Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at Doctors Surgery

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at Doctors Surgery Proposed Working Title Does Customer Relationship Management (CRM) build stronger bonds with the customers and help provide quality services in a doctors surgery at Camden? - A case study of NHS Research Background and Context I have chosen this topic in order to find out what are the key issues that are important for successfully running a doctors surgery. We have been seeing that there are always patient dissatisfaction and complain about the services, both clinical and non-clinical. Hypothesis The hypotheses that will be tested in this research are as follows: To analyze what aspects of CRM strategies are missing in running this doctors surgery. To identify what benefits can be attained by completely implementing CRM at PPCC To what extent the employees are playing their role according to CRM strategies. To look in various models, strategies, theories and methods that can be used to make the services effective at doctors surgery. Organisation Background – Partnership Primary Care Centre (PPCC) The Surgery has been established in 1973 for the people who are living in the housing. It was named Fairweather House Surgery. Initially it had 250 patients from the housing. Dr. Morris Davies was founder General Practitioner (GP). In 1976, Dr. Diane Rosenthal, Dr. Jonathan Rosenthal, Dr. Enid Greenbury and Dr. Wil Cupola took over from Dr. Morris Davies and this Surgery was under Camden and Islington Primary Care Trust (PCT). In 1976 Camden and Islington PCT allocated more patients and gave a practice boundary that is a catchment area. In 1976, GPs appointed a practice nurse who used to do child immunisation, dressing, and cervical smear. In 1988 Dr. Wil Cupola left the surgery and Dr. Ian Hopkinson joined the surgery as a partner and there were 8 sessions of doctors and 5 sessions of nurses. GPs decided to register more patients and in 2003 total registered patients were 1900. It was difficult to offer more services from the small premise, so GPs had several meeting with the PCT to move to a bigger building. During this time, Camden and Islington PCT divided into two and this surgery came under Islington PCT who decided to move the Surgery in a bigger premises. Meanwhile, one of the local GP died and another GP went for retirement. In 1st October of 2003, Fairweather House Surgery shifted to newly built premises and named the surgery as Partnership Primary Care Centre (PPCC). After moving to this new premise, there are now 16 consulting session of doctors, 10 nurses session and 5 health care assistant sessions. Now the total registered patient is 3300 and growing everyday. (Source: Mr. Rashidul Hasan: Practice Manager and Mrs. Heather Johnson: Ex-Practice Manager at PPCC) Services Offered at PPCC Services that are offered by PPCC are personal doctoring, urgent medical problems, out of hours emergencies, home visits, talking to a doctor or nurse on the telephone, family planning services , antenatal care , child health surveillance, screening and health promotion, travel immunisations advice, sexual health for teenagers adults, quit smoking advice, alcohol advice , advice on drug problems, test results, repeat prescription service, interpreting services, careers needs and special nurse-led clinics available that include asthma/COPD clinics, diabetic clinic, cervical smears, childhood immunisation, family planning, heart disease/stroke prevention, well person checks. (Source: PPCC leaflet) Customer Relationship Management System at PPCC The surgery uses patient data storage system called VISION that is the most popular GP data storage system in the country. It has been maintained by the company called INPS. It holds all the information about the patients who are registered with PPCC. It holds the name, date of birth, address, telephone numbers and obviously the medical information. This system is also linked with the Whittington Hospital in order to receive test results including X-rays that are transferred electronically to the surgery. Rationale for the chosen topic I have selected Customer Relationship Management (CRM) because it is one of the best and most popular methods of developing stronger bonds with customers (in this research my customers are the patients who come to the doctors surgery). It can be said that if there is no patients then there is no need of doctors surgery, that is – no patient, no business. By the implementation of CRM strategies, PPCC can become one of the role model for other doctors practices. Customer satisfaction is the core of any business and when it comes to patients, it is a must. Research Questions- Formulation of researchable questions Like all research, my research also has an objective and to achieve that objective I have prepared a researchable question. The most important question to me is: ‘How effective will be customer relationship management strategies in providing quality services in doctors surgery? I will be focussing on this question through out my analysis of this research. Some of the important concerns that will arise while answering this question are as follows: †¢ What is CRM? †¢ Usage of CRM? †¢ What are the organisational benefits of CRM? †¢ How successful CRM can be in providing quality services? †¢ To what level can customer satisfaction can be achieved? †¢ How the organisation can achieve competitive advantage by CRM? Research Aim The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between the CRM and the quality of services and does it build a stronger bond with customers. Research Objectives The main objective behind this research is to understand and identify the root cause of customer dissatisfaction with the services provided at the doctors surgery. This research will focus on the real life example of a London based doctors surgery called Partnership Primary Care Centre (PPCC). I will discuss about the implementation and benefits of CRM to PPCC. In order to achieve the above aim, the following research objectives have been set: †¢ To understand and identify the root cause of customer dissatisfaction with the services provided by the doctors surgery, †¢ To determine the variable factors that could influence customer satisfaction level, †¢ To determine how CRM can bring a positive change in the quality of service, †¢ To identify how implementation of CRM can benefits PPCC. Literature Review A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. For the purpose of this research, the literature review is on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) The better a business can manage the relationships it has with its customers the more successful it will become. In order to have a better understanding and knowledge about the customers needs and demands, customer relationship management strategies can be used. Customer relationship management (CRM) is not just the application of technology, but is a strategy to learn more about customers needs and behaviours in order to build up stronger relationships with them. As such it is more of a business philosophy than a technical solution to assist in dealing with customers effectively and efficiently. (www.xicom.biz , Accessed: 21/08/09) According to Armstrong and Kotler (2005) customer relationship management (CRM) is managing detailed information about individual customers and carefully managing customer â€Å"touch points† in order to maximize customer loyalty. CRM involves all of the corporate functions (marketing, manufacturing, customer services, field sales, and field service) required to contact customers directly or indirectly. The term â€Å"touch points† is used in CRM to refer to the many ways in which customers and firms interact. (Gray and Byun, 2001) The foundation of customer relationship management CRM is based upon identifying; understanding and being able to provide a better service to customers. CRM allows build a better relationship with customers, improving customer satisfaction and maximising profitability. It is about understanding, anticipating and responding to the exact needs of customers with a constant eye for making the services to them the best it can possibly be. The main target of CRM is to improve long-term growth and profitability through a better understanding of customer behaviour. (Source: www.customerrelationshipmanagementcrmuk.co.uk, Accessed: 21/08/09) CRM consists of three basic components: customer, relationship and management. (Roberts-Witt, 2000) Customer If there is no customer then there will be no profit now or in the future. But a good customer, who provides more profit with less resource, is always scarce because customers are knowledgeable and the competition is fierce. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish who is the real customer because the buying decision is frequently a collaborative activity among participants of the decision-making process (Wyner, 1999). Information technologies can offer the skills to distinguish and manage customers. CRM can be thought of as a marketing approach that is based on customer information (Wyner, 1999). Relationship The relationship between a company and its customers involves continuous bi-directional communication and interaction. The relationship can be short-term or long-term, continuous or discrete, and repeating or one-time. Relationship can be attitudinal or behavioural. Even though customers have a positive attitude towards the company and its products or services, their buying behaviour is highly situational (Wyner, 1999). Management CRM is not an activity only within a marketing department. Rather it involves continuous corporate change in culture and processes. The customer information collected is transformed into corporate knowledge that leads to activities that take advantage of the information and of market opportunities. CRM required a comprehensive change in the organization and its people (Wyner, 1999). Specific software to support the management process involves: Field Service, E-Commerce Ordering, Self Service Applications, Catalogue Management, Bill Presentation, Marketing Programs, and Analysis Applications. They can be used to take the advantage of CRM, but keeping in mind that CRM is not about just technology but more about quality service. (Source: http://www.tupublicas.com/docs/12-44-15-02-2004-leyva.pdf, Accessed: 17/08/09) The core components of customer relationship management The content of a CRM strategy consists of six mutually dependent criteria (Donaldson and OToole, 2002) Emphasis on quality: if we provide poor service we will lose our customers and ultimately business. The core product alone is no longer sufficient, and service quality is considered as the key to successful business. Measure customer satisfaction but manage customer service: This implies understanding and defining the various benefits that a prospect expects prior to purchase and the management of the gap between expectations and performance after the purchase process. Invest in people: Both internal and external relationships are important. Implementation of a relationship orientation can only come from the people in the organisation understanding the objectives set and meeting the required standards. Maintaining dialogue with customers: Building long-term relationships is the key issue in CRM. Companies that listen and adapt to preferences of individual customers have a higher chance to retain them and make them loyal. Setting realistic targets and assessing performance: Organisations must have an understanding of customer views of the various elements in the offering and the elements important to each individual customer. Relationship-based interfaces: This means being in touch with both internal and external customers in a responsive and flexible manner. In practice, there is a gap between what firms do, what they should do, and what is most desirable to do. The means of communication should be adapted to the needs of the individual customer. (Donaldson and OToole, 2002) Types of Customer Relationship Management There are different variations in CRM approaches and they are all in different software packages focusing on different aspects. Some of the main types of CRM are as follows: Operational CRM Operational CRM is for â€Å"front office business processes. It interactions with customers to gather and stored customer information, so that later staff can retrieve customer information as necessary. The reasons for storing this information are as follows: Managing campaigns Enterprise Marketing Automation Sales Force Automation Sales Management System Analytical CRM Analytical CRM makes strong use of data mining and other techniques to create useful results for decision-making Analytical CRM analyzes customer data for a many reasons and they are: Designing and executing targeted marketing campaigns Designing and executing campaigns, Analyzing customer behavior in order to make decisions relating to products and services Management information system In this stage the importance of fully integrated CRM software becomes most apparent because the more information the analytical software has available for analysis, the better is the predictions and recommendations are. Sales Intelligence CRM Sales Intelligence CRM is more or less like Analytical CRM, but is intended as a more direct sales tool. Features include alerts sent to sales staff regarding: Cross-selling/Up-selling/Switch-selling opportunities Customer drift Sales performance Customer trends Customer margins Customer alignment Campaign Management Campaign management includes elements of Operational and Analytical CRM. The functions include: Target groups formed from the client base according to selected criteria Sending campaign-related material to selected recipients using various channels. Tracking, storing, and analyzing campaign statistics, including tracking responses and analyzing trends Collaborative CRM Collaborative CRM consists of a companys dealings with customers that are handled by various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support and marketing. Staff members from different departments can share information collected when interacting with customers. Collaborative CRMs main focus is to use information collected by all departments to improve the quality of services provided by the company. (Edwards, 2007) Consumer Relationship CRM Consumer Relationship System is mainly for a companys dealing with customers handled by the Consumer Affairs and Customer Relations contact centers within a company. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management, Accessed: 24/08/09) Benefits of Customer Relationship Management Exceptional customer service is about being aware of customer needs and reacting to them effectively. CRM facilitates to understand, anticipate and respond to customers needs in a consistent way, through out the organization. Practicing CRM requires an efficient and integrated internal business system. Many businesses benefit from the organizational discipline CRM imposes, as well as from the technology itself. CRM will help business if we view it as a set of tools that let us do more for, and get more from, our customer. CRM can: Develop better communication channels Collect vital data, like customer details and order histories Create detailed profiles such as customer preferences Deliver instant, company-wide access to customer histories Identify new selling opportunities To better serve customers, organizations must ensure that information can be accessed through one single source throughout the enterprise. (Source: http://www.is4profit.com/business-advice/it-telecoms/crm-customer-relationship-management_2.html, Accessed: 16/08/09) Business benefits of CRM Setting customer relationship management (CRM) solution in practice requires substantial time and expense. However, there are many potential benefits. A major benefit can be the development of better relations with the existing customers that leads to: Increased sales through better timing due to anticipating needs based on historic trends, Identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific customer requirements, Cross-selling of other products by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or enhancements, Identifying which of the customers are profitable and which are not. This can lead to better marketing of the products or services by focusing on: Effective targeted marketing communications aimed specifically at customer needs, A more personal approach and the development of new or improved products and services in order to win more business in the future. Finally this leads to: Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring that the good reputation in the marketplace continues to grow, Increased value from existing customers and reduced cost associated with supporting and servicing them, increasing overall efficiency and reducing total cost of sales, Improved profitability by focusing on the most profitable customers and dealing with the unprofitable in more cost effective ways. Once the business starts to look after its existing customers effectively, focus can be shifted on finding new customers and expanding the market. The more we know about our customers, the easier it is to identify new prospects and increase our customer base. (Source: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/, Accessed: 16/08/09) Customer privacy is an important issue in CRM. CRM deals with large amounts of customer data throughout various touch points and communication means. The personalization process in CRM requires identification of each individual customer and collections of demographic and behavioural data, this is the very information that most customers consider personal and private. The individual organisation gets into an ethical dilemma as it wants to collect as much information as possible about each customer to further its sales. It is a must to have the customer consent to avoid any future problems. Authorized personnel should only have the access to the stored information and data. Drawbacks of CRM As of any other topic there are some negative sides about CRM. According to a research study released in March, 2001 by the Meta Group (cited in Connor 2001), between 55% to 75% of CRM projects fail to meet management objectives. However, research undertaken by CRM Guru (The Blueprint for CRM Success 2002) indicates that the failure rate of CRM projects is 35 %. About 50 % of projects get a payback within 18 months. Research Methodology The two most common methods of data collection for any research are qualitative and quantitative. It is important to define qualitative and quantitative methods. Quantitative data is the term given to data that can be quantified where as qualitative data is the term given to data based on meanings which are expressed through words and language (Anderson, 2004). Both these methods will be used to gather data and information for this research. Interviews will be conducted with the staff members to learn about their ideas and opinions on what they can add to the existing services that they provide. If possible and permitted, then a group of patients will be selected and will be interviewed about what their expectations from the doctors surgery. A questionnaire will be prepared for conducting this research which will be given to the patients who come to take service to the surgery. All these descriptive, exploratory, ethnographic, qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to fulfill the requirements of this research. Data Collection Methods This study draws on both primary and secondary data, such as past customer satisfaction levels, as well as both qualitative and quantitative data. The main focus will be on the qualitative approach as well as observation. This is because my data analysis will be based on words rather than figures. In addition to this, an interview will be conducted on a focused group of patients as primary data source. Primary Data Collection Methods Primary sources are original works of research or raw data without interpretation or pronouncements that represent an official opinion or position. Included among the primary sources are memos, letters, complete interviews or speeches (in audio, video, or written transcript formats), laws, regulations, court decisions or standards, and most government data, including census, economic, and labour data, (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). For the purpose of my research, qualitative method of data collection is more appropriate. Qualitative research is centrally concerned with the understanding rather than the measurement things (Hague Jackson, 1996). Moreover it is believe that qualitative research provides data that is open to interpretation and argue. (Brassington Pettitt, 1996). The search will use a combination of structured and unstructured questionnaires during face-to-face in-depth interview that provide a mixture of closed and open-ended questions for ease and for the acquiring opt imum data. The interviews will be with the parties, the service providers and the service receivers that is the patients. Questionnaire and Interview Questionnaire will be one of the most important approaches that would be used in this research as it provides the simplest and fastest way of primary data collection. A questionnaire will be design to handout to all interviewees and this will give me the data I need to base my theories on. Interviews will be taken to collect data in which selected participants are asked questions in order to find out about their activities, thoughts or feeling about relative issues. The sample size will be 50 plus and of both sexes and of different age groups. Secondary Data Collection Methods Studies made by others for their own purposes represent secondary data, (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). This will include both qualitative and quantitative data as well as descriptive and exploratory research. Books, magazines, articles, journals and other kinds of publications will be used to gather the data. The libraries that will be used for resources are London School of Commerce Library, the British Library, City Business Library and Online Library of University of Phoenix. As this report is a case on NHS (National Health Service), the web sites of the NHS and PPCC will be used to get information about the doctors surgery. The information gathered on the secondary research will be presented in the literature review part of this research. Data Analysis The primary data that will be gathered through questionnaire as a form of quantitative analysis will be analysed by using the Microsoft Excel spread sheet. To have a better understanding of the data, they will be presented in Pie chart and Bar charts. The findings will be also put as percentage of the total sample size. The interview will be analysed as qualitative data as there will be opinions, suggestions and views of the participants. Resource Requirements Some of the expenses that would incur during the primary data collection would be for light refreshments for the interviewees and the expenses for secondary data would be for buying the referral books, magazines, printing and binding of the research. There will be also some additional transportation cost for travelling to the libraries. Time Scale Time is a crucial element for any kind of work and I believe that the dissertation can be completed according to the following time scale. Time Scale Week Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Submission of the Proposal Literature Review Interviews Updating Literature Review Data Collections and Questionnaire Data Analysis First draft of dissertation Revising draft Second draft of dissertation Final editing and preparing Final report ready

hermes essay :: essays research papers

John smith  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Homeric Hymn Essay In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the author give his audience a parable showing that through forgiveness and communication, two people can settle an argument and remain close friends.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning of the story, Hermes plots to steal his half-brother’s cattle. He carries out his deed, working carefully to conceal the identity of the thief. When he got home, he climbed into his cradle and acted like a feeble baby. His mother, Maia, saw the young child and let him know that she knew he had been up to no good. Hermes assured her that he was to be the God of thievery and that he would win honor and riches for them both among the Olympian gods. Apollo, after figuring out who the true thief was accused Hermes of the crime. Since Hermes would not admit to it, Apollo sought justice from their father Zeus. He took the child before the great god and enlightened him of his side of the story. Zeus then asked the infant what he had to say and the young one again lied about his involvement of the case. Zeus satisfies Apollo by telling Hermes to lead them to the cattle. Hermes was pleased because it appeared that he had escaped punishment from the g reat God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After Hermes led Apollo to his cattle, the two reconcile their differences. Hermes picked up the lyre that he had made from the tortoise and played a song so well that Apollo exclaimed that he would give fifty cows for Hermes skill at playing the instrument. In exchange for the skill, Apollo promised Hermes that he would become the messenger of the gods and that he and his mother would have prominence among the immortals.

Therapeutic Hypothermia

Practice development issues around Induced Therapeutic Hypothermia (ITH) on Cardiac Arrest Patients Contents 1. Introduction 2. Pathophysiological changes during cardiac arrest and return of spontaneous circulation 3. Physiological benefits of therapeutic hypothermia 4. Guideline for induced therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest 5. The UHL guideline’s goal of therapeutic hypothermia 6. Preparation, Monitoring and Supportive therapy 7. Cooling Methods 8. The relative experience 9.The role of advanced clinical practitioner and multidisciplinary approach 10. Synthesis ————————————————- 11. Conclusion ————————————————- 1. Introduction In UK, there are approximately 50,000 treated cardiac arrests, of which 5-30% of patients survive to leave the hospital e very year (Intensive Care Society, 2008). The Majority of these patients have suffered ischemic brain injury, which results in severe disability or ultimately leads to death.Until recently, there has been no intervention proving a significant reduction in the incidence of brain injury in arrest survivors; however in recent years induced therapeutic hypothermia (ITH) has been used to improve the neurological outcome of comatose patients who had return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after resuscitation following sudden cardiac arrest (Holden & Makic 2006). Although it is an evidence-based method, it has its own limitations and complications.The purpose of this assignment is to look at the current practice in own area, supporting national and international recommendations, review current literature and evidence-based nursing implications in caring for those patients. The physiological benefits of hypothermia, multidisciplinary approach of clinically cooled patients, practice develop ment issues around these patients and scope of advanced nursing practice will also be discussed. 2. Pathophysiological changes during cardiac arrest and return of spontaneous circulation Under ormal circumstances, the brain takes 15% of the cardiac output and consumes 20% of total body oxygen supply (Girolami, Anthony & Froch, 1999). During cardiac arrest the blood supply to the brain decreases or stops, which leads to less or no oxygen supply to the brain causing loss of consciousness. This hypoxic state in the brain can cause depletion of glucose and adenosine triphosphate store (the brain’s source of energy) (Safar, Behringer, Bottiger, et al. 2002).In hypotensive state or no blood supply state to the brain, membrane depolarize, calcium influxes, glutamate is released leading to acidosis and lipases, proteases, and nucleases are activated contributing to cerebral oedema (Warner 1997, Safar & Behringer 2003). During the spontaneous return of circulation (SROC), further dama ge to the brain can occur. This is called reperfusion injury which causes series of process involving release of iron, free radicals, nitric oxide, catecholamine, renewed excitatory amino acid and calcium shifts (Warner 1997, Safar & Behringer 2003).These series of process will result in mitochondrial damage, DNA fragmentation, and cell death (Warner 1997, Safar & Behringer 2003). This process will continue for 3days (Safar & Behringer 2003). This process of injury and subsequent recovery varies depends upon the severity of injury (Girolami et al. 1999). The severity of injury can vary from reversible injury with full recovery to global irreversible injury leading to brain death (Girolami et al. 1999). The severity of injury is dependent on the length of ischemic state and the duration of reduced blood flow (Girlami et al. 1999). 3.Physiological benefits of therapeutic hypothermia There are several research have been conducted on methods to improve neurological outcome after cardiac arrest including pharmacological approaches, methods to improve cerebral circulation and oxygenation and induced therapeutic hypothermia(Bernard, Gray,Buist et al. 2002). Induced therapeutic hypothermia was used in the treatment of head injury since 1950s. Hypothermia can be divided in to mild (33? C to 35? C), moderate (28? C to32? C), and severe (

Essay about African American History Tribute to Sojourner...

Documentary Film Analysis Worksheet History 221 – African American History Before 1877 Instructions: †¢ You will find the list of films you can choose from in the Lesson section of the course. †¢ Go to the list and pick your film. You must view the entire film. If you can’t access films because of deployment, geographic location, or other reasons, please let your instructor know so they can give you an alternate assignment. †¢ Please type you answers into this sheet. You must submit the worksheet two ways: 1) upload the worksheet as a Word document 2) cut and paste your answers into the student response box for the assignment. †¢ You must answer in complete sentences, using a short answer/paragraph format. 1. What is the†¦show more content†¦Is there a social justice message? If so, what is it? I think that the filmmakers want the audience to respond with appreciation because of all the things that Sojourner fought for, among her movements she fought against capital murder and she also fought for women’s rights. There is a Social Justice message that everyone should be treated equal no matter race or gender. 6. Did the documentary leave you with any unanswered questions? If so, what were they? This film did not leave me with any unanswered questions. This film fully informed me of the many movements that Sojourner Truth was involved in. 7. How did this film change any misconceptions or stereotypes you had about the subject matter? If so, what were they? This film did not change any misconceptions or stereotypes that I had because I didn’t have any. 8. Did the documentary leave you with any unanswered questions? If so, what were they? This film did not leave me wi th any unanswered questions. This film fully informed me of the many movements that Sojourner Truth was involved in. 9. What is the most important thing you learned from watching the film? The most important thing that I learned from watching this film was that Sojourner Truth was the first African American woman to be honored with a memorial at the Capitol. 10. Why is this film important to understanding contemporary AfricanShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagessolution to this exercise can be found in Appendix One. 52 Chapter 2 Organization Strategy and Project Selection 5.* You are the head of the project selection team at SIMSOX. Your team is considering three different projects. Based on past history, SIMSOX expects at least a rate of return of 20 percent. Your financial advisors predict inflation to remain at 3 percent into the foreseeable future. Given the following information for each project, which one should be SIMSOX first priority? Should