Exploring the storied legacy of the Good Samaritan Medical Center, this paper navigates through the hospital’s founding narratives, key historical milestones, and the evolution of its services. Through a SWOT analysis lens, the discussion extends to identifying the institution’s potential challenges and opportunities, thereby providing a comprehensive overview of its standing in the healthcare landscape amidst competitors and within the community it serves.
Good Samaritan Medical Center
Good Samaritan Medical Center, also referred to as Good Samaritan Hospital, is a 333-bed acute care infirmary located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Good Samaritan Hospital is a non-profit institute committed to bringing medical doctors to work together harmoniously towards offering the best care possible to the community. The medical center’s mission is to develop and maintain the highest professional and ethical standards of the medical profession. Nevertheless, the organization also sponsors the welfares of doctors and their patients and works together with other departments in different fields to improve the public health. The hospital provides and coordinates the continuation of medical education to the general practitioners and allied health professionals. The medical center also informs and educates the public regarding health care issues and improves patient access to the hospital. The purpose of the current paper is to describe Good Samaritan Hospitals background information, history, and evaluate its products and services, problems, and competitors.
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The History of Good Samaritan Hospital
Good Samaritan Medical Center was opened on May 19, 1920 (Needleman, Lamphere, & Chollet, 1999). The hospital replaced Emergency Hospital that was founded in 1914. Emergency Hospital was a 35-bed hospital located on the 12th street adjacent to the Lakefront in West Palm Beach. Good Samaritan Hospital was founded by Doctor Richard Buckle Potter. Everything started in 1882 when Dr. Potter arrived in the Lake Worth community now known as Palm Beach (Needleman, Lamphere, & Chollet, 1999). The Lake Worth community grew rapidly, so did its need in a medical doctor. They employed Dr. Potter who enthusiastically accepted the offer and relocated to a 160-acre estate in the southern fragment of the present-day Palm Beach. Later in the year 1893, Dr. Potter built a dwelling office on the west side of the lake close to the base of the current Gardenia Street. Dr. Potter went on serving his people without a hospital for quite some time until the year 1898, when the second doctor, Dr. Henry Hood, showed up in Palm Beach and actively began organizing for the establishment of the first hospital and the Palm Beach County Medical Society.
The Palm Beach population continued growing at a significant rate mainly due to the railway extension in 1890 (Needleman, Lamphere, & Chollet, 1999). The number of sick people also increased, and some cases needed emergency attention. Dr. and Mrs. Leon Ashley Peek arrived in Palm Beach in 1910 and they were surprised that there was no hospital. Thus, they took it upon themselves to provide room for emergency cases and housed the sick who could not receive treatment and go back to their homes (Needleman, Lamphere, & Chollet, 1999). Dr. and Mrs. Leon Ashley Peek together with Dr. Henry Hood and Dr. Potter saw to it that the Emergency Hospital (that was a five-bed Cottage) was built in 1914. Mr. Henry Flagler was the one who gave the portion of land where the Emergency Hospital was built. That land was located on the 3rd street adjacent to the Florida East Coast Railroad. The Emergency Hospital had a restroom, a kitchenette, an operating room, and a nurses room.
Three years after the construction of the Emergency Hospital, the hospital became overcrowded, and new plans for building a new bigger hospital were strategized. Having 35 beds, Good Samaritan Hospital proceeded to become Emergency Hospital in 1920 (Winterstein, Johns, Campbell, Libby, & Pannell, 2015). In 1918, Dr. William Earnest Van Landingham relocated to West Palm Beach and functioned as Good Samaritan Hospital’s administrator in its introductory period. Good Samaritan Hospital expanded vigorously, and by 1928, it had 135 beds with up-to-the-minute operating quarters and a Class A valuation from the American College of Surgeons (Needleman, Lamphere, & Chollet, 1999). Good Samaritan Hospital decided to build their building, the Victor W. Farris building completed in 1988, where they could move to and centrally carry out their operations. The hospital also owns another building, Flagler Waterway. Tenet Healthcare acquired Good Samaritan Hospital alongside St. Mary’s Hospital, also situated in Florida, in 2001. The infirmary celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2009 (Winterstein et al., 2015).
Products and Services of Good Samaritan Hospital
Good Samaritan Hospital offers various services to its customers and the public. The hospitals services have evolved from just treating all general illnesses such as malaria, headaches, stomachaches, typhoid, delivering of babies, performing first aid services, etc. to the following advanced services. Thus, the hospital employs specialist doctors who can provide services special services to the patients with special needs (Our services, n.d.). These physicians also offer consultancy services to anybody interested. Good Samaritan Hospital also has a digestive disease foundation that detects and treats all disorders distressing the digestive structure. The hospital offers luxury patient suites, where all in-patients are made comfortable and they always feel at home even at the hospital (Our services, n.d.). Additionally, the hospital offers midtown imaging, whereby the hospital staff makes sure a patient’s doctor has detailed reports regarding the patient’s examination even if they are the same day. Furthermore, Good Samaritan Hospital provides mother and baby services, whereby the respective doctors guide a woman all through her pregnancy and deliver the babies safely with great expertise (Our services, n.d.). Neuroscience services are offered in the medical center as the hospital staff have studied the nervous system problems in detail and have come up with ways of treating them. Good Samaritan Hospital offers excellent surgical services since the hospital surgeons have gone through an extensive training; therefore, they have adequate experience and expertise to perform surgical procedures successfully (Our services, n.d.). The medical center has a new product, the self-surgical weight loss, whereby an individual undergoes a surgery to flush out some fats, particularly when diet and exercises have failed. The hospital also offers the palms medical detox program for the rehabilitation of alcohol and drug addicts.
Good Samaritan Hospitals Competitors
Good Samaritan Hospital has some competitors that include St. Vincent’s Medical Center Riverside, a 528-bed full amenity tertiary care Catholic hospital situated in Jacksonville, Florida (Magill et al., 2012). This hospital is owned by St. Vincent’s Healthcare. The hospital was founded in 1916 by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare (TMH) is a private, nonprofit health care center that was established in 1948 in Tallahassee, Florida. TMH encompasses a 772-bed acute care infirmary, various specialty care hubs, three residency curriculums, a psychiatric sanatorium, and 22 conglomerated physician applications (Winterstein et al., 2015). As of 2014, TMH had approximately 4,457 employees; it serves 16 counties in North Florida and South Georgia (Magill et al., 2012).
Boca Raton Regional Hospital is a non-profit health care institution situated in Boca Raton, Florida. This hospital is a 400-bed tertiary and acute care facility founded in 1967 (Winterstein et al., 2015). The hospital offers specialized services in fields such as emergency medicine and neurosciences, vascular care, orthopedics, oncology, womens health, etc. Boca Raton has 800 physicians, 2000 nursing and backup team, and 1200 volunteers who help it in transmuting from a community hospital to a distinguished medical center (Winterstein et al., 2015)
Good Samaritan Hospitals SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a technique used to analyze an organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Good Samaritan Hospitals strengths are what the hospital can do best as compared to its competitors. For instance, the hospital has the best operating rooms, expert doctors, the best customer service, low cost of services offered to its clients, etc. Good Samaritan has a large customer base due to the above-mentioned strengths and because it provides the best services to its customers (Magill et al., 2012).
Weaknesses are the features that place a company at a disadvantaged position as compared to its competitors. Good Samaritans weaknesses include the patients complaints on health IT services, patient engagement, hand hygiene, diagnostic errors, and antibiotic resistance (Encinosa & Bae, 2013). These complaints can make the hospital lose its customers to its competitors, hence register a low inpatient volume.
Opportunities are the factors that the hospital could use to its benefit. Good Samaritans opportunities entail the government introduction of the Affordable Care Act, where all patients will be able to pay for the services offered to them regardless of their social standards (Winterstein et al., 2015). Another opportunity is the best technology that the hospital has, as it can carry out laboratory services and give the best analysis.
Threats are the environmental characteristics that could bring distress to the hospital. Good Samaritans threats include the health care improvement, a challenge where the abridged hospital functioning charges and transferal to value-based securing will not be enthusiastically received (Encinosa & Bae, 2013). Change is always not welcome; thus, both patients and physician will find it difficult to accept the new health care reformations instantly. Financial difficulties are another threat that comprises of the Medicaid defrayal, bad debts, and deteriorating inpatient size (Encinosa & Bae, 2013). The abolition of the Medicaid grants and compensation slits as the result of the progression in great-deductible health strategies will lead to a deteriorated inpatient capacity, which will cause less income generation.
Conclusion
Good Samaritan Hospital is a 333-bed acute care hospital located in West Palm Beach, Florida. The hospital’s mission is to cultivate and uphold the best professional and ethical standards of the medical profession. The Medical Center amasses and studies facts on the health care conveyance schemes and identifies clusters and personalities who endeavor to progress the superiority of health care in Palm Beach County. The hospital offers services such as womens health services, surgical weight loss, neurosciences, etc. The hospitals key competitors are St. Vincent’s Healthcare, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, etc. The hospital has strengths and opportunities, including state-of-the-art operating rooms, expert doctors, advanced technology, etc. Just like any other acute care hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital also faces weaknesses and threats such as financial challenges, patient safety and quality, and health care reform execution challenges.
