What is it about?
This article examined the statements of examples of SMART objectives published by some major international healthcare organisations and analysed the extent to which they are really SMART. SMART objectives are defined as those that contain four goal components, including a specific Outcome, a measurable Indicator, an attainable Target, and a realistic Timeframe (OITT). 17 objective statements were examined, but none contained all four components they required to be SMART.
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Why is it important?
With none of the sample objectives SMART, the immediate implication is that projects who use them as templates for their goal-setting practice are likely to formulate healthcare goals that are not specific, measurable, attainable or realistic. Remotely, being popular organisations, a high prevalence of non-SMART objectives exist globally and are possibly being used to plan projects that will have a low chance or motivation of attaining their set goals.
Perspectives
This article offers a call to healthcare organisations and their programmes / projects to review the structural frameworks of their objective statements. They could improve the quality of their goal-setting by ensuring that the statements of their objectives contain the O.I.T.T. components they need to be truly specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timed.
Dr Osahon J. I. Ogbeiwi
University of Bradford
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Why written objectives need to be really SMART, British Journal of Healthcare Management, July 2017, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjhc.2017.23.7.324.
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