Machines and gadgets which are an integral part of healthcare require the human touch, expertise and commitment for their full utility and application in delivery of healthcare.
While doctors, nurses, hospital attendants, technologists, clinical assistants and pharmacists are directly involved in providing OPD and ward care, administration, public relations, security, catering, laundry, civil, electrical and air conditioning maintenance are responsible for supporting the former for providing safe healthcare.
Planning needs are to be done for all these personnel and not just for the direct care givers. The objective of human resource (HR) policies is to (a) attract, recruit, retain and develop competent personnel (b) create a continuously learning healthcare organization. Manpower planning: The variation of size, distribution and composition within a county's health care workforce is of great concern.
Workforce mobility can create additional imbalances that require better workforce planning, attention to issues of pay and other rewards and improved overall management of the workforce. The qualifications and the background required for successful operations of the hospital are some of the aspects that would be brought to light during the manpower-planning phase. In the absence of a readily available team of doctors, nurses and technicians, we develop a long-term strategy and plan of action to identify, recruit and train various levels of professionals for these categories.
Praxis takes on Organization and reporting structure, designing of job descriptions, compensation studies and appraisal policies for planning and retention. Employee Recruitment: In case of shortage of technical and clinical manpower, within the country, it is often a practice to attract clinically acclaimed professionals from other countries. Selection and recruitment of right clinical supervisors and HOD’s will ensure a sound operational system as well as an efficient quality of treatment. Our rich database of experts in every functional area enables us to make available the best resources to suite requirements for different professionals at all levels of healthcare delivery models.
Bulk hiring for technical and nursing staff from other countries is now a fetched alternative considering the scarcity of skilled professionals and high attrition. Employee training and development: Training needs in terms of technical, managerial and behavioral aspects needs to be identified. While short term goals of training need to be directed towards patient satisfaction and reduction of cycle time, long term goals should be improved technology. It is important to link their training with the patient needs of the hospital. Areas of training where Praxis has been actively involved are:
- Continuing Medical education (CME’s) for doctors, nurses and technologists
- Bed side teaching for doctors and nurses, CPR training
- Joint departmental councils (JDC’s) for hospital attendants in subjects such as waste management and oxygen therapy.
- Soft Skill Training for front office, nurses, technicians.
- Sales and marketing training
The parameters that are monitored while evaluating the effectiveness of training could be catheter induced infection rates, medication errors, mortality and morbidity parameters, no of readmissions for the same ailment for clinical staff.
Patient and relative feedback, retaining customer, higher GP references, and corporate tie up nos. are used to monitor response to soft skill and sales training. A satisfied human resource is valuable and has no alternative. Organizations that are better able to recruit and retain staff have better evaluations of the quality of care provided. Hospitals with turnover rates under 12% have lower risk- adjusted mortality scores and low severity- adjusted length of stay when compared to hospitals with a turn over rate of 22% or more.
Praxis assists with all human resource functions like recruitment of clinical and non clinical staff, training, manpower planning, job descriptions, compensation surveys, employee retention strategies etc. Praxis is a one stop shop for hospital planning and management consultancy projects. With a specialized focus in hospitals, we undertake hospital project management, turn key projects, hospital architecture, market studies, feasibility studies, hospital space planning, hospital furniture and biomedical equipment planning and procurement, operational management, quality accreditations- JCI, Human resources- recruitment and training of staff etc. (www.praxishc.com)