Medical Tourism: A Competitive Factor in Healthcare

The competition levels in the healthcare sector have been advancing in the past few years. The contributing factors of competition levels include globalization, international relations between different nations and regions, ease in communication, and transportation. Due to high competition, medical facilities focus on the provision of quality and affordable medical services to attract patients from different locations. Medical tourism is another influential factor behind the competitive nature of the healthcare sector. In line with this, most hospitals and medical centers operate similarly in organizations.

Human resource departments have the task of selecting and training medical personnel to carry out different responsibilities within the organization. However, burnout within the healthcare sector can pose various challenges on the achievement of the expected quality of healthcare and in turn affect the patients’ wellbeing. Burnout is a common syndrome among medical staff brought about by emotional exhaustion associated with the different duties. To deal with the effects of this phenomenon, medical facilities need to implement measures that can reduce or overcome burnout within the workplace.

The application of proper staffing techniques and burnout interventions can promote the effectiveness of the medical personnel in achieving quality healthcare products and services and reduce negative impacts on patients.

Background Information

The demand for quality and affordable healthcare is among the factors contributing to global competitiveness in the health sector. As different nations and medical facilities strive to provide medical services and products, patients have had unlimited access to increased information concerning their wellbeing. The internet and ease in sharing information through numerous communication platforms allow patients to access data about the best hospitals to visit (Kasemsap, 2016).

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The patients can determine the affordability of the medical services and products in comparison to their insurance covers or financial capabilities. Numerous medical facilities aspire to remain competitive using different techniques. Specialization and offering specific treatment options and plans, proximity to populations, staffing, collaborating with other facilities, and focusing on patient satisfaction are among the standard techniques enabling health organizations to remain competitive (Doulougeri et al., 2016). Research and development have become an influential force in aiding hospitals to gain competitive advantages over their competitors.

Staffing and burnout form the typical characteristics of the medical health sector. Staffing refers to the process of selecting and training medical personnel and allocating them with different duties. Most medical facilities take time to determine the best-fit employees for the various positions from the applicants. The application of proper hiring techniques can aid in the creation of a workforce that can meet the set goals and enable the organization to remain competitive in the industry. However, despite the efforts to dominate in the healthcare sector, healthcare practitioners still face the challenge of burnout, affecting the ability of the medical staff to meet the expected results and patient satisfaction (Boamah et al., 2017). As a result, burnout syndrome could reduce the competitive level of a medical facility. For the sake of improving healthcare performance, human resource departments have the responsibility of lowering burnout levels within hospitals.

Discussion

Human resource departments have a great responsibility relating to promoting successful staffing and reducing instances of the burnout syndrome. The use of various techniques can help in the achievement of this duty. Organizational development is one of the methods referring to the process of increasing efficiency levels within a firm by implementing strategies and systems. The plans should involve both the employer and the workers to realize the set objectives relating to patient wellbeing. Communication is a critical process that can aid in accomplishing organizational development (Gkorezis & Theodorou, 2016). The creation of proper relationships between employees and employers can identify some of the existing issues and present a platform for identifying solutions. The planning of action and intervention towards the stated issues should include the collaboration of both the workers and the management.

Succession and workforce planning can also aid in reducing burnout. As mentioned earlier in this section, medical facilities function similarly to all other organizations. The human resource department has a role in the creation of a proper working environment. Medical personnel require the proper tools to perform their different duties and accomplish the set goals and targets. For example, the availability of appropriate equipment allows nurses and physicians to achieve patient satisfaction (Kasemsap, 2016). The lack of medical equipment limits the ability of the personnel to meet the demands and expectations of the customers, thus negatively influencing global competitiveness. The duties and expectations of the medical staff should align with the priorities of the hospital. The achievement of this goal reduces the instances of nurses and physicians feeling overwhelmed by work.

Strategic staffing is among the most influential strategies for improving the competitive advantage of an organization as it involves going beyond the normal staffing process. The primary role of strategic staffing is the recruitment and retention of workers to function within the different positions and aligning their duties with the overall ambitions and mission of an organization. The application of strategic staffing within a medical facility can lead to increased benefits. Hospitals can use different techniques to achieve strategic staffing. For instance, human resource departments can work with both permanent and temporary employees. The permanent workers should be influential to the daily activities within the medical facility, while the temporary workers seek to aid in the extra duties (Gkorezis & Theodorou, 2016). Strategic staffing also introduces proper guidelines on processes such as recruitment, transfer, retention, promotion, and redeployment among others. The guidelines should help the HR department in determining the best ways to deal with workers and increase the productivity of the facility.

Diversity training also influences the functionality of health organizations. In the recent past, firms have been enduring increased pressure to promote diversity within their workplaces. The primary cause of diversity is the large pool of employees available within different sectors. Organizations have been attracting workers from different social backgrounds (Johnson et al., 2018).