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Biomedical subjects

P M Ginter

Publications and source records attributed to P M Ginter.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Health departments' implementation of public health's core functions: an assessment of health impacts.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between state health agencies' adherence to the recommendations of the United State's Institute of Medicine's (IOM) report, "The Future of Public Health", and changes in their populations' health. STUDY DESIGN: Data were abstracted from agencies' plans, budgets, annual reports, etc. spanning a 5-year period. A comprehensive change in population health measure over the same period was drawn from the UnitedHealth Group's annual survey. METHODS: Configurations, based on public health core functions, were established using linear regression and qualitative comparative analysis. The dependent variable was a holistic measure of change in a state population's health status. RESULTS: State agencies that most completely adopted a public health model emphasizing assessment, assurance and policy development also experienced significant improvements in their population health measures. CONCLUSIONS: State agencies that more completely adopted the IOM's public health core functions had a concomitant improvement in their populations' health statuses. Further research to explore if there is a causal link between adoption of the core functions and positive health impacts is warranted.

Government Agencies↗
PubMed1998

Preparing for the future in a local public health organization.

One of the most difficult issues in strategic planning in public health organizations is how to harness the energy generated in the process of strategic thinking and focus it on strategy formulation. This article is about one local public health organization's experience in developing program priorities, building consensus about the priorities, and making operational the adaptive strategies relative to each program. The results should be useful to all public health organizations attempting to direct strategic thinking toward the formulation of practical and motivational strategies for the future.

Alabama↗
PubMed1994

General and functional level health care managers: neither 'manage' very much.

This paper reports the results of a study of 40 (20 paired general and functional level managers) in 20 health care organizations. The managers were personally interviewed and were asked to supply additional self-coded data from calendar entries, telephone logs, and in/out baskets. The results of this study indicated that health care managers, like their business counterparts, spend most of their time performing tasks other than traditionally defined management functions. In fact, major portions of the typical day of general and functional managers are spent exchanging routine information, processing paperwork, and interacting with others. As the studies have confirmed with regard to business managers, the health care general managers in this study focused much of their attention on issues and events external to the organization. The information sources they valued most were primarily external to the organization. The functional managers, by comparison, were more oriented to internal issues and information sources. In general, this study indicated that the patterns of managerial work in health care organizations are similar to those in business organizations and that managers in both settings spend half their time doing things that are not 'managerial' in nature.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1992

Keeping strategic thinking in strategic planning: macro-environmental analysis in a state department of public health.

This paper examined the tendency of strategic decision makers in public health to allow their strategic planning process to degenerate into short-term, operational management. The temptation is great in light of pressing current problems. However, the danger of not thinking strategically about the future and of failing to attempt to position the organization in such a way as to take advantage of its strengths and minimize the adverse consequences of its weaknesses can be catastrophic. An attempt is made to illustrate how one state department of public health attempted to ensure that strategic thinking remained a part of its strategic planning process. The process was built around the energizing of the expertise present in the department and the mobilization of resources under the direction of the State Health Officer. The process is ongoing and is constantly fine tuned. However, the procedure utilized can be adapted easily to the unique circumstances facing most public health organizations.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1991

Analyzing the health care environment: "You can't hit what you can't see".

The health care environment of the 1990s promises to be every bit as dynamic and complex as the environment of the 1980s. Health care managers must identify emerging issues and incorporate these issues into the strategic management process. This article discusses a five-step process for analyzing the changing environment facing health care organizations.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Strategic planning for public health practice using macroenvironmental analysis.

Macroenvironmental analysis is the initial stage in comprehensive strategic planning. The authors examine the benefits of this type of analysis when applied to public health organizations and present a series of questions that should be answered prior to committing resources to scanning, monitoring, forecasting, and assessing components of the macroenvironment. Using illustrations from the public and private sectors, each question is examined with reference to specific challenges facing public health. Benefits are derived both from the process and the outcome of macroenvironmental analysis. Not only are data acquired that assist public health professionals to make decisions, but the analytical process required assures a better understanding of potential external threats and opportunities as well as an organization's strengths and weaknesses. Although differences exist among private and public as well as profit and not-for-profit organizations, macroenvironmental analysis is seen as more essential to the public and not-for-profit sectors than the private and profit sectors. This conclusion results from the extreme dependency of those areas on external environmental forces that cannot be significantly influenced or controlled by public health decision makers.

Forecasting↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of scenario analysis in local public health departments: alternative futures for strategic planning.

Scenario analysis is a strategic planning technique used to describe and evaluate an organization's external environment. A methodology for conducting scenario analysis using the Jefferson County Department of Health and the national, State, and county issues confronting it is outlined. Key health care and organizational issues were identified using published sources, focus groups, questionnaires, and personal interviews. The most important of these issues were selected by asking health department managers to evaluate the issues according to their probability of occurrence and likely impact on the health department. The high-probability, high-impact issues formed the basis for developing scenario logics that constitute the story line holding the scenario together. The results were a set of plausible scenarios that aided in strategic planning, encouraged strategic thinking among managers, eliminated or reduced surprise about environmental changes, and improved managerial discussion and communication.

Health Planning↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Translating public health research into public health practice: outcomes and characteristics of successful collaborations.

For over five years we have been involved in a series of collaborations between academic public health and state and local public health organizations. This article briefly describes the outcomes produced and under development by these collaborations and delineates and discusses some characteristics we now hypothesize will predict successful academic/practice collaboration. These collaborative projects with public health organizations in Alabama, Indiana, and New Mexico have produced outcomes that influenced the organization of the agencies and the allocation of resources within the agencies. The collaborations also have contributed to the body of literature concerning management processes in public health agencies and influenced the teaching of strategic management to students of health services. Our experiences and interactions led to the identification of 10 characteristics we believe predict successful academic and practice collaborations, discussed in three groups as (1) characteristics of successful academic collaborators, (2) characteristics of successful collaborating public health organizations, and (3) characteristics of successful collaborative projects.

Community Health Services↗