Module 2: Hospital Staffing
At the healthcare facilities, numerous people are responsible for attending to the health demands of the patients. Operations at healthcare facilities comprise numerous interactions between individuals and services to provide quality treatment in the facility. The primary responsibilities of hospital staff range from medical assessments, daily treatment, catering, and medication. The primary functions of hospital staff can be classified into four broad spectrums: doctors, nurses, support staff, and allied health professionals (Better Health Channel, 2020). All these units play vital roles in the treatment and recovery processes of patients.
At the facility, numerous doctors attend to patients during their stay in the hospital. The medical team comprises of consultants or specialists, registrar, and the resident doctor. Also, nurses, just like doctors, assume different roles and responsibilities depending on their specialty and experience. They include nurse unit managers, associate nurse unit managers, specialist nurses, registered nurses, enrolled nurses, and nurse practitioners. Nurses are responsible for managing the majority of the ongoing care at the facility. They must assess, plan, and administer routine treatment. Another set of group of hospital staff comprises the allied health professionals who work as part of the multidisciplinary team. Their responsibility is to assess, diagnose, treat, and to prevent disability and disease. Other hospital staff play an integral part in the organization and running of the facility. Support staff includes clinical assistants, porters, volunteers, ward clerks, and patient service assistants.
Employee retention saves the additional facility costs and contributes to continuity in healthcare, thus enhancing patient care quality. According to Delgado (2016), there are four strategies the facility can utilize to increase the talent pool as well as retention:
- Ensuring competitive benefits: Improving pay and increasing compensation packages
- Support new employees: Assign mentors to help in the training process
- Offer opportunities for learning and growth: set the precedence that hard work earns promotions and advancements
- Create efficient processes: enhance systems to streamline processes and services to make things easier for the team.
References
Better Health Channel. (2020). Hospital-staff-roles. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/hospital-staff-roles
Delgado, R. (2016). 4 ways hospitals can attract and retain talent in a competitive industry. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/497387/4-ways-hospitals-can-attract-and-retain-talent-in-a-competitive-industry