Overview
Instructions: Please review all three Articles, and provide a general review of the students response to the article. Three Articles: 100 - 150 words per article
Article One
A personal project that I have completed that was both complex and difficult was the weight-loss I went through last year. Last year, I lost 50lbs between the start of February and the end of July. I was having a hard time thinking of a complex project that I have been part of, though it's not in a professional setting, I think that this may have been one of the more difficult projects I've done that required time, scope, and resources. In project management, project time refers to the schedule or deadline for completing a project. Scope defines the work to be done, including features and functionalities, to deliver the project's desired outcome. Resources encompass the budget and team member needed to execute the project (Jacobs & Chase, 2024). The timeline for this project was six months. In August, I had multiple trips planned and wanted to feel good when traveling and being around friends and family. The project required hours of commitment everyday for six months straight. The scope, or work to be done, was meet a specific weight goal in a certain amount of time. To achieve this, I worked out consistently, including weight-lifting, running, and walking 10k steps a day. Additionally, I tracked my calories consistently and made sure to be honest with myself about what I was eating. Lastly, the resources for the project was the money put toward buying healthier food, a gym membership, and the only member of the team was myself. The key to success in this project was consistency. There were roadblocks where some days I didn't work out, didn't hit my steps, or went over my calories. However, moving past these roadblocks and sticking to the plan ultimately lead to success. Again, this isn't a project that took place in a professional setting, but I have failed this project many times before and many others have as well. This made me think that it is one of the more difficult and complex things I have done and also required project management skills.
Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2024). Operations and supply chain management (17th ed.). McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9781266478550
Article Two
In my line of work, I am handling multiple complicated clinical trials at anytime. But there was one clinical study that was much more complicated than the rest. The study consisted of a double blind placebo, meaning the doctors administering the drug and the participant do know if they are being administered actual drug or a saline placebo. On top of being responsible for making sure each clinical site has exactly 3 placebo and 3 drug kits in stock at all times, I had to manage over 500 sites in 20 different countries. This means creating safety manuals in many different languages, making labels for drug in many different languages, and adhering to many types of local laws and guidelines for running a clinical trial. To add to the complication, all of the drug needs to be temperature monitored between 2-8 degrees Celsius. If the temperature logger has an excursion we need to asses the drug or placebo to ensure it is safe to administer to the patient. Combine that with 500 sites, we were very busy handling temperature excursions.
This project was extremely complicated and had many different teams working towards the goal. Overall, the study took approximately 7 years, but the data analysis is still being done 3 years later to ensure efficacy of the drug before being introduced to the market. As for resources, the main goal of my team was to reduce waste, because every drug that has gone to waste is one less drug that can potentially save someone's life. So basically, we wanted to use all the resources we had to conserve the resources for the study. We had a project timeline to meet and milestones had to be met in order for the study to continue. As with any medical procedure, there are risks to running a clinical trial, however we do our best to minimize the risks as much as possible. The model we use for these studies is known as Study Execution Team or the SET model. We have multiple stake holders who follow strict guidelines to meet deadlines. The whole team is known as the SET and usually there are 1 or 2 leaders within the SET keeping track of milestones (Karlsson, 2011).
Reference
Karlsson, J., Marx, R. G., Nakamura, N., & Bhandari, M. (2011). A practical guide to research: design, execution, and publication. Arthroscopy, 27(4), S1-S112.
Article Three
Hospitals, like manufacturing facilities, must evaluate capacity to ensure they can meet demand efficiently; however, the nature of healthcare introduces unique challenges. Three major capacity considerations for hospitals include bed availability, staffing levels, and equipment/resource allocation. First, bed capacity directly impacts how many patients a hospital can admit, especially during emergencies or seasonal surges. Hospital staffing, particularly among nurses, physicians, and support staff, is critical, as adequate personnel are essential for safe, quality patient care. Lastly, access to specialized equipment (like ventilators or imaging machines) and the space to use them safely can constrain overall hospital throughput. Unlike factories, where demand is more predictable and processes are standardized, hospitals face fluctuating and unpredictable patient volumes, making capacity planning more complex (Zhu et al., 2019). Factories can scale production or delay non-urgent orders, but hospitals must often act immediately, regardless of capacity strain. Moreover, quality and safety are non-negotiable in healthcare, further complicating decisions around resource utilization. These differences highlight the need for hospitals to adopt flexible and dynamic capacity management strategies to adapt in real time while maintaining care standards.
Reference
Zhu, Z., Hen, B., & Jiao, R. (2019). A capacity planning model for healthcare systems with patient choice and resource flexibility. International Journal of Production Economics, 211, 174–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.01.030