HR In Healthcare Essay Examples

The role of Human resource management (HRM) in health care system is grabbing attention worldwide as one of the principle health system inputs. In terms of health care, human resource may be different kinds of clinical and non-clinical staffs who are responsible for public and individual health intervention. There should be a balance between the human and physical resources and with the appropriate mix between the various health promoters and caregivers for system's success.

However, following HR trend would be the main areas that seem to affect the healthcare in the future.

Demographics
Gender
Education
These factors would definitely moderate the effect of human resource in the health sector in the future and needs to be paid attention significantly as if not done would bring the hurdles in the field of health care.

Demographics:

According to UN, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the number of people 65 and older is estimated to triple in 2050, i.e. from 531 million in 2010 to 1.5 billion in 2050 (Kochhar, R., & Kochhar, R. 2014). Hence, this is going vastly to affect the healthcare in the whole globe. Now this will definitely be one of the important. The life expectancy of the world population, in general, is expected to rise, and this tendency extend the time of exposure to disease. Since, the increase in life expectancy will be faster than incapacity-free life expectancy; there will be increment in the needs of care also (un.org, 2015). The expenditure related to health are high because of very old ages and disabilities and also as a consequence of the increased ageing process in developed countries and enhancement in medical technology, demand for health services are expected to rise.

Positive Influence or Impact

This tendency pretty seems to create the employment opportunity in the health sector as the positive side of demographic trend. It can be easily known that there would be less population to serve the high population of old age groups creating high demand for economically active manpower that will create employment opportunity in the future in the health sector. Apart from that, the pay of the people involved in the health sector is going to rise because people no matter for any costs tends to live a healthy long life.

Negative Influence or Impact

However, as the negative side, the people have to suffer the lack of human resource in the field of health care. There would be fewer numbers of doctors, nurses, medicals, and so on and in the times of disease breakout and all, people will have to suffer a lot.

Consequences of ignoring the factor

Hence, proper HRM is required in the field of health care and if attention not given properly, great chaos will occur in the future and many people will have to suffer and be deprived of health care service.

Gender:

Gender, too affects how the healthcare sector is conceptualized, valued and supported with respect to impacts on the professional and personal lives of health workers. This trend would directly influence the services they provide. It shows the structural allocation of women and men in health occupations and the subjective experiences it. In addition, in case of healthcare, it is only about the involvement in service but also the service they get in terms of gender.
It is true that the population ratio to female to male is greater. The life expectancy of women is more than that of men, and the birth rate of female is higher than male. Hence, in the future, the female population will be greater than that of male. However, in general, while comparing, women tend to be disproportionately disadvantaged than men.
The women pay more than men do in health service due to various reasons. Women are more conscious about health, and they bear additional costs like pregnancy and childbearing cost (Heath, H., & Heath, H. 2015). Hence, with an increase in women population in the future, the cost is also going to rise accordingly and again along with technological advancement. Similarly, the female population, the females will be involved in healthcare service whether in the form of nurses or doctors or managers and so on. Also, gradually the kind of intelligence and skills possessed by men are being replaced by women. Hence, gender is vastly going to affect the healthcare sector in the future.
Now, it is good that more women gets involved in health sector than men as they are more gentle, understanding and patience than men and also women's contributions span a range of activities including part-time, informal, unskilled and unpaid work, and others that are routinely not measured. Hence, it is necessary to describe the gendered nature of health work correctly, women's contributions to health systems and it should be checked whether they are recognized at all or not. In future, along with increased attention to human resources in healthcare sector, the rectification in lack of dedication in documenting the gendered nature in healthcare sector and lack of assessing of interventions that redress gender inequalities are required to be carried out.
Positive Influence or Impact
The individual efforts of both men and women must be constructively amplified through programs and policies at broader levels in health systems. The results would bring positive change not only in gender equality as health service providers, but it will also improve the health system functioning more efficiently.

Negative Influence or Impact

The gender issue can have serious influence in the industry. In some cultures, women have responsibility to look after their family. When females are assigned the more responsible position, then they might not be able to equally dedicate their time to their job. There can have serious imbalance in the professional and family life of female workers as a result of which the productivity can be compromised.

Consequences of ignoring the factor

The failure in addressing the gender issue in the healthcare sector will not only stagnate the gender equality in terms of service provider but also in terms of service user and it will also reduce the reach the of healthcare service in general.

Education:

The work in the healthcare sector continues to evolve, but the range of skills required needed have not necessarily been provided by existing educational systems. Humans are being successful in controlling some and mitigating some disease, however, there are a lot to be done in the healthcare sector. Still diseases like AIDS, cancer, etc. do not have a cure, and we do not know what diseases are waiting us in the future. Hence, education is another important future trend that cannot be missed as element of Human Resource in the field of health care.
According to survey carried out by EIU/SHRM Foundation, the existing gaps between the skills provided by today’s education and those it is actually required will act as a considerable obstacle in future (Halldale.com,. 2015). In addition, this includes various fields including the healthcare sector.
There exists a lack of standardization in education, especially in a global context. The new health issues are rising and so is the system of educations. This is making and will be making the difficulties for HR assess qualifications of professionals properly today and in the future.
Population is declining because of decreasing birth rates, along with stagnant educational system. This has created an atmosphere to fear future skills shortages, particularly in certain roles in healthcare sectors. Yes, researches are being done, but the achievements are less. Even after a long struggle, we are not able to identify the cure to cancer and AIDS. The cure for Ebola and Swine flu is still not so effective. Only preventive measures are taken.
Yes, the trend of education is changing but more strategic vision and the ability to handle complexity are required in the field of healthcare.
Positive Influence or Impact
The positive side of the trend in the future is that we can communicate very effectively, and there are robots developed as the product of advanced education that makes no mistakes in operations. There are other advanced equipment that has made life of sick people easier.
Negative Influence or Impact
Still there will be a lack of the rate of evolution in the field of healthcare education. Lack of adaptability and good interpersonal communication still will be the issue in the future. There are vast number of problems but few experts in each field of the problems. The proper human management to serve the entire population is getting low in the field of health care. The reduction in working the population is also supporting the gap in the field of education. These are the negatives of education trends.

Consequences of ignoring the factor

If the attention not paid in improvising the education trend, the healthcare sector will run poor which may cause large numbers of death due to some new kind of disease. Hence, attention is required seriously in the field of education.
"Access to STEM talent is integral to our success in the next three to five years," as said by Brian Silva, Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice-President of Administration at Fresenius Medical Care, specializing medical supplies production (Evolution of Work and the Worker. 2015), we need to evolve our education system. Also, "We need to partner with educational institutions to change the way courses are being taught, ensuring they address contemporary business issues and future business strategy." The collaborations with the institutions in research and sharing and developing the education system may prove to bridge gaps. It is necessary to deploy methods to counter the deficiencies in the educational system and is necessary to establish an efficient training and development systems.

Which of these trends will have the MOST impact in the industry that you have identified? Why?

Hence, these were the three trends identified in HR in healthcare that plays an important role in the future. And out of these, I think the demographics play a vital role because it is the main factor in the future that will impact a lot in the health care sector. It is the main root that gives stem to the both education system and gender portion of the human resource. The management of unbalance created by the demographics is the main challenge that is required to be addressed. The healthcare issue will mainly affected by the demographics trend in the future. There will be a lot of dependent population than the responsible population and apart from the responsible population, only few will be involved in healthcare sectors. Remaining will be engaged in other sorts of activities.

What should organizations in your industry do to prepare for these trends?

Special attention is to be given in the future in the sector of healthcare. Proper planning, implementation and mobilization of human resource should be done so that everybody gets access to healthcare service easily and cheaply. People should be more concerned about how to increase the working population and allocate them according to population density and geography. Also proper management training especially human resource management training should be given to peoples working in the field of healthcare. Primary healthcare training also should be given to people so that experts do not get distracted in small petty cases. The information on disease and cure should be flown in the people as fast as possible through communication systems. Similarly, vocational trainings should be given as much as possible to the health workers along with collaborations with the institutions.

References

UN.org, (2015). Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/90chapteriv.pdf
Evolution of Work and the Worker. (2015) (1st ed.).
Halldale.com,. (2015). Why Discuss the Future of Healthcare Education? | Halldale. Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://halldale.com/camls-2014/why-future-healthcare-education#.VPoNLPyUeog
Heath, H., & Heath, H. (2015). Women Should Pay More for Health Care | TIME.com. TIME.com. Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/23/women-should-pay-more-for-health-care/
Kochhar, R., & Kochhar, R. (2014). 10 projections for the global population in 2050. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/10-projections-for-the-global-population-in-2050/