Health Quality Care Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Quality Care Administration - Essay Example (Kilpatrick and Johnson 856-857). External feedback mechanism: Survey is the most common, reliable and valid method to gather feedback from external customers who mainly are the patients for a health care facility. The instrument of survey is a rigorously prepared questionnaire using Likert or Yes/No scales. Likert scales provide better perception as it is a labeled scale for e.g. patient attributes may be between 'excellent to poor'. A three to five point scale is used commonly while a seven-point scale is rare. A survey may be telephonic or mailed (Lloyd 40-43). The most commonly used method to collect information from clients is survey. The survey is useful for assessment of services and product at pre admission, at the point of service and post service care. The advantages of survey are its generalizability, provides comparative data, and continuity of monitoring. It is easy and fast to implement. It, though, requires appropriate instruments and protocols. The focus group is reportedly is a small representative sample of target population. It is a one to one and one-half hour discussion by the group of 8 to 14 persons implemented by a professional. The focus group results are usually compared with a survey result. One more method to hear voice of the customer is Observation, A least expensive method. The staff member closely watches the happenings at a location during a specific time period. Personal interviews provide rich information by direct interaction provided a skilled interviewer does it. An Unsolicited feedback is for what usuall y overlooked in health care for e.g. a patient not satisfied with something demands meeting the manager immediately (Lloyd 40-43, Kilpatrick and Johnson 701-702). c) Please explain the strengths and weaknesses of "focus groups" that are frequently used for this process. The advantages of focus group are: 1. A focus group does not require large samples it is a small group of upto 15 participants. 2. The information from focus group is useful in getting quantitative data of the target population by a larger sample 3. It helps in finding new concerns in the population for improvement of services or products accordingly 4. It has very high flexibility on account of very small sample size (Lloyd 40-44). Disadvantages: 1. Provide only qualitative information that is not always a representative of target population 2. Highly qualified facilitators are required else the results may not be of any use. 3. It is non anonymous as it is obvious who is expressing opinion d) Use the text and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (HCAHPS) website to create a survey that can be used in your healthcare facility. The health care facility survey are carried out for hospital, in- center haemodialysis and nursing homes to know patients opinion about care and services in these facilities. The questionnaire has 1-22 mandatory questions of a National initiative sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals and rest, 23-27, are on background of the patient. This CAHPS questionnaire1 adopted by H-CAHPS is to get

BRAND MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

BRAND MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH - Essay Example Brand name and image of the company is so important and its implications are so far reaching that it cannot be ignored. It explains the fact that why managers today put so much emphasis on positioning and branding the organization. This paper aims at studying the effectiveness of the brand â€Å" UGG† with special reference to the three major criteria brand value, brand image and brand positioning. Brand is a connection between brand owner and the customer. So this paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of brand from the perspective of both. The strengths and weaknesses of the brand will also be analyzed. UGG  ® The history of UGG  ® registered trade mark of Australia began in 1978, when Brian Smith, a young surfer, introduced his sheep skin boots in California and became popular among surfers. It was acquired by Decker’s outdoor corporation in 1995. In the next couple of years product line grew to include two boots, four slippers, and a few casuals. It was only in 1998 that UGG  ® came in the list of the world’s finest footwear. UGG  ® was positioned as the high end luxury product and brand and a matching appropriate marketing and distribution strategy was adopted. This high end product, symbol of luxury and comfort, soon started expanding beyond Australia and beaches of California. In 2003 it was named brand of the year in footwear news. The brand promise of UGG  ® is accessible luxury. Their products fit into the everyday life of the customers. Their products are fashionable, comfortable and yet attainable and that explains their philosophy. The target customers are those people who value luxury, comfort and highest quality footwear. The quality is ensured by using the highest quality of leather, suede and world’s finest sheepskin. Their mission statement is â€Å"UGG  ® Australia markets the premier brand in luxury and comfort.† UGG has their concept stores in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Apart from that they have their own authorized retailers and authorized online retailers almost all over the world (UGG, 2011). Brand Value Today’s world is flooded with brands. We have witnessed the branding of almost everything around us including people. Even places, institutes, events, literally everything is branded. The list also includes intangible products such as cyber brands. Building brands is not enough because it not only raises expectation and demands from the customers but the brand has to live up to the promise (Parameswaran, 2006). Same is true for UGG brand that now represent the sheep skin boots in over 100 countries. Ugg has been the generic name for sheepskin boots in rural Australia and New Zealand since 1920’s. In this globalized world where businesses and consumers are separated, brands act as an important communication tool. A brand is an aura that surrounds any product or service and creates the differentiation criteria for the customer from the competi tors by communicating the benefits of the products and services. UGG represents luxurious and quality sheep skin shoes etc. Brand communication which emphasizes on the holistic nature and brand value takes into account all the communication channels and the audiences. In this model CEO is the ultimate brand manager, who also defines the long term strategic direction of the brand. It is the job of the brand manager to ensure the closest match between customer expectations and the band promise. It is the unique balance and the