19 Jul Week One- Business Class-
Wow. All of the choices for this week’s forum response were very interesting to me and it was difficult to decide on only one to focus on. My response this week is on social media as a communication tool. In today’s society, social media is everywhere. It has become an important part of our lives and seems to be engrained in almost every aspect of our daily activities. From Facebook, to Twitter, to Snapchat, it almost seems as though we cannot get away from social media. I think that when the President of the United States is using twitter on a daily basis, social media has consumed us. There was a time, and not so long ago when cell phones did not exist and there were pay phones on corners. Now we have smart phones that can not only make a phone call, but also share video and connect a person to anyone in the world in a matter of seconds. The world truly has become a smaller place.
2 John 1:12 states “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.” I have a feeling that social media is not what Jesus had in mind when he wished to speak face to face. I wonder if he would approve of our use of social media in the world today. He could easily share his message with many, many people worldwide from the comfort of his home.
Ever since social media was first produced, it has quickly been incorporated into the health care industry and a growing number of patients use social media for many things. Patients use social media for many things; it fosters their autonomy by complementing the information provided by healthcare professionals and by providing psychosocial support. Social media use by patients can also be an aid to healthcare professionals by providing a tool to strengthen the organization’s market position and stimulating conversation for brand building and improved service delivery. In fact, social media may have effects on both patients, and on the wider healthcare system. In particular, it allows patients to receive support, and to complement offline information, which may lead to enhancing the empowerment of patients (Smailhodzic, Hooijsma, Boonstra, & Langley, 2016).
While the use of social media in healthcare can be useful, it can also be very dangerous if the communication that is shared is inaccurate and misleading. According to Smailhodzic, Hooijsma, Boonstra & Langley (2016) “one misguided idea on Twitter urged Nigerians to drink excessive amounts of salt water to combat Ebola. This may have led to two deaths and more than 12 admissions to hospital.” Because of misleading information like this example, many healthcare professionals fear that social media has a propensity to spread misinformation among patients.
Social media has quickly changed the nature and speed of health care communication between patients and health care organizations. The public, patients, and health professionals are using social media to communicate about just about anything. According to Moorhead, et. Al., (2013) “in the United States, 61% of adults search online and 39% use social media such as Facebook for health information. The authors go on to say that, “approximately 45% of Norwegian and Swedish hospitals are using LinkedIn and 22% of Norwegian hospitals use Facebook for health communication”.
Social media communication is not just used for healthcare information; it is also used as a tool for human resources. HR managers can post job openings on all the company’s social media sites, including links to the listings on the company website. Social media can also be used to protect the name and reputation of the hospital of organization. When an issue arises with the image of the hospital due to a patient complaint or other reason, the HR department can take to social media to reinforce the reputation of the hospital and make sure things do not get out of control and turn into a viral frenzy. Lastly, social media can be used to monitor employee activities and to communicate with employees through social media mediums.
Moorhead, A., Hazlett, D., Harrison, L., Carrol, J., Irwin, A., & Hoving, C. (2013). A new dimension of health care: Systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15(4), e85. doi:10.2196/jmir.1933
Smailhodzic, E., Hooijsma, W., Boonstra, A., & Langley, D. (2016). Social media use in healthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and their relationship with healthcare professionals. BMC Health Services Research, 16(1), 442. doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1691-0
Trend 2
The health care industry in the United States is one of the largest employers of American citizens. In years past, the manufacturing industry was a major employer. But, with many manufacturing jobs being transferred to other countries in the interest of increasing profitability, health care has surpassed manufacturing in number of employees. Handling the many aspects of obtaining and managing these employees is the human resources management personnel of health care organizations. There are a number of components to obtaining health care professionals and support staff in health care organizations. Human resources management staff are involved in recruiting, hiring, and training of the many employees among other organizational responsibilities. In recent years, some new trends are beginning to impact health care human resources management.
One of the trends is the use of technology in the health care industry. When I consider using technology in human resources management, I immediately think of electronic technology in recruitment of health care professionals through web portals which have all but replaced job postings in the classified advertisements in a printed newspaper; training and development of staff with required annual education done via organizational intranet courses; and computerized performance management via annual job performance evaluations. These are all ways in which electronic technology is used in the health care organizations in which I have been employeed.
The use of technology in human resources management goes beyond the common and obvious uses in health care organizations. According to Zielinski (2011), technology can be used to consolidate disparate systems into one source as a sort of data warehouse to save time and limited resources. This consolidation has promoted the standardization of definitions of human resource metrics such as employee turnover; enabled the establishment of custom data and faster reporting of data; and allows for improved employee access to system data. Beyond the data warehouse, Zielinski suggested human resources management combining recruitment, performance evaluation and management, compensation, and career planning.
The use of technology has many advantages in health care organizations. But, as an employee of a health care system with many locations and an extensive employee base, all of the technology starts to feel almost as sterile as the hospital operating rooms. Health care practitioners and support staff are constantly being asked to “do more with less”. This happens across all departments and even within departments. In fact, this week I looked at the staffing statistics in our acute therapy department. On average, physical therapy has about 22 employees to handle about 260 patients on their caseload, yet occupational therapy has about 12 employees to handle a caseload of about 250 patients. To many, this would look like a good opportunity to add more OT staff. But, sadly this is not the actuality. So, this brings up the question of how to motivate employees with increased demands yet less resources.
Benson and Dundis (2013) published a study which integrated Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to examine the question of how to motivate employees despite increased demands. They found that employees desire to feel secure in their jobs, want to feel needed, and need to feel appreciated for what they do. Leaders in health care organizations should look for opportunities to meet the needs of the employee as an individual and as a worker. The use of technology can present challenges and at the same time opportunities.
With all of the pressure to perform better with less support in the workplace can be highly stressful. Philippians 4:6-7, English Standard Version, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.
References
Benson, S. G., & Dundis, S. (2003). Understanding and motivating health care employees: Integrating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, training and technology. Journal of Nursing Management, 11(5), 315-320.
Zielinski, D. (2011). Total integration. Human Resources Magazine, 56(11), 69-72.
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