Escalating of work related stress and job dissatisfaction among staffs in Admission Unit, Pantai Hospital Ampang

Pantai Hospital Ampang is the 7th hospital in the Pantai Group of Hospitals. Located in the center of Pandan Indah Township, this hospital is easily accessible through highways and using public transportation. This 180-bedded hospital was formally opened to the public in March 2003 with a comprehensive range of services and convenience facilities from emergency services to diagnostic services that are provided for the consumers. There are several departments and units available in this hospital. Admission Unit is one of the important units in Pantai Hospital Ampang. This unit is responsible to register both existing and new patient before they are being admitted to the hospital. In Admission Unit, there have two staffs, Mrs. Norashireen and Miss Sangeetha who are accountable to handle the admission process. Both of them are responsible to serve the patients that come and approach the admission units. Mrs. Norashireen is 35 years old and already married. She has two kids. In other hand, Miss Sangeetha is 25 years old and still single. They being supervised and observed by the Head of Patient Service Department, Miss Mendy Liew. Usually, Admission Unit needs to entertain 15 to 20 patients who are going to be admitted per day. Admission process is not an easy process and averagely, it takes about 15 minutes to register one patient because the hospital established several policy and procedures that need to be followed. In order to cope with the increasing number of admission, it is become more challenging for the staffs in order to ensure the admission process run smoothly and effectively. Sometimes, it caused
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the process of admission to be delayed because of the difficulty in handling the large number of patient that has to be admitted to the hospital. They work in stress condition because they have to handle a lot of things in one time. Lack of staff becomes one of the major problems in admission unit. Currently, there are only two staffs hired by the management to in charge and work in admission unit and this is not enough especially when the staffs are required to handle and serve many patients who come to the unit in order to be admitted. Besides, this problem also makes it difficult for the staff to entertain and attend the patients attentively. The situation becomes worst when there is only one staff

available to do the admission process. This resulted in extra time needed to admit one patient because the same staff also needs to send patient to ward or other clinical units such as Pathology Division, Laboratory Room, Operating Room, Intensive Coronary Unit (ICU), X-ray Department, Emergency Department, Neonates Unit, Nursery or Medical Officer Building. This matter has caused the patients especially their family members

become dissatisfied and angry because they have to wait for a long time before the staff can admit them and sent them to the ward or other related places. Lately, there are many complaints received from patients, and this directly visualized a bad image to the hospital. Miss Mendy Liew, becomes worried and felt angry with the staffs. She started to blame and scolded them. Her behavior makes the staffs in admission unit felt very stressed and frustrated. Personally, the staffs felt that they already gave their best effort in order to make the admission process running smoothly. They think that, the problem arises not only because of their fault and Miss Mendy should not fully put the blame on them. They expected Miss Mendy
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to realize the workload that they experienced which is very difficult for them to cope with the situation. Furthermore, it make the problem become worst when the staffs

have to sacrifice their lunch or rest time if there have too many patients come in one day. Sometimes, the staffs also have to work overtime in order to finish up all admission process and other related jobs. This makes the staffs become exhausted and anxiety. They felt weak and from time to time were reduced their efficiency in doing their job. Again, their boss did not try to understand their problem. They want their boss to hire more staff in order to make the admission process running smoothly and reducing complaint from the patient or customer because of late admission and long waiting time. But, Miss Mendy refused to consider their request and suggestion. Besides lacking of the staff, the work space provided in admission unit is not sufficient for staff to work effectively. The work space is too small and this make the staffs felt uncomfortable to do their work and it make the Admission Unit look too crowded with many equipment that have been put in the same place. In addition, because of Admission Unit have insufficient work space; this has caused decreasing in their productivity to produce a quality work. The staffs moaned that they always felt headaches and stressed to work in such uncomfortable place. Moreover, the staffs in admission unit felt disappointed and make them do not felt enthusiastic to do their work because their boss and management team always being so selfish and always looks at performance rather than taking care of her staff welfare. Miss Mendy always want the admission staffs, Mrs. Norashireen and Miss Sangeetha to give excellent performance but she did not try to make the staffs happy by fulfilling their needs.
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Besides felt stressed with their job, both of staffs in admission unit, Mrs. Norashireen and Miss Sangeetha, also felt dissatisfied with the management because even though they give more effort in order to ensure that the admission process running smoothly, but they did not received a salary that equivalent with their effort and commitment. The management sometimes did not take seriously when it comes to salary matter. The management always concerned about the revenue of the hospital should earn, instead of concerning about a suitable compensation they should pay to the staffs. The staffs in admission unit sometimes do not get payment if they work over time. This make them felt that, they do not being appreciated by the management and they are not valuable to the organization. Recently, Mrs. Norashireen always expressed her feeling of frustrated and dissatisfied with Miss Mendy because she did not try to understand their problem and condition. Because of that reason, Mrs. Norashireen always claimed that she want to quit from the job. She is ready to see her boss in order to talk about her intention to quit from her current job. Besides, lately she always absent because she cannot cope with too many work that she should do and complete. She always feels tired and unhappy to go for work. At the same time, Miss Sangeetha also felt dissatisfied and frustrated with her boss but she expressed in different way. Instead of having intention to quit from the job, she preferred to talk personally with Miss Mendy about the problem that she and her colleague encounter in admission unit. She wants her boss try to understand and being more concerned about the staffs welfare and problem. Miss Sangeetha wants her boss to realize that they cannot produce good work and being more productive if there are only two staffs available to handle and do all
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the jobs in admission unit. She wants Miss Mendy, to ask the management team to add and hire more staff in order to make admission process running smoothly and efficiently. If Miss Mendy still refuse to consider her request and do not try to solve the problem, she intend to reduce their job performance and increase absenteeism in order to protest and show that her dissatisfaction towards her boss. Discussion Questions
1)

Referring to the case, what are the factors that cause the staffs in admission unit feel stressed with their job?

2)

What are the best ways that the staffs should practice or apply in order to reduce and manage stress in the workplace?

3)

According to the case, what are the factors that make the staffs in the admission unit feel dissatisfied? How the staffs in this case respond to the dissatisfaction?

References Pantai Hospital Ampang. www.hpi.com.my. Internet. May 25, 2011. Puan Norashireen b. Ibrahim. Admission Officer, Pantai Hospital Ampang. Personal Interview. May 23, 2011. .

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