How to Build and Maintain a Winning Hospital Community

It doesn’t matter if you are considered to be a large healthcare system, a community hospital or a solo practitioner. What really matters is what sort of things attract and keeps healthcare talent happy. And, when it comes to career happiness, healthcare professionals want to work in winning hospital communities. 

Here’s a look at nine of the most important characteristics of a great hospital community, according to the the job board, Monster.com:

1) Positive values. All great organizations have a mission statement that clearly outlines goals, demonstrates an unwavering commitment to quality and reflects a positive spirit. 

A positive mission statement reflects a company’s values, which, over time, inform every action and permeate every action. 

2) Relaxed atmosphere. Healthcare is a serious business, but that doesn’t mean the people charged with delivering it can’t look forward to coming to work, feel appreciated once they get there and treat one another with respect throughout the course of their shifts. 

As a 2013 story in The New York Times pointed out, people who work in a relaxed atmosphere perform better. 

3) A shared commitment to excellence. Excellence surrounds itself with excellence. A rising tide lifts all boats. Winning is more fun. These cliches might be a bit tired, but they are also true. When a hospital commits to excellence and accepts nothing less, everyone performs better, has more fun and the hospital community thrives. 

4) Communication. It has been said that there are no secrets to success. And, while there are a lot of ways to interpret the axiom, it’s probably most accurate to infer that organizations that succeed share information in open, authentic and consistent ways. They don’t keep secrets and they actually try to over-communicate. 

5) Empowerment. Employees who feel empowered help build a winning hospital community. The are more likely to make smart decisions and act autonomously, but with respect for the organization’s values when necessary. They are also more likely to go the extra mile, help their colleagues and put the organization’s best interests before their own. 

6) An appreciation for humor. Employees who laugh are less stressed, more productive, willing to be creative and collaborate and also more analytic–if you believe an article published in the Harvard Business Review that quotes researchers out of Wharton, MIT and the London Business School. 

7) Compassion. Hospitals that are committed to treating their employees with the same level of compassion they expect their employees to show patients perform better. It’s as simple as that. Employees–whether physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners or physician assistants–are more likely to go above and beyond for organizations that treat them with respect and compassion. 

8) Recognition. To those who do not work in healthcare every day, working in a hospital seems to come with unlimited rewards. Babies are born, broken bones are healed, cancer is treated. But for physicians, nurses and others, it is still a job–an important job, but still a job. And, everyone who does any job wants to be recognized for exceptional performance. The truly healthy hospital community is the one in which recognition is given to those who do great work. 

9) Balance. Work-life balance is a big topic of conversation in healthcare. With the shortage of physicians, nurses, physician assistants and other hospital employees, everyone seems to be asked to do more. Mandatory overtime, extra shifts and short staffing take their toll on hospital employees. That’s why the hospitals that truly have winning cultures take care to ensure a healthy work-life balance. 

—

Elliot Health System is a community hospital that is its own hospital community. Apply to join us.