Healthcare Facilities

Research the websites of two competitors and assess the effectiveness of their online presence. Identify specific areas where those websites are superior to yours whether in form or function. Also identify areas where your own website is superior. In searching the Web for the only two competitors in the community in which our organization serves, it was interesting to learn that neither had a website. When searching for Desoto Healthcare Center website, web-surfers are led to a blue page that flashes the message â€Å"This site is currently under construction†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (desotohealth. com. 2013).This for profit nursing home, located nearest the only Hospital in the community, is a 120-bed center with no apparent online presence. Landmark of Desoto, another competitor, is a 60-bed non-profit nursing home with no online presence nor is there any sign of a website to come. Therefore, when compared to other Skilled Nursing Facilities in the area, it is safe to say that Golden Living Center’s website is in fact superior to the competition in both form and function. Research the websites of one supplier and one client. Evaluate the effectiveness of each website as it relates to their association with your organization.Identify specific areas where those websites could better serve your needs. In the Nursing Home sector of Healthcare, many of the suppliers are also the clients. Sta Home Health and Hospice serves as both a supplier and a client to our organization. Sta-Home’s website effectively allows us to refer potential patients to them directly through a link on the site offering us the opportunity to save time from having to make a phone call, leave a message, or provide needed information to someone who may not deliver it to the proper person or location.The website includes a â€Å"Helpful Resources† tab where patients can obtain information on diseases, treatments, tests and procedures, and many other resources. This tab, however, does not offer any information regarding the services offered by my organization. If a Sta Home patient or family were seeking assistance with finding a skilled nursing facility in the area this site would be of no help to them, nor would help my organization with gaining a new referral or potential resident. Identify a journal or publication specific to your industry.Evaluate the overall value that reading such a journal brings to your knowledge of your organization's performance. In reading the Long Term Living publication I learned valuable information about the performance of my organization. While reading an article on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services I discovered clarification on new guidelines to laundry regulations for nursing facilities. These guidelines have not yet been implemented in my facility and failure to do so would result in receiving an F tag on the Annual State Survey (Pamela Tabar, 2013).My continued reading introduced me to new products on the market that would allow for better monitoring of the residents and patients in our care. With a wristwatch appearance, The Trilock personal locator functions as both a tracking and communications device and offers a perimeter management setting that would alert caregivers when the wearer is near the set area (Tabar, 2013). For my organization, this would serve as another safety measure and allow for added patient/resident security.As I read through this online publication, I found information that is vital to both patient care and overall operations of our organization. Some of this information had not been communicated to our facility and could cause potential service issues or even result in a failing score on CMS review. This gives me insight that there is a possible breakdown in our organizations performance as it relates to communications from the top down. References Desoto Healthcare Center. 2013.Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from http://www. desotohealthcare. com/ Stahome. com Pam ela Tabar. 2013. CMS Cleans Up Guidelines on Laundry and Infection Control. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from http://www. ltlmagazine. com/news-item/cms-cleans-guidelines-laundry-and-infection-control Pamela Tabar. 2013. GPS Wristwatch Locates Wandering Seniors, Contacts Care Team. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from http://www. ltlmagazine. com/news-item/gps-wristwatch-locates-wandering-seniors