sugar and in 1956, the American Medical Association declared alcoholism as a disease. Alcoholism, which is caused by excessive alcohol abuse, is the altering of the brain’s structure and function. In this review, we will look at how alcoholism begins.

In the study conducted by Waldron and Vaughan (2014) found that in both sexes, the relationship between age at first alcohol use and risk for alcohol dependence followed a linear trend. The findings showed that the highest rates of alcohol dependence were observed in those individuals who began drinking at an early than average age (14 years or younger).  These findings lead us to another question; what factors influence individuals to begin drinking at 14 years or younger?

There are plenty of reasons why people begin drinking such as stress, financial problems, family issues, school, etc. However, drinking at a young age is often tending to be due to shared environmental factors, heritability, and genetics. Young people who grow up in a home where the parents drink heavily may assume that is a normal behavior. Also, in that environment the parents may have a more tolerant attitude towards underage drinking. (Weisner and Moore 2001). There is a hereditary component which makes people more prone to alcohol abuse. Some individual’s genetic makeup makes them more likely to experiment with alcohol. Some people are just born with a higher tolerance for alcohol than others. Other factors explaining why individuals have their first intake of alcohol are peer pressure and personality types. In general, people feel the need to be accepted by others. With that being said, if a young person is hanging around a gang of friends who are drinking they may crack under pressure and go along with them whether they want to or not with a desire to “fit in”. Personality type has a big factor on your first substance use and how well you can take an “experiment”. If the young person shows characteristics such as low self-esteem, attraction to high-risk behaviors, and nonconformity they may be demonstrating a battle with an addictive personality which will put them at a higher risk for alcohol dependence and/or alcohol abuse.

Risks Associated with Drinking at an Early Age

There are several risks associated with drinking at  early age such as alcohol addiction later on in life, damage to the liver, early development of cirrhosis, and brain damage to name a few. Drinking at an early age also is a gateway to alcohol-related accidents. Rehm (2011) conducted a study on the amount of deaths due to alcohol related risks and the results showed 5,320 deaths (1,530 female deaths; 3,790 male deaths) or 5.9{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} of all deaths (4.9{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} of all female deaths; 6.3{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} of all male deaths. Of those deaths, 74.5{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} (61.3{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} for females; 79.8{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} for males) were caused by heavy drinking, and 26.9 {0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119}( 25.6{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} for females; 27.5{0e601fc7fe3603dc36f9ca2f49ef4cd268b5950ef1bbcf1f795cc00e94cdd119} for males) were attributable to alcohol dependence. These statistics show how dangerous a simple experiment with alcohol at an early age can lead to.

Alcohol also is known to be a gateway drug to other substances as well. For those young people who drink alcoholic beverages, while under the influence of alcohol this could potentially lead to other behaviors such as promiscuous sex and using illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, PCP, etc. Drinking alcohol also interferes with ability to make logical decisions and performance at school. These risks associated with alcohol can cause long-term effects and have serious implications on an individual’s well-being.

Costs and Effects of Alcoholism Treatment