Free Paper Sample on Children's Hospital

Introduction

The 21st century has seen an immense increase in the prevalence of cases related to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In a 2015 article, Hoefman et al. reveal that the diagnosis has been a significant problem to families with impacts ranging from the massive burden of caregiving to the tremendous financial expenditure. According to another research by Pisula and Porebowicz-Dörsmann (2017), ASD results in low quality of life, increased parenting pressure compared to ordinary families, and lower functioning of the family in general. The disease is also graded among the top mental health-related issues that give roots to the worldwide burden of infections with lifelong effects on children below the age of 10 years. It impairs communication, motor, verbal and perceptive skills. It could also co-exist with other conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotional disorders, tuberous sclerosis, epilepsy, and other cerebral incapacities (Hoefman et al. 2015). Consequently, East Tennessee Children's Hospital management came up with project Panther to curb the burden faced by innumerable families with autistic children in Tennessee. Therefore, this paper highlights the purpose, plan, schedule, and budget for the proposed project.

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Project Identification

Project Panther aims to fill existing gaps in therapeutic measures available for autistic children by exploring and analyzing existing healthcare models to form an improved model. The existing options for the treatment of ASD are limited to psychosocial therapies such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Applied Behavior Analysis targets positive reorganization of both the primary and associated symptoms of the disease. The process entails taking the patient through several phases tailored for their distinct needs, such as age and areas of challenge. These phases improve their communication, social, and learning skills to enable them to function at near-normal levels. They could vary from Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) that imparts children under the age of 5 with adaptive, functional, and social interaction skills to pivotal response training that lets the child take the lead in a learning activity.

It also seeks to reduce stress and financial burdens imposed on parents and caregivers by the disease through designing a comprehensive healthcare facility. Hoefman et al. report that parents with autistic children have difficulty combining their daily routines with caregiving. This can be attributed to the high amount of care required by these children as their communication and social interaction are impaired. They hardly adjust to new situations and can exhibit sleep complications and outbursts. Additionally, the situation often results in cheerless moods in the family and monetary problems. Crafting a favorable atmosphere with specialists to care for such children would be a massive relief for Tennessee's parents, thus establishing goodwill with the community and portraying a better company image.

Project Plan

The section provides the roadmap to be followed by all the team members throughout the project’s life. In a bid to see the project's success, the project manager will ensure execution of the five phases of the project; initiation, planning, launching, performance, and control as well as project closing. Besides, the manager will ensure that the objectives of the project, as vetted, are met.

Renovation of the autistic children's care unit into a more comprehensive facility necessitates particular therapy equipment procurement as the project's deliverables. These include; rainmaker toys, sense vibrating cushion, electric dog pets, chew toy, pin art and fidget pinners, among others. These will enable specialists to conduct physical, speech, and occupational therapy more fruitfully as they are designed to stimulate the five senses of a child: taste, smell, touch, sound, and sight. This feature can be attributed to their distinctively contrasting bright colors, sounds, or even textures. Moreover, the toys enable autistic children to develop their senses in a safe and normal setting using play. Play supports nurturing and stable relationships with caregivers. This helps such children manage toxic stress and build a prosocial brain by developing self-regulation, language, cognitive and social-emotional abilities (Krieger et al. 2018). Consequently, the project board will place a clear communication plan for suitable messaging on milestones and deliverables.

As postulated by Krieger et al. (2018), forming an improved healthcare model for autistic children would require adequate training and expert supervision to deliver the psychosocial intervention. A team of trusted professionals who are passionate about their work will attend training for a reasonable period. This will impart them with the necessary skills in preparation for the autistic children improved care unit. They will be taught the elementary principles of understanding ASD, understanding the child through the treatment process, maintaining clarity of the guidelines and task expectations, and inspiring the child by focusing on their distinct interests.

The action emulates a previous program called the TEACCH system at St. John Hopkins Memorial Hospital. The program was deemed successful, with only one patient feeling discontented at the end of the program. At the same time, three-quarters of the members graded their satisfaction as great or exceedingly great. Besides, the proportion of individuals who exhibited high productivity increased to 62% from 24% when the program commenced (Krieger et al. 2018). Therefore, the program is expected to be effective at East Tennessee Children's Hospital, enabling the hospital to meet its objectives.

As part of the risk management plan, anticipatable risks such as lack of committed resources, changing requirements, budget cuts, customer review cycle, and unrealistic cost and time estimates will be assessed. Picking of the relevant team will also follow a specific criterion as decided upon by the project manager.

Project Schedule

The project is expected to commence at the beginning of the next fiscal year, October 2020 to December 2020, and take effect in January 2021. For the three months, the Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) will break the project's scope into manageable sections for the collaborative team. The Gantt chart created will also enable the team to discern the project's milestones at all times. This scheduling should play a critical role in ensuring the success of the project as a whole. Besides, the project manager can easily set realistic timeframes, keep the project on track, manage quality to decrease product errors, and assign resources appropriately. This will reduce the project's costs and increase customer satisfaction, parents with autistic children. The following tasks need to be accomplished as they define the project's path.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, autism has caused a lot of pressure on parents as they have to incorporate caregiving into their daily routines. A lot of finances are also used on the children, thus causing financial strain on some families. Therefore, the project panther aims to assist such parents in caregiving by providing the best medical care at an affordable price. This will also enable the hospital to multiply its revenue tremendously to cater for future projects.

References

Hoefman, R. Payakachat, N. Exel, V.J. Kuhlthau, K. Kovacs, E. Pyne, J. & Tilford, M. (2015). Caring for a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Parents’ Quality of Life: Application of the CarerQol, NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4167350/

Krieger, B. Piskur, B. Schulze, C. Jakobs, U. Beurskens, A. & Moser, A. (2018). Supporting And Hindering Environments For Participation Of Adolescents Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review. Plos One https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202071

Porebowicz-Dörsmann, A. & Pisula E. (2017). Family Functioning, Parenting Stress, And Quality Of Life In Mothers And Fathers Of Polish Children With High Functioning Autism Or Asperger Syndrome. Plos One https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186536.