HOSPITAL VIEWED AS A SYSTEM A hospital can be variously described as a factory, and office building, a hotel, and eating establishment,

a medical care agency, a social service institution and a business institution. In fact it is all of these in one, and more. Sometimes it is run by business means but not necessarily for business ends. This complex character of hospital has fascinated social scientists as well as lay people. Management sciences define a system as a collection of components subsystem which, operating together, perform a set of operations in accomplishment of defined objectives. A system is views as anything formed of parts placed together or adjusted into a cohesive whole. Every system is therefore a part of a large system and has its own subsystems. A system is construed as having inputs which undergo certain processing and get transformed into output, the output itself in turn sending feedback to the input and the process, which can be altered to achieve still better output. A system is therefore a continuous and dynamic phenomenon. Figure: conceptual representation of a system

PECULIARITIES OF A HOSPITAL SYSTEM In spite of simple definition of a system, a hospital system is more than the sum of its parts. The peculiarities hospital systems are as follows. A hospital is an open system which interacts with its environment Although a system generally has boundary, the boundaries separating the hospital system from other social systems are not clear but rather fuzzy A system must produce enough outputs through use of inputs. But the output of a hospital system is not clearly measureable A hospital has to be in a dynamic equilibrium with the wider social system

 A hospital system is not an end it itself. it must function, as a part of larger health care system. A hospital like other open social systems tends towards elaboration and differentiation i.e. as it grows, the hospital system tends to become more specialized in its elements and elaborate in structure, manifesting in the creation of more and more specialized departments, acquisition of new technology, expansion of the product lines and scope of services. In considering the hospital as a system for the delivery of personal services, which is the more important of its functions Anand (1984) views the system from four different perspectives which are as follows. 1.Client oriented perspective: which is that of access to service, use of and services, and quality of to care, client maintenance of client and autonomy

dignity, responsiveness

needs, wishes

freedom of

choice. 2.Provider oriented perspective: that of the physicians, nurses and

other professionals working for the hospital, and include freedom of professional and quality and judgment of terms and care, of activities, adequate practice and maintenance compensations, maintenance of proficiency over

control of

traditions norms.

professional

3.Organization

oriented

perspective:

which

covers

cost

control,

control of quality, efficiency, ability to attract clients, ability to attract employees and staff, and mobilization of community support. 4.Collective resources representation orientation among of perspective: competing interests that includes proper allocation of

needs, by

political the

representation, and

affected

organization,

collaboration with other agencies.