Human resource planning has a significant role to play in the realization of the strategic objectives of healthcare organizations. In a typical healthcare organization, the strategic objectives encompass the provision of the best healthcare services for the target population at the most affordable cost. Human resource planning is integrated effectively into these strategic objectives by assisting in the selection and retention of the most qualified staff to provide the best healthcare services for the organization. In addition, HR planning enables a healthcare organization to deliver on its strategic objectives at the lowest possible cost, hence maximizing the healthcare investments made by the organization.
In the healthcare organization, the HR department facilitates the HR planning functioning through recruitment, selection, and retention. Through recruitment and selection, this department facilitates HR planning by ensuring that the healthcare organization has the most appropriate balance between the strategic demands of the organization and the workforce available at the disposal of the organization. In addition, the HR department enhances workforce planning by implementing policies that target the retention of staff, thus overcoming the staff shortages that hinder effective planning. The management and financial departments enhance planning by creating flexible working routines and ensuring proper and timely compensation for the healthcare staff.
Healthcare providers are essential workers in the job market. However, there is a constantly growing demand for healthcare practitioners, and nurses in particular. The shortage of nurses has been an issue in the United States and the world, especially amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to Haryanto (2019), 1.2 million new registered nurses (RNs) will be needed by 2030 to address the current shortage. There is a variety of complex causes, which led to this situation. In particular, the stress of the job itself causes nurses to work long hours, and make life-altering decisions, which in conclusion leads to burnout, decreases the retention of experienced workers, and makes it less attractive to the future generation of nurses. The continuous nature of this issue creates a cycle, which needs to be changed.
The nursing shortage has various effects on nurses as well as patients. Due to a lack of staff, healthcare providers have to face a heavy workload. This results in less time for operations, which causes bypassing safety protocols and incomplete communication (Haddad, Annamaraju, & Toney-Butler, 2020). For patients, this means that treatment will continue longer than expected. Moreover, nurses pay less attention to details which leads to mistakes and brain strain that could potentially lead to over- or under-medication (Spurlock, 2019). Excessive stress exposure leads to reduced job performance and a greater risk of medical errors (Marć et al., 2019). Finally, nurses seek more shortcuts, which leads to compromised quality of patient care, higher risks of infections, and compromised data security.
To build a stronger workforce, there needs to be a seamless collaboration between the various departments within the organization. However, it is challenging to ensure collaboration among the departments that are tasked with planning. Despite these challenges, a healthcare organization should include HR planning as one of its strategic objectives as a way of enhancing collaboration among departments (Willis, Cave & Kunc, 2018). HR planning should be prioritized in all the departments across the organization. In addition, each department in the healthcare organization should have a workforce planner tasked with implementing the organizational policies of planning.
References
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2022). Nursing shortage.StatPearls.
Haryanto, M. (2019). Nursing shortage: Myth or fact?. Orthopaedic Nursing, 38(1), 1-2.
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage–a prospect of global and local policies. International nursing review, 66(1), 9-16.
Willis, G., Cave, S., & Kunc, M. (2018). Strategic workforce planning in healthcare: A multi-methodology approach. European Journal of Operational Research, 267(1), 250-263. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2017.11.008