The Unique Role of Human Resources in Health Care Facilities

Human resource (HR) management is a system of activities and strategies that focus on

successfully managing employees at all levels of an organization to achieve organizational goals

(Niles, 3). The role of human resource management is that of a partnership between the human

resources department and management regardless of the organizational type. The human

resource and management partnership is unique in the healthcare industry because many

healthcare organizations have a dual administrative structure of clinical managers and health

services managers that supervise two distinct groups of employees with different responsibilities

and different training needs (Niles, 7).

Human resource management plays many key roles in the health care field. Establishment of a

legal and ethical management system, is ensuring that all employees at all levels have an

understanding of basic legal and ethical principles that affect the work environment in the

healthcare industry. Ethical behaviors, which are considered actions that are the right thing to do,

not simply what is required by law, must be addressed because the healthcare industry is full of

difficult situations that involve ethical dilemmas. It is the role of the HR department and

management to train employees at all levels regarding employment-related legislation. It is also

the responsibility of HR and management to create ethical organizational culture by providing

ethics training and codes of ethics (Niles, 8).

The HR department is responsible for performing job analyses to assess the workflow of the

organization. Job analysis is a process of determining the different tasks that are associated with

a sp...

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...ational goals.

Human resource management plays many key roles in the health care field. HR is vital when

planning quality and patient safety programs and initiatives because it will, ultimately, be

responsible for identifying thought leaders in the organization who can lead change, build new

programming with these thought leader’s expertise and ideas, then educate these thought leaders

in the scope of the new initiative, asking them to, in turn, educate those with whom they work.

REFERENCES

McNeil, Rebecca. (2012). HR’s Role in Employee Engagement. Lessons from an Award-Winning Organization.

Niles, N. J. (2013). Basic concepts of health care human resource management. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett

www.ashhra.org/about/governance/files/TLF1Summary091608

www.beckersasc.com/.../human-resources-role-in-improving-patient-safe...