- SCM Management Report CRITERIA (Applying and Having Electronic Library to Ministry of Health in UAE)
- Executive summary
- The significance importance of having electronic library is to enhance social and economic progress in a well-recognized manner through the Ministry of Health. Some of the main advantages of having electronic library include helping Ministry of Health staff to involve actively in the recording services at both primary and secondary levels of care services. Electronic library will also help in improving accuracy and quality of data in all the records contained in the ministry. The other advantage of employing electronic library is that there will be an improvement in the quality of care offered in all health centers. This is because all the required information will be available any time. It will be possible to obtain traditional record that includes patient’s health profile through the application of electronic library. Apart from that, applying electronic library will help in containing much of the costs incurred in keeping of paper records. Moving to a paperless environment is one of the main obligations that the Ministry of Health is trying to achieve in near future. Information contained in the computers employed in health centers will help in extending beyond acute inpatient situations. This includes all ambulatory care settings. Electronic library will help in providing inpatient morbidity statistics contained in the medical records. Through the system, there will be clear information offered about outpatient statistics. This will help in solving any problem regarding statistics related to the patients within the right and anticipated period. The Ministry of Health in UAE will be able to offer extensive and recommended filing system through the application electronic library. This is because medical filing is one of the major problems affecting the health department in UAE. There is insufficient space to file medical records in an accurate manner and therefore application of electronic library will be of much benefit to the Ministry of Health. Electronic library will help in making sure that there will be no more difficulties in retrieving medical recordings from the overcrowded shelves that enhance misfiling and misplacements of most patients’ records.
- Description of Current Situation
- Several authorities through help from the government provide provision of health care services in UAE. This includes the Ministry of Health, abbreviated as (MoH). The other body that offers medical services is the Health Authority Abu Dhabi and has common abbreviations as (HAAD). The last of the main bodies that provides healthcare services in UAE is Dubai Health Authority, common abbreviated as (DHA). However, there are private sectors that offer a significant proportion of the healthcare services (Rushdi & Asma 415).
- The public sector, which includes the Ministry of health, receives most of the funds for continuity in development from the government. Moreover, there are private organizations that offer various contributions to the Ministry of Health in order it can be able to offer considerable services to all patients (Rushdi & Asma 414). This means that the supply chain of the Ministry is well versed with financial resources even though it experiences troubles in various periods of the year. This is because UAE is located within the Arabian Peninsula where there is a hot climate and unfortunately leading to desert environment (Rushdi & Asma 412). Therefore, the supply chain of the Ministry depends on the government and well-wishers for financial uplift.
- In the recording system, the Ministry of Health divides duties to all employees according to their capacity of knowledge and understanding in a certain field. Most of the employees perform multiple tasks in addition to the obligations they are entitled to look after. For example, the director of the Ministry is a GP and in additional, he is entitled to the role of executive director in the health center. Most of the members in the nursing staff offer various other services apart from their main roles and duties. Some of the roles include looking after the stock, expiry of medicines and managing the accounts. Moreover, some of them operate on the payment recording which ought to be an obligation of a specific team. It is important to have an electronic library that will help to cater for all of these needs and minimize the workload experienced by most of the healthcare workers.
- Some of the logistics operations employed by the Ministry of Health in UAE include calculating the health expenditures. This entails making the total health expenditure/capata (Dh) (Rushdi & Asma 417). The Ministry makes the calculations annually in order to determine whether there are improvements or not in the usage of government finances in the health sector. Logistics operations also entail calculating of the total health expenditure as a percentage of the GPD. Moreover, the logistic operations entail calculating of the major causes of mortality. This helps the government in making the budget after the end of every financial year (Rushdi & Asma 417).
- Logistics and Supply Chain Management Issues
- There are several identified issues affecting the Ministry of Health in UAE regarding the application of electronic library. Some of logistic issues include failure to have the required amount of capital to start the project. In order to have a competent library that will hold all the information contained in the medical papers, there is a need to have a modern equipped electronic library, which costs many finances to build. This is one of the main hindrances affecting UAE. The other logistic issue concerns the management employed to take care of the application of the electronic library. The Ministry of Health has an obligation of finding effective management that would ensure all the effective mechanism is employed in order to achieve the goal of having an electronic library. An effective management will be capable of ensuring all the government is able to provide all the required materials in order to set up the library. The government should make sure that there are corrupt managers entitled to take any obligation in the application and maintenance of an electronic library (Pamela 40).
- The other logistic issue concerns making of the records on an electronic device. One of the main challenges is that there are very few experienced people to offer the recommended services in an electronic library. This indicates that lack of enough staff members is a challenge and the Ministry of Health may be forced to use more money to offer the required knowledge to most of the employees in order to have effective outcomes. Another challenge is that the Ministry has not yet identified a strategy that can help to minimize the cost employed in the supply chain. This means that in order to have a successful application of an electronic library, the Ministry of Health through the help from the government has an obligation of making sure that it maximizes flexibility and makes all the costs under control. Eventually, this will help in making sure that there are no cost barriers that would hinder the process of applying and maintaining an electronic library. Resistance to change by many of the employees would be another issue affects the supply chain management. This is because without full acceptance form workers, there cannot be effective implementation of the project (Pamela 42).
- Logistics and Supply Chain Management Solutions
- In order to curb most of the logistic issues that might appear in future during the making of an electronic library, the Ministry of Health has various obligations to make. One of the obligations is to make sure that there is enough capital to start up the project. Some of the equipments needed to set a modern electronic library are very costly. Capital may be money borrowed from various International organizations that are capable of lending finances to the government. For example, the World Bank would be one of the best institutions that UAE should borrow money from in order to complete the project. Another reliable source that the Ministry through the help of the government ought to borrow money from is the World Health Organization. The body would really appreciate to offer such help in order to encourage more countries to undertake the same initiative. This is because there are more benefits of keeping records electronically compared to using the manual way (Yeboah 64).
- The Ministry through the help of the government has an obligation of making sure that there are available staff members to work in the new environment. This means that the employees should have the required knowledge in order to work on the electronic devices employed in the library. In order to have effective supplier relationship in the new working environment, the Ministry has an obligation of making sure that all the employees accept change and have right motive. Many of the health workers find the issue of working on the electronic devices to be daunting. The Ministry of Health has an obligation of finding new ways that ought to help all the employees to accept change (Yeboah 65).
- Recommendations
- Application and maintenance of an electronic library is one of the main achievements that the Ministry of Health ought to make sure that it accomplishes. However, there are many challenges the ministry in UAE faces that would be barrier when making the significant implementation. In order to overcome all the challenges, the Ministry of Health has the obligation of providing the necessary administrative security requirements. This means that there is a need to take control of the risk analysis that might emerge during the implementation of the project. Incidence reporting must also be available and the Ministry should employ the right response mechanism. This will help all the users to enhance the set rules and adhere to the stated standards. All the policies and procedures should be put in place to make sure that the law of UAE everything that takes place in the electronic library.
- Work Cited
- Pamela Smith, et al. "A Study Of Health Care Employees' Opinions About Stress Patterns In The United Arab Emirates." International Journal Of Organization Theory & Behavior (Pracademics Press) 14.1 (2011): 38-57. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 30 Dec. 2011.
- Rushdi, Yusuf & Asma Kamal. "A Strategic Perspective Of Management In The UAE." British Journal Of Healthcare Management 17.9 (2011): 412-419. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 30 Dec. 2011.
- Yeboah Achanfuo. "Impact Of Population Variables On Health Services Demand And Provision In The United Arab Emirates." Arab Studies Quarterly 29.1 (2007): 61. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 30 Dec. 2011.
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