The Role of Care Coordinators

Introduction

Management theories can be defined as concepts encircling endorsed policies of management that may comprise of tools like guidelines and structures that can be used in organizations (Kessler, 2010). In modern organizations, many professionals tend to blend various management theories concepts that are the best fit for the culture of the company and its workforce rather than depending on only one management theory. The most common management theories comprise of scientific management theory by Fredrick Taylor, Systems management theory, Contingency management theory, and Theory X and Theory Y (Miles, 2012).

A Care Coordinator is an educated health professional that helps to manage a patient`s care. There are numerous areas of a patient`s health problem that care coordinators have to deal with that requires working together with both non-professionals and professionals. In order to realize great results care coordinators need coordinating and leadership skills. The primary role played by a care coordinator is crucial in establishing a link between health and population (Staff and Lamb, 2013). Care coordinators skills of leadership are crucial in controlling several resources and harmonizing with connected healthcare providers to regulate a patient’s illness as well as manage their health in general (Fero, Herrick and Hu, 2011). Exposure and experience are crucial in learning leadership skills to communicational, group collaboration and organizational abilities directed towards the management of health problems of patients and more so those that are in need of long-term management and several approaches of intercessions in terms of interdisciplinary (Staff and Lamb, 2013). Care coordinators are crucial to the involvement in a professional health team and a center of the organization so as to observe best and manage the care of patients and ensure proper continuity of the care. The skill of leadership goes a long way in bettering the quality of life of patients with multidisciplinary methodology through empowering the patient and family. Care coordinators need transformational and clinical leadership to best perform their duties (Fero, Herrick and Hu, 2011).

Experiences as an Employment and Training Advisor role, Case Manager NHS are crucial in equipping one with much-needed experience to be able to perform and execute their mandate as a care coordinator in terms of leadership and people, management. There is an understand of how systems work, policies are set and goals aligned with the organization for better delivery and management (Schrader and Shelton, 2011). Bsc biomedical science and Postgraduate diploma public health instills the necessary skills and knowledge needed in the field and practice. Care coordination is a critical part of a patient’s process of recovery, and proper training and education matters in order to be able to get into an institution that provides these services (Staff and Lamb, 2013). Technical knowledge of what is required where and when and how things are done is another crucial bit of information. Master level study of Health and social care management & policy is critical to a care coordinator. It increases productivity as the study of the management theories will help in maximizing productivity levels. It gives an insight on how to get the best out of human assets that are available at any given moment. Through looking into the work process, best policies are created. Secondly, it makes decision making easier as there is a possibility of creating an environment where there will be local innovation and speed up the process of decision making. It will also comes ion handy in building interpersonal interactions in the workplace (Schrader and Shelton, 2011).

Management, as explored by the theories of management, can be looked into in relation to self and team management (Miles, 2012). The focus areas under team management are leadership, relationships, and individual and family management. These three areas give a broad and wide scope of information that is directly related to care coordination and its study leading to understanding and delivery in the workplace. They directly impact the patients care, the environment around which performances and deliveries are going to be done and a great improvement in how to handle issues in the workplace.

Team management is crucial to any organization that wants to be successful and deliver on its mandate and purpose in a clear and efficient manner. This is the driving force of any given institution and makes or breaks it depending on how effectively it is handled. Due to this, leadership and relationships under the team management area are crucial and important to focus on. Different theories on management highlight how these two can be of influence and how they can be handled (Dale, Bamford and Wiele, 2016).

2. Areas for Development in Terms of Team Management

The effective management of a team requires one to be an effective leader and be on the forefront. Putting into perspective the contribution of the team is a critical ingredient. Teams that deliver have a clear understanding of the part that they are supposed to play within an organization. The general prospects and aims of a company should be aligned to the team’s efforts and a great manager should put this into practice (Rothstein and Burke, 2010). Communication has become an essential part of the day-to-day and long-term projects of organizations. This makes communication key for managers and more specifically effective communication. This is the process through which two or more parties exchange information that leads to the sought-after outcome (Dale, Bamford and Wiele, 2016).

Weber's classic organizational theory of fixed structures was the first step to give meaning to the process of communication within the organization. It states organizations have clear defined responsibilities and roles and therefore communication is structured, hierarchical and clear. This theory requires leaders to send clear messages from top to bottom to avoid confusion. Deetz's managerialism theory also comes in handy under this management area. The theory seeks to outline the manner in which control and communication takes place in companies that salutation of the monetary and political interests as well as need to represent and give a voice to the varied interests replaces the classic notion. The centers of power and democratic ambitions of the people in the organization are taken into account by this theory recognizing that people are the key factor that propel the organization. This theory was developed as a result of recognizing the importance of the managerial class in organizations. Management in teams needs leaders to not only relay information to teams but also enable free flow of communication between and within teams in an institution. Listening especially in care coordination is vital both for the caregivers and the patients involved in the process of looking for solutions to the ailments and treatments to work avoiding confusion. Inspiring and making individuals interested. People have different weaknesses, strengths, and ways of working. Team management requires making sure that individuals are as effective as possible in their workplaces this is hugely by identifying their strengths and developing and supporting skills when there is the need (Dale, Bamford and Wiele, 2016).

The manner in which teams are perceived, and the relationship they have underlines how effective the team will be. The different thinking and decision-making capacities build and strengthen teams. Strong relationships are achieved by team leaders in various ways. Teamwork is a crucial way of getting things done in care coordination. It is an integral part that is continuous and part of the management of the team. There is a positive impact generation when this is done on a regular basis and just not being a one-off thing when things do not go as planned (Adetule, 2011). Theory X and Theory Y highlights the approaches that can be used to motivate team members that rely on the final assumptions that as a leader you have about the people that are on your team. When the final determination is that they are lazy and need a lot of work to deliver then theory X is the one to go with. When they are generally happy and willing to learn and work, then theory Y is the way to go in terms of motivation. Team management needs a full understanding of the two theories as they directly impact a successful way of motivating the teams (Adetule, 2011). In order to get how to manage teams, there needs to be an in-depth understanding that the needs of people vary in terms of motivation and this is the key to unlocking the way to motivate teams.

Bruce Tuckman's model of team stages highlights how to successfully build a team and ensure that it delivers through four key stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing. A great tool that can be applied by team leaders in the health sector. The team analysis theory points out to managers the idea that in the long run the team will fall apart and there is need for a re-evaluation of the situation in order to get to understand what went wrong. Belbin's theory of team roles comes up with nine major roles that each team should possess for an effective functioning. The roles are team worker, specialist, plant, coordinator, resource investigator, shaper, implementer, completer-finisher and monitor evaluator (Adetule, 2011). Through the keen conceptualization of these theories a manager will be able to get the best out of the team that they lead. When it comes to care coordination a team is so valuable in getting the patient the maximum care that they require for their recovery process. This calls for a special focus on building the teams to ensure that they deliver what is required of them in a timely, efficient and organized manner.

3.Areas for Development in Terms of Stress Management

Stress management can be described as a set of programmes and practices that can be used in helping individuals deal more efficiently with stress in their lives through examining the specific stressors and compelling activities that are directed towards decreasing their effects. This is a crucial tool for team leaders in care coordination. For a long time, leadership growth has been focusing on how to manage and lead others ignoring the need for leaders to manage themselves. It is important for care coordinators to learn how to manage themselves and their stress levels as communication and the manner in which they act have an impact on the team members (Tradewell, Perez, Stubbs, Macallister, Stern and Buzi, 2015).

The focus area of stress management in this area is demand. In management demand comes with responsibilities for what other people are doing and being able to harmonize objectives that are both conflicting and overlapping between people in the group, the group and the organization and between the leader's set targets and those of the other managers in the institution. The other bit of responsibilities created by demand is for the managers to come up with innovative activities, this is especially hard in institutions where the individuals one is managing are culturally resisting change. Too much demands from managers leads to the creation of a role overload where there is too many roles that need to be attended to by one individual. The current world is focused more on making money with minimal human resources thus a few leaders managing various groups and activities making it hard for care coordinators to focus on the specific tasks in hand and delivering quality care. In other cases there is also work underload which makes the managers feel underused. This is what leads to stress as the quantity and quality of work demand are directly related to stress (Holroyd, Brown and Turner, 2015) (Drucker, 2015).

The Job Demand-Control theory is one of the theories of management that seeks to highlight this area of stress management. The model assumes strain in work is as a result of the interaction between job control and psychological job demands. The transactional theory highlights that stress is the end product of a transaction between the environment and an individual. The experience of stress at work is due to this theory linked to exposures to specific workplace scenarios and how well an individual can be able to cope with the exposures like demand in this case (Kessler, 2013).

4.Future Plan(s)

For any leader, managerial skills and knowledge are an important bit. The areas in team and stress management need to be built in order to ensure success in management and career. Due to care coordination management becoming a crucial part of the current healthcare system, leaders should know how care is coordinated in their institutions. This is done through understanding the population of patients. Tracing to simulate the journey of a patient helps in pointing out the best practices and limitations of the institution (Drucker, 2015). Getting to know the transitional care models at disposal also matters. Knowing the people who are providing care to patients and avoiding duplication of roles for a better understanding would be an important step in improving and learning for a leader—understanding the value of technology (Kuiper, 2016). This is due to ensuring integration, translation and making decisions in care coordination technology. This also opens up to how technology affects transition management and care technology and how to come up with a plan to heighten technology. Engaging the team members through proper communication channels and using the right skill set in care coordination will be important as they all in one way or another have an impact on the manner in which patients accomplish their care (Drucker, 2015). This can be done by seeking out stakeholders that get across intended efforts.

Putting in place and building relationships that will support care coordination. Considering options outside the institutions can be a great depiction of good care coordination. Taking up the training on coordination and transition management will build leaders' knowledge on the effective use of communication and developing a partnership between the patients and clinical teams, engaging the patient and the family of the patient more (Railean, Walker, Elci and Jackson, 2016). Currently, patient care is moving towards a more inclusive and open system and keeping patients aware together with their family makes them become an active partner and manage their health even better. This will be done by leading the healthcare team in engaging the two parties in processes and decisions (Tradewell, Perez, Stubbs, Macallister, Stern and Buzi, 2015). Putting together statistics that depict how effective transition management and care coordination is helps to build engagement with team members. It eventually will have a trickle-down effect on empowering the staff, patients, and provider fulfillment.

Enhancing stress management skills is crucial to care coordinators because above all things one needs to be a great manager to themselves before they can be able to lead a team successfully. The area of care coordination involves a lot of emotions and contacts with people, therefore, being in control of oneself is crucial basing on the important decisions and plans that are supposed to be made that affect the medical state and recovery of patients and the relationship between the institution, patients, and coworkers (Tradewell, Perez, Stubbs, Macallister, Stern and Buzi, 2015). Building an educational knowledge base and keeping up to date with the trends in the relevant field of work keeps care coordinators afloat with what is happening and the options and possibilities to solve different problems and handle situations (Railean, Walker, Elci and Jackson, 2016). Finding out strengths and weaknesses enables one to know where they stand and the decisions they can be able to make comfortably furthermore, where if need be consultation should be sought after. Observations, close contact with both the patients, the families of patients, and the other team members is another strategy that can be used. This technique will provide valuable insight and build a knowledge base making it easier to handle and cope with difficult circumstances.

Conclusion

The three areas of self-management and leadership management as highlighted in the discussion above are critical to care coordinators and will hugely influence the management of the sector. The leadership, relationship and individual and family management theory work well in synchronization in the health sector and specifically care coordination and development in creating a single strong unit of delivery. Being critical of oneself and the team with what they are involved in work hand in hand. Conducting this assignment has opened the school of thought on what needs to be done and learned in the process in order to be effective and efficient. There is a lot in place to ensure there is team and self-management from the theories to the practices but with the direction medication and care is taking towards care coordination it is important that there is a study and new and efficient ways are developed and invented to get closer to the patients and their families while ensuring teams deliver on their mandate effectively. From technology inclusion to new policies generation to stakeholder involvement in the processes there are so many ways in which one can improve in stress management and leadership management as discussed above. The future looks bright for care coordinators and management in general. It is fair to look forward to the thrills, discovery, and betterment of the sector. Management theories are involved a lot in care coordination day-to-day practices, and if we embrace them in the leadership and team management areas of this practice, it is going to achieve great success and make work easier. The future needs integration of coordinators who understand what they are doing, why they are doing it and have the necessary skill set to tackle the day-to-day issues and long-term policy and plans of health institutions.

References

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