by Mary Wilson Trider
The success or failure of an organization’s activities depends on the proper execution of plans, processes and programs. No plan, no matter how good it may be, can be successful without efficient and fair administration.
Organizations around the globe rely on their administrative staff to uncover business trends, identify flawed or inefficient processes, match staff scheduling to actual demand, support customers, provide managers the data to support fact-based decisions and a plethora of other activities that are generally pretty much invisible to the average customer of the organization – or in our case, patient or resident of Almonte General Hospital, Fairview Manor and Lanark County Ambulance Service.
An old adage states that “administration is only boring when it’s done right” and at AGH (at least administratively) we aim to be as boring as possible.
Consider the types of activities that make up what is often referred to as the “back-office”. On behalf of AGH/FVM/LCAS we issue 5,000 cheques each year to suppliers, many of which are local. Many of our suppliers have service agreements, which are accessed through the 800 purchase orders and contracts issued every year. For our 428 employees, we annually pay in excess of $18 million in wages and benefits through more than 11,000 individual payments.
We expect 20,000 patients to visit our emergency department and clinics every year and we expect that patients will spend 14,000 days admitted to the hospital. Each of those patients requires a medical history to be created and maintained as well as the admission and separation information.
The Hospital IT infrastructure includes a newly upgraded phone system, 200 computer workstations and servers and miles of cabling all of which require regular maintenance.
Collectively, the staff who work in the Finance, Human Resources, Health Records, Occupational Health, IT and Administrative departments make sure that front-line care and support services have the people, supplies, equipment and technology necessary to look after our patients and residents. They are vital members of the patient and resident care team. Without them, our organization would not be able to function.
Mary Wilson Trider is the President & CEO of the Almonte General Hospital/Fairview Manor.