FrontEnders Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd

When we say the word " Nurse", the one person who immediately comes to our mind is "Sister Florence Nightingale". Imagine if such a nurse was to leave your healthcare organization? Wouldn't it be a huge loss? Well, this is what happens most of the time in Indian hospitals and is called "attrition".

Attrition is the voluntary abandonment of a job due to resignation, retirement or employee dissatisfaction etc. When healthcare HR management is struggling to implement employee retention strategies, attrition of nurses in healthcare is looming as a major deterrent to hospital management.

How to reduce the level of attrition of nurses? A reputed healthcare consulting firm gives us the following tips.

Ways to reduce the level of attrition of nurses

A survey revealed that in an Indian hospital, 57% of the employees leaving are nurses. With nurses forming the considerable employee strength of a hospital, this attrition level has to be immediately addressed and reduced in the following ways.

1. Respect the yeomen service of nurses

The nursing profession is relegated to a subordinate position in hospitals and seldom are nurses held in regard. Glorifying the noble aspect of their work and treating them with respect is one way to make nurses feel their contribution is recognized. If they feel valued and respected in the organization, the nurses will have no cause to leave.

2. Offer better remuneration or perks

65% of the nurses quoted poor salary as one of the reasons for quitting hospitals. Hospitals spend most of their money on infrastructure, equipment, physician and consultant pay packages etc. Most often they tend to forget the most indispensable workers in their organization.

Paying nurses en par with industry standards will only keep them motivated to continue in your hospital. With skilled nurses being highly in demand, ensure that your hospital does not lose any by paying less.

Attractive perks and incentives should also be offered to skillful nurses and senior matrons. This will only make them feel rewarded for their sincerity and induce them to work harder.

3. Provide a good work environ

Offering a good work environ is conducive to productivity. Nurses need their own workstations and separate rooms to rest or change. Ensuring that they are provided with clean and hygienic work areas and uniforms are some ways to keep them happy. Offering them special privileges at canteens or providing them beverages at work will help them to keep on with their job.

4. Ensure good nurse-supervisor relationship

Nurses should share a good rapport with their reporting officers. If they feel any discomfort, try to address their grievances by setting up an enquiry or changing their commanding officer. Ensure smooth relations exist between nurses and other hospital staff to maximize coordination.

5. Empower nurses with more authority

Instead of relegating nurses to inferior positions below doctors, entrust them with some authority and make them feel more accountable. Conferring with their opinion on patient status also makes them feel important and motivated.

6. Avoid using nurses for non-clinical jobs

Nurses are trained medical professionals. Do not utilize their services in non-medical areas like reception, housekeeping etc. which diminishes their worth. These type of practices demoralize nurses and make them feel misused, making them quit.

7. Provide scope for learning

Nursing is a challenging field in itself with lots to learn. Provide opportunities for nurses to participate in training programs to improve their skills, Deploy skilled nurses in various departments and rotate their positions to ensure that they learn all clinical practices.

Nursing is a noble profession and one that is highly in demand too. With a healthcare consulting firm, combat the attrition level of nurses to achieve continuous success in your hospital.

The healthcare industry is undergoing a sea of change with its new patient-centric concept called "Value-based Healthcare". This idea aims at enriching the patient experience at hospitals through effective communication and patient engagement. The end result is to improve patient satisfaction and customer service. Training healthcare human resources is the key to achieving Value-based Healthcare.

Need for hospitality and guest relations in healthcare

The healthcare sector is getting transformed through a paradigm shift from mere medical treatment to wholesome patient satisfaction and this includes hospitality and guest relations. To attain this, the training and development of guest relations professionals is a must in healthcare.
Another important factor to note is the increasing competition among hospitals and health centres. To run hospitals profitably, the healthcare operations management must be efficient and it should employ well-trained guest relations executives.

Importance of training guest relations professionals in healthcare

Healthcare centres and hospitals are areas where people assemble in large numbers daily. There is a dire need for the presence of competent guest relations professionals who will attend to the visitors, greet and welcome them, ascertain their needs and fulfill them with quality service by directing them to the right areas of medical assistance.
Hospitals are the havens where distressed patients in acute trauma and pain arrive to seek relief. More than just cursory smiles and polite enquiries, patients need genuine attention to address their problems. Hospitals must have guest relations personnel who will attend to the patient, make them feel relaxed and comfortable and then learn their requirements. Patient, polite and genuinely helpful persons with an amiable disposition should be selected to suit this role. The fact that there is someone who will patiently listen to them and guide them will itself bring solace to most patients. This is the first step to improve patient satisfaction and enrich their hospital experience. The solution to attaining this is training the guest relations professionals in hospitals.
Healthcare centres and large clinics have numerous departments like labs, scan centres, blood banks and operating theatres. Relatives of patients are found frantically running from "pillar-to-post" in anxiety trying to enlist the best treatment for their loved ones. Why should a hospital be such a place of chaos and confusion? Can't the healthcare operations management be streamlined and coordinated to give a simple and swift access to the hospital's facilities?
Yes, it can and this is where the healthcare human resources personnel step in. Guest Relations professionals should be trained to guide, coordinate and facilitate the needs of the patients to ensure quick delivery of service and treatment.
Talk of hospitals and patients groan. Not only in pain but in the horror of waiting endlessly at counters and to meet doctors. Minimizing the waiting time of patients is the only way to maximize the patient experience at hospitals. Guest relations professionals at hospitals must be trained to ensure adherence to appointment timings, immediate attention to the patient by doctors, swift lab testing and processing and shorter queues at counters.
Guest relations professionals at hospitals must be made to understand that patient service is their foremost responsibility. Right from greeting them and answering their phone call patiently to welcoming them warmly in person, seating them, listening to their grievances, understanding their needs and guiding them, every aspect of patient hospitality should be carefully addressed. This is what makes the hospitals' hospitality a wholesome experience.

Training healthcare guest relations professionals

The healthcare guest relations personnel must be trained by healthcare business consultants to anticipate and acknowledge the patient's needs, apologize for delays and errors, offer alternative solutions and make amends.

These are the 5 essential factors in healthcare hospitality. More can be learnt by enlisting the services of an experienced hospital consulting firm to train your hospital's guest relations professionals.

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5 Ways of Reducing the Attrition Level of Nurses