The importance of promoting the consistent change can be deemed as the primary trend that can be observed in the context of healthcare nowadays (Boet et al., 2014). Powered by the increasingly high competition rates in the global market and a change in the value system from the problem- to the patient-centered approach, the identified trend heralds a new era in the healthcare realm since it implies the focus on the active promotion of quality improvement and the possibility of lifelong learning for healthcare practitioners, thus, introducing the principles of talent management into the HRM system. It would be wrong to claim that the propensity to change used to be alien to the healthcare environment. Quite on the contrary, significant alterations have been introduced to the specified environment over time. The importance of HRM as a part of the corporate progress has risen to 25-35% of the corporate processes. Furthermore, there has been a shift from employee engagement to employee experience (Spence, 2017). These changes, however, do not imply that healthcare practitioners must keep the focus on the consistent improvement and, therefore, adopt the principles of lifelong learning (Manuti, Pastore, Scardigno, Giancaspro, & Morciano, 2015).
Managing healthcare staff members efficiently, while often being rather complicated due to the intrinsic issues within an organization, in fact, incorporates several rather basic steps. The specified task can be accomplished by changing the Nurse-to-Patient Ratio (NPR) and making sure that each member of a healthcare facility is provided with the tasks that they can handle. The next step involves encouraging healthcare experts to acquire the relevant knowledge and skills so that the quality of the provided services could increase. Finally, reinforcing the significance of patient education and building a cross-cultural dialogue with the target community must be considered a necessity (Shih et al., 2014; Maher, Sotoude, & Hosseini, 2016).
To make sure that the trend mentioned above becomes an integral part of the target healthcare environment, one should consider promoting the significance of the characteristics of healthcare such as the patient-oriented value system and the focus on the active information management. The adoption of a patient-centered framework will help view the needs of the target population as the primary goal. The reconsideration of the information management strategy, in turn, will contribute to a vast improvement in the speed quality of new skills acquisition (Bogaert, Dilles, Wouters, & Rompaey, 2014).
Engagement levels among the staff members should be viewed as the key HR metric. The engagement rates will indicate problems in the staff motivation levels. Furthermore, an analysis of engagement in the environment of a healthcare organization may lead to the design of an improved approach toward encouraging employee-manager communication. Turnover, as well as nurse-to-patient ratio, are two other important metrics. Both help identify a problem in HR management, particularly, workload distribution. Finally, percentage of absence and cost per hire should be viewed as important HR metrics. The former helps identify changes in the quality of performance, while the latter allows managing financial resources more efficiently and provide staff with additional opportunities (e.g., workplace training).
The specified trend has a rather high strategic importance. By placing emphasis on the consistent change, one will be able to improve patient outcomes and the competitiveness of a company significantly. As a result, the economic growth will be facilitated (Bogaert et al., 2014).
The current trend that implies unceasing change suggests that the attention of healthcare practitioners should be shifted toward engaging themselves and patients in a continuous process of knowledge acquisition. By emphasizing the significance of lifelong learning, healthcare practitioners will be able to both improve their competencies and encourage patients to develop a range of essential skills associated with the identification and management of symptoms, the search for the available information, etc. as a result, the performance levels of the staff members will rise gradually. The tendency toward work engagement and the promotion of change, therefore, must be supported as admittedly positive changes and the new opportunities for HRM in healthcare.
References
Boet, S., Bould, M. D., Fung, L., Qosa, H., Perrier, L., Tavares, W., … Tricco, A. C. (2014). Transfer of learning and patient outcome in simulated crisis resource management: A systematic review. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, 61(6), 571-582. Web.
Bogaert, P., Dilles, T., Wouters, K., & Rompaey, B. (2014). Practice environment, work characteristics and levels of burnout as predictors of nurse reported job outcomes, quality of care and patient adverse events: A study across residential aged care services. Open Journal of Nursing, 4(5), 343-355. Web.
Maher, A., Sotoude, H., & Hosseini, S. M. (2016). The effect of job-involvement on job-burnout of nurses working in Lahijan’Seyed Al-Shohada Hospital. International Academic Institute for Science and Technology, 3(2), 27-34.
Manuti, A., Pastore, S., Scardigno, A. F., Giancaspro, M. L., & Morciano, D. (2015). Formal and informal learning in the workplace: A research review. International Journal of Training and Development, 19(1), 1-17. Web.
Shih, C. L., Fan, Y. L., Shen, Y. T., Li, Y. L., Horng, C. T., Chen, I. C., & Yang, T. H. (2014). Our Experience on the influence of task-technology fit model on the performance of nursing information system in armed forces General Hospital in Taiwan, Republic of China. Life Science Journal, 11(10), 1166-1175.
Spence, C. (2017). 2017 HR trends forecast. Pomello. Web.