Lakhasly

inpatient beds, operating rooms, computer services, electricity, and water.The aver- age length of stay of patients in a hospital indicates its effi- ciency in utilizing its beds.With a shorter length of stay and a faster turnover of patients, more patients can be treated on the same number of beds, resulting in a higher profit and, there- fore, higher efficiency.A hospital earns a major portion of its profit from operation rooms, labora- tories, radiology, pharmacy, and intensive care units.However, if many beds are vacant and there are not many new clients who might require admission, the hospital does not gain financially by reducing the length of stay of patients.An important consideration for a hospital manager is to ensure that these resources are utilized effectively and efficiently.Efficiency is measured as a ratio of output to input.Firstly, efforts can be made to increase the utilization of services and secondly, the cost of providing the services needs to be kept under control.Thus, effectiveness is a prerequisite of efficiency.

inpatient beds, operating rooms, computer services, electricity,
and water. An important consideration for a hospital manager
is to ensure that these resources are utilized effectively and
efficiently. The difference between effectiveness and efficiency
should be understood. Effectiveness is the degree to which
desired results are achieved. In other words, out of what was
expected, how much could be achieved. If in a hospital, 80
beds are occupied out of a total of 100 beds, the hospital can
be considered 80% effective in utilizing its beds. Efficiency
refers to achieving something with minimum resources.
Efficiency is measured as a ratio of output to input. The aver-
age length of stay of patients in a hospital indicates its effi-
ciency in utilizing its beds. With a shorter length of stay and a
faster turnover of patients, more patients can be treated on the
same number of beds, resulting in a higher profit and, there-
fore, higher efficiency. However, if many beds are vacant and
there are not many new clients who might require admission,
the hospital does not gain financially by reducing the length
of stay of patients. Only when bed occupancy is high, will
reducing the length of stay be beneficial. Thus, effectiveness is
a prerequisite of efficiency. In other words, efficiency is mean-
ingless without effectiveness.
Another important consideration for a manager is increas-
ing the organization’s profit. In this context, there are two
broad possibilities. Firstly, efforts can be made to increase
the utilization of services and secondly, the cost of providing
the services needs to be kept under control. A hospital earns
a major portion of its profit from operation rooms, labora-
tories, radiology, pharmacy, and intensive care units. These
are known as the “profit centers” of a hospital. The number
of operating rooms and intensive care beds are increasing in
modern hospitals, with a view to increasing profits. It should
be noted that outpatient clinics and inpatient beds do not yield
considerable financial returns directly, but still they are impor-
tant as they provide the clients for the profit centers. Most of
the patients are admitted to wards through outpatient clinics.