The past years have more than anything shown the importance of healthcare organizations and how quickly health challenges can overwhelm a healthcare organization or system. For those organizations working in the healthcare field first thank you for everything you have done recently.
Give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate all the lives you have saved. Second, let's explore some ways to help your organization to continue to thrive no matter what public health emergencies are occurring today or in the future. How you respond to a crisis situation is different from how you create an organization that will be positioned to quickly respond to the next crisis situation.
As the old saying goes “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best is today,” so determine how you can make your healthcare organization stronger and healthier today.
Negotiations
Now that your organization is starting to think about how to thrive outside of the crisis mode of the past years, one area to consider is negotiations. Negotiations can include negotiating insurance contracts or negotiating for better access to personal protective equipment.
Some of the keys to better negotiations include knowing your own power in a situation, having data to back up your requests, and being willing to ask for more. While many organizations feel uncomfortable negotiating, such negotiations can deeply reduce your costs and allow you to focus on what is important: providing great healthcare service.
This past year has proven that many things which felt like they could not be changed, were able to be. Your organization should use this wisdom to work with the various groups you have contracts with. You are likely to have a better idea of what services and material goods you actually need now. Organizations can work together to find win-win solutions by positive negotiating.
Employee Health
Depending on exactly what services your organization provides it is likely that your team members are feeling the cumulative effect of the stress of the past years.
When considering employee health, whether you’re talking to your core staff of doctors, nurses, and other specialists, or short-term employees with travel SLP jobs, travel nursing jobs, or traveling physical therapy jobs, it is vital that you listen to Employee Health Concerns and respond in a caring manner.
While these concerns are sometimes expressed verbally by team members, in other cases organizations will see team member concerns by increases in the number of staff members leaving, the number of staff members calling off, or sometimes tragically in the number of errors which occur on the job.
Employee health concerns might be physical health and safety based, for example employees wanting to make sure they will have access to the personal protective equipment they need in order to be safe in their jobs. For other employees these concerns might be related to mental health and the importance of having breaks and vacation time even when in the middle of a crisis.
Often employee health concerns manifest as simply wanting to feel seen and heard by the wider organization. Most individuals want to know that they are a part of something bigger than themselves.
Long Term Growth
When thinking long term it is important to consider what systems you have in place to increase employee retention. How can you help your employees thrive? This might look like using the power of a rostering app or creating mentoring programs so new hires do not feel like they have to do their work in isolation.
This might look like providing free or low cost mental health services so that employees who are struggling with the stress of the healthcare field can get the support they need before they burnout. Right now it is more important than ever to put into place systems which help you retain employees and make sure their institutional knowledge remains within the organization
As you move forward with your healthcare organization, keeping these tips in mind will help you maintain a high level of excellence that will allow your organization to thrive for years to come.
So make sure you negotiate, listen to the concerns of your employees, and put into place systems to help your employees feel supported and connected to something that is bigger than themselves. By following these tips you will find your organization in a good place to take advantage of and weather any challenge that you face.
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