Three significant sectors run the healthcare system, which includes physical capital, human resource, and consumables. Human resource is one of the essential inputs in the healthcare system. Like in any other sector, human resources play a vital role in service delivery and the achievement of the objectives of a particular institution. Human resource refers to both clinical and non-clinical staff that work harmoniously to deliver quality health services in the healthcare system. The healthcare workforce includes physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and all other disciplines associated with the different segments of the healthcare system. It also consists of the support personnel who play an indirect role in aiding the delivery of healthcare services. Such personnel includes medical record keepers, health service managers, medical secretariats, health economists, and information technicians, among other workers. This paper studies human resource processes in acquiring and retaining a well-trained staff in healthcare.
Human resources in healthcare are tasked with various healthcare system duties, including management, retention, planning, development, and research, among other issues in the healthcare sector. On a global scale, the World Health Organization reported that the healthcare system was in shortage of human resources, terming it a crisis (World Health Organization, 2018). There have been reported shortages of various health professionals, resulting in delayed service delivery, among other issues in the healthcare system. Human resource in the healthcare system requires research to investigate the multiple factors that affect the quality of service delivery for the system’s progress. Maintaining a balance between human resources and physical resources and maintaining the appropriate balance among health professions from the various health care professional fields is essential.
To acquire the right healthcare workforce, human resource planning is employed. This process is used to the correct number of healthcare employees with the right qualifications, including the skills, knowledge, and attitudes employed in the proper departments (Flynn et al., 2021). The human resource process is divided into four primary terms: analysis of the current labor supply. This step involves researching the strength of an institution based on its number, performance, qualifications, and skills. Secondly, projection of the labor demand involves planning for the future of an institution’s workforce by studying the external factors that affect the demand for labor. This includes such trends as the use of technology that may either decrease or increase the number of required workers. Lastly, balancing forecasted demand with supply and supporting institutional objectives. This step involves projecting the future demand for employment in an institution.
Through this process, the institution can maintain a steady flow of quality employees by evaluating their needs and meeting such needs both in the short-term and long term. The initial step of this process is to assess the current capacity of the human resources in the institution. This process involves linking the population health needs and healthcare delivery with the human resource supply in terms of its distribution and productivity in the healthcare system. Connecting the demand and collecting human resources in the healthcare system enables the planners to generate policies based on a balance between the supply and the demand of the healthcare system to create a sustainable workforce. The final stage of human resource planning is the development and implementation of a plan. This stage needs to allocate a budget to implement the plan and enable the other departments to execute the plan.
The general human processes involved in the planning for a workforce in the healthcare system are categorized into various stages. They include human resource planning, recruitment of the healthcare officials, selecting qualified candidates, hiring, onboarding, training, employee relations with others and the customers. Others include performance appraisal, benefits of the employee to the administration, and offboarding, which involves leaving the position as a health worker. Human resources leaders have to evaluate the following methods to ensure that their workers are managed effectively. Some of the techniques involved in human resource processes in the healthcare sector include reviewing the objectives to ensure that they align with its goals. This step allows the human resources team to make the proper steps towards the right direction in the hiring process.
Automation of the methods involves the employment of technology in the management and running of the workforce processes such as onboarding, offboarding, and the management of the employee transfers. Thirdly, implementation of a process management approach with balance. This method enables a health institution to track the progress of its employees and evaluate their areas of weaknesses and strengths. Lastly, the management needs to listen to its employees. This is a form of feedback that they get from the employees that help analyze the employee or understand the kind of challenges that the employees experience.
In conclusion, human resource in the healthcare system is an essential component of healthcare that plays a vital role in delivering health services. Various processes are involved in recruiting a well-trained workforce that can be essential in managing healthcare services. One such planning is the above-discussed process, human resource planning (HRP). When adequately employed, then healthcare institutions will hire and retain the best staff.
References
Flynn, W. J., Valentine, S. R., & Meglich, P. (2021). Healthcare human resource management. Cengage Learning.
World Health Organization. (2018). Integrating palliative care and symptom relief into primary health care: A WHO guide for planners, implementers, and managers.