The conference on Human Resource
Management in Healthcare, named PeopleHosp, was organized by AMEN on July 4
th
at Ashraya International Hotel in Bangalore. The conference attracted HR
professionals from hospitals from Bangalore and outside.
The conference opened with an
interesting talk by Mr. Siddharth N, General Manager & Head HR for
Cloudnine Hospitals, Bangalore. His topic covered a futuristic view on HR
competencies required in healthcare. The presentation, made enjoyable with a
healthy dose of cartoons, discussed some key challenges facing the industry,
like training, retention, sourcing, lack of discipline among the new breed of
employees, lack of English speaking skills among the prospective employees,
professionalism, skill-levels, employability and ramping-up of operations.
He
put forth questions on how to deal with a large employee-base who is required
to deliver personalized care to the patients, how to design systems that ensure
customer centricity at each employee level and how to ensure sensitivity among
the staff on medico-legal aspects of their profession. In the end, he emphasized
the role of HR in driving critical circuits in the organization, in being the
advisor to the business head while managing the core responsibilities of the
function, managing risk, creating change and making a difference to the
enterprise. He signed off by proposing the ‘competency way of thinking’ for
managing HR in healthcare.
Ms. Nagarathna A, Asst. Prof. of
Law at National Law School – Bangalore, shared her insights on ‘Statutory and
Legal issues related to HRM in hospitals. Dr. Navin Chugh, who heads Quality at
Global Group of Hospitals – Bangalore, discussed the requirements of NABH
quality standards applicable to HRM. He took up the discussion based on the
latest 3rd edition of NABH standards for hospital and provided
suggestions to audience on implementing the standards and facing the audit. When
asked whether doctors practicing alternative medicine (AYUSH) can work in an
allopathic hospital through privileging, he cited MCI regulations and said that
this practice is illegal and therefore will attractive non-conformance in an
NABH Audit. He also shared the practice of daily quality rounds as a means to
monitor process compliance in his hospital.
Ms. Reshma Lobo, Principal –
Padmashree College of Hospital Administration Bangalore, gave a talk on
‘Manpower Requirement & Planning for hospitals’. The topic on training of
hospital staff was taken up by Mr. Schreyas Nair, GM – Training and Development,
at Fortis Hospital Bangalore. She explained the approach followed at Fortis
hospital in ensuring that the staff is appropriately trained to work in the
hospital. Her talk began with a discussion on finding out how the training fits
into the agenda of the organization. This, she said, is achieved through an
identity statement for the training department, which in their case covers
aspects like anticipates requirements of the business, be a catalyst of change,
contribute to performance excellence, have people focus and connect, raise the
bar of excellence and enable the organization to fulfill its vision.
She explained that the training
department plans its activities through a 4 step process, which involves
training needs investigation, needs analysis, creation of training modules and
creation of training calendar. One interesting insight she shared about
training at Fortis hospital was the Nurses Leadership program. The program is
undertaken for nurses who show commitment at their work and consistently excel
among their team members. The nurses who undergo this program are selected to
lead floor teams or even head smaller hospitals’ nursing teams. For their
performance management, the balanced scorecard is used which even includes
financial metrics. The metrics focuses on cost reduction through a reduced
Average Length of Stay (ALOS). She highlighted the importance of nurses in
implementing strict infection control processes, thereby reducing the overall
risk to the patients and ensuring a lower ALOS.
Mr. Kiran Gautham, Dy. Director
at Alliance University Bangalore spoke about strategies for effective
selection, recruitment and employee retention. This was followed by a talk by
Mr. Marian Jayson on ‘Performance Appraisals – Tools and Techniques’. His talk
focused on managing performance in the organization and linking the same
through a robust appraisal system where the superior performance is rewarded
and a below-expectation performance attracts strong feedback and strict action.
He also shared insights on ways and means for deciding KRAs (Key Result Areas)
and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of various staff levels.
The conference ended with Mr.
Ganesh Selvaraj, VP – HR at Manipal Health Enterprises, sharing his views on
‘Motivating today’s hospital staff’. His presentation was centered on techniques
used at Manipal for motivating its employees. The methods which were employed
by the company included staff-management interaction, employee engagement
exercise, appreciating contribution by senior-most employees of the company at
important events etc.
The conference successfully
touched upon the various aspects of Healthcare HRM with the views of various
industry leaders. The audiences were thoroughly engaged by the speakers and the
question-answer sessions saw good participation from them.
