INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the processes involved in Human Resource Management (HRM) at Corniche Hospital in Abu Dhabi. In order to do so, the organization’s HR department would be taken into consideration which will provide relevant insights regarding the hospital and its workforce management. Moreover, the types of jobs at the hospital would also be analyzed as it would provide necessary information regarding the job description and specification. The processes that would be involved in the study are recruitment, selection, compensation, performance appraisal, training and development.
CORNICHE HOSPITAL IN ABU DHABI
Corniche Hospital is the largest maternity and neonatal healthcare facility in United Arab Emirates with 299 beds. Corniche Hospital is operated under the supervision of Abu Dhabi Health Services Company; PJSC (Seha). The hospital facilitates in more than 9,000 births and over 120,000 outpatients within a year (Seha, n.d.). Corniche Hospital is a government owned hospital with ISO 9001 and JCIA accreditations due to which the hospital is recognized by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, UK (Guide 2 Dubai, 2013).
The mission of Corniche Hospital is to provide the exceptional healthcare facilities to women along with new born babies in the community. In addition, the hospital aims to become a role model for other hospitals through outstanding commitment to best practices, expert leadership, exceptional services, and safe patient care along with development of the workforce. The values of Corniche Hospital include;
- Care and compassion
- Ownership and accountability
- Respect and cultural sensitivity
- Integrity and leadership
- Commitment to quality and safety
- Emiratization
- Nurture and education (Corniche Hospital. 2011a)
Corniche Hospital embraces its long history of delivering good news to the parents. In addition, the hospital’s specialized intensive care facilities for new born babies is the attraction point of the hospital as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is one of the largest unit in the country with 64 cot capacity (Corniche Hospital, 2011b).
TYPES OF JOBS AND ITS ANALYSIS
Corniche being a state-of-the-art hospital located in Abu Dhabi provide the patients with variety of services. Due to the extensive baby care and implementation of baby tagging system, the hospital was recognized as a “Baby Friendly” hospital by World Health Organization and UNICEF since 2007.
The types of jobs offered by the hospital along with their analysis are as follows;
- Practical Midwife
Corniche Hospital is constantly in need of practical midwife. To provide the patients with quality care and service, the hospital consistently hires desired candidates that have 1 year of clinical experience in maternity hospital. Education is an essential factor that is taken into consideration by the management of the hospital. This could be witnessed in the recruitment process as the management has identified the education requirement for practical midwife job. To work for the hospital, the desired candidate must be a graduate from recognized Nursing Midwifery School with national license along with HAAD and BLS license (Corniche Hospital, 2011c).
- Staff Nurses
Staff nurses (female) play an essential role in promoting healthy and safe environment to the mother and new born babies in Corniche Hospital. To enhance the quality of the services, Corniche Hospital highly focuses on the experience and education of the staff nurses. 2 years of clinical experience is essential for the staff nurses along with HAAD registration. Moreover, the staff nurses are hired on the basis of education. The education criteria for the recruitment and selection are specifically mentioned. Working at Corniche Hospital as a staff nurse requires bachelor degree in nursing or equivalent qualification of NLT (Corniche Hospital, 2011d).
Staff nurses are the front line of the Corniche Hospital in promoting suitable learning environment for the staff where the staff nurses are trained to act as a mentor. Moreover, to promote high quality of services at Corniche Hospital, staff nurses supervises and teaches other staff regarding the appropriate behavior required at the hospital. In addition, the staff nurses are also responsible to identify the training needs of the staff members. To do so, the staff nurses are guided to develop annual learning plans that ultimately are taken under consideration by the manager and Charge Nurses. The staff nurses are highly motivated and disciplined due to which their application of new knowledge at the hospital promotes improvement in clinical practices. The application of new knowledge is often resisted by the staff members but the training and development changes their perception significantly (Corniche Hospital, 2011d). Lastly, the staff nurses are advised to continually work towards the improvement in standard of care through which the hospital can significantly enhance its reputation along with the quality of care provided to the mothers and their new born babies (Corniche Hospital, 2011d).
- Senior Charge Nurses
The senior charge nurse plays a dominant role atCorniche Hospital. To gain such position requires both education and experience. Six years of clinical experience is mandatory in the healthcare or any other relevant field. Moreover, NLT 2-3 years in Senior Charge Nurse Position is also required along with positive references that significantly identify the specific responsibilities at the position. In addition, certificate proof of CME and continuous post graduate courses are also required for this position. The desired education required for this post includes the certificate of post graduate diploma in nursing or healthcare or administration field plus international accreditation experience (Corniche Hospital, 2011e).
The Senior Charge Nurses are responsible to coordinate hospital services during and after the shifts. As the senior charge nurses are empowered and provided with formal authority, they are responsible to create effective and healthy environment at the hospital that significantly motivates the staff members acquire new skills to ensure commitment to the hospital desired goals and objectives. Moreover, the SCN (Senior Charge Nurses) are also responsible to play dominant role in the recruitment and selection of the most preferable candidate. The dominant role of the SCN provides them with an ability to resolve conflicts and managing disasters as per the organization’s policy and procedures. In addition, the leadership ability of the SCN provides them with an opportunity to take essential part in problem solving and strategic decision making that could lead to healthy ad quality workplace environment. The SCNs are also responsible to disseminate information at the right time and place so that the staff could collaborate with the nursing team more effectively. Bed allocation and staff skill mix is also the responsibility of the SCN as by doing so, the patient’s condition is closely monitored which eventually leads to elimination of negative patient care (Corniche Hospital, 2011e).
- Specialist Physician – Obstetrics and Gynecology
The specialist physicians (obstetrics and gynecology) are constantly required by the Corniche Hospital in the medical area. Obstetrics and gynecology physicians play dominant role in the success of the hospital as they provide the patients with required medical attention. The most desired specialists at the CornicheHospital must have MRCOG, DM and MCH with 3 years of hospital experience along with extensive OB cases per month (Corniche Hospital, 2011f).
The job description of the Specialist Physician clearly entails that the physician would take active part in the performance management system where all the essential duties would be handled and managed by the physician. In addition, providing medical attention within the divisions all the time through effective assistance with consultant staff also comes under the responsibilities of the physician. The clinical duties of the physician includes the supervision of junior staff members along with appropriate utilization of organization’s resources at the right time and place to enhance the performance of the hospital. Moreover, the physician is also responsible to develop a plan that includes safe and holistic care for the individual patients admitted in the hospital. In addition, providing the right information to the patient and patient’s family in a timely manner also comes under the responsibilities of the physician. Team based approach to patient care is considered an essential role taken under consideration by the physician. As a result, the physician is provided with an opportunity to maintain a good working relationship with the members of the staff that eventually promotes collaboration and communication to enhance patient care (Corniche Hospital, 2011f).
HRM PROCESS FOR THE CORNICHE HOSPITAL
Donna Overton is the HR direction at Corniche Hospital. The extensive experience and leadership in HR field has provided Donna with an opportunity to lead programs that are designed to attract, hire, train and develop the hospital’s most crucial resource i.e. workforce. The HR processes that are taken under consideration by the management of Corniche Hospital under the supervision of Donna Overton are as follows;
Recruitment and Selection
Corniche Hospital is a state-of-the-art hospital that has been acknowledged as “Baby Friendly” hospital by UNICEF and WHO since 2007. Such an achievement for the hospital is due to the most important and crucial asset of the organization i.e. the human resource. The hospital takes pride in diversity management and equal employment opportunity during the recruitment and selection of the human resource that would work for the hospital in the forthcoming years. Although, the hospital is more inclined towards the recruitment of females staff members due to the nature of the hospital and the work yet the equal employment opportunity could be clearly observed in the hospital’s human resource management.
The discriminatory factors such as age, gender, nationality along with others have all been eliminated at Corniche Hospital. Donna Overton considers the human resource as the most valuable asset of Corniche Hospital. Diversity in the workforce has provided the hospital with variety of knowledge that the organization at first was unaware. Moreover, the recruitment and selection of the workforce at Corniche Hospital is controlled and managed by the HR director and at necessary time, the Senior Charge Nurses are called for help for the selection of the most feasible and dominant potential workforce.
Corniche Hospital is the pioneer of midwifery programs due to which the organization takes special care in the recruitment and selection of the workforce. The workforce has to undergo variety of tests through which the potential candidate can prove his/her worth. To maintain the hospital’s reputation and the health of the patients, the recruitment and selection team focuses highly on the education and experience level of the candidate. Interview session is the spotlight of the process where the individuals are provided with an opportunity to share their experience and insight regarding their ideas on the performance of the organization.
Orientation
After the recruitment and selection process, the desired candidates are provided with an opportunity to learn and understand the operations at the Corniche Hospital. The orientation session comes under the supervision of Donna Overton and the Senior Charge Nurses where the newly hired workforce are provided with all the essential information regarding the way the hospital works and the personnel that could be asked for help in emergency situations.
The orientation session is designed in such a way that the newly hired workforce could interact with the top management of the hospital. Moreover, this session provides the workforce with an ability to accept and understand the policies and procedures at the hospital that must be followed at all cost.
Training Techniques
Providing the workforce with the right sets of skills and techniques is considered quite essential at Corniche Hospital. In order to do so, Senior Charge Nurses and the Staff Nurses are provided with authority to evaluate the needs of the workforce in terms of training and development.
Corniche Hospital is equipped with the latest technology equipments and accessories that require constant training and development sessions to increase the efficiency level of the workforce. Stimulation is one of the techniques that are taken under consideration by the management to enhance the skills and capabilities of the workforce at the hospital. Moreover, SCN and Staff Nurses act as a mentor and supervise the training sessions of the newly hired workforce along with previously employed workforce. This significantly helps the hospital to keep track of the training sessions.
Another most prominent technique used at Corniche Hospital to enhance the skills and capabilities of the workforce includes in-house training. Through this technique, the employees are provided with an opportunity to work under the supervision of senior and respected physicians. By doing so, the employees can groom their skills that could help them to earn senior position at the hospital.
Performance Appraisal
Motivation and job satisfaction is the prominent reason for performance appraisal. Although, Corniche Hospital provide its employees with variety of monetary and non-monetary benefits but to motivate the workforce to work towards the organizational goals and objectives the company relies highly on performance appraisals.
As the time passes, the performance of each individual working for Corniche Hospital is evaluated individually. 360 performance appraisal modelsare used by the organization to evaluate the performance of the individual at Corniche Hospital. By doing so, Corniche Hospital takes the review of the peers, seniors and friends under consideration. If the performance of the individual exceeds the standard mentioned, the individual is provided with additional benefits along with promotion that eventually helps the hospital management to enhance the job satisfaction level to great extent.
Employee Compensation
The employees at Corniche Hospital are continually provided with competitive benefits and packages to motivate the workforce to work towards the accomplishment of goals and objectives. The compensation package offered by Corniche Hospital includes;
- Tax free salary
- Accommodation, airfare and transportation allowances
- Furniture allowances
- Education allowances for children
- Generous annual leave
- Health insurance
- Gym membership
- Generous retirement benefits
CONCLUSION
Corniche Hospital is a state-of-the-art hospital that has consistently aimed to deliver the patients with variety of services to promote analgesia and anesthesia for normal and surgical deliveries. Corniche Hospital is a comprehensive obstetric medicine service provider that has been acknowledged as a “baby friendly” by UNICEF and WHO since 2007 due to the quality of service provided to the mother and the new born baby.
The HRM processes indicated that the recruitment and selection focuses highly on diversity management and equal employment opportunity. Orientation also plays an essential role in guiding the workforce regarding the ways things should be done. Whereas, stimulation and in-house training has continually been taken under consideration by the company to enhance the skills and capabilities of the workforce. To monitor the performance of the workforce in the hospital, Corniche use 360 performance evaluation models that provide the management with all the essential information regarding the employees’ performance. Lastly, the employees at Corniche are provided with variety of monetary and non-monetary benefits to motivate the workforce to work towards the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives.
References
Corniche Hospital.(2011a). Vision, Mission & Core Values.Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.cornichehospital.ae/en/about-us/vision,-mission-core-values/
Corniche Hospital.(2011d). Staff Nurses - (NICU, Theatre, Obs/Gyne).Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.cornichehospital.ae/en/careers/apply-for-jobs/staff-nurse/
Corniche Hospital.(2011e). Senior Charge Nurse/Unit Manager – Theatre.Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.cornichehospital.ae/en/careers/apply-for-jobs/senior-charge-nurse-theatre/
Corniche Hospital.(2011f). Specialist Physician- Obstetrics & Gynecology.Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.cornichehospital.ae/en/careers/apply-for-jobs/specialist-physician-obstetrics-gynecology/
Corniche Hospital.(2011b). Patient Services.Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.cornichehospital.ae/en/patient-services/services/maternity/
Seha.(n.d.).Corniche Hospital. Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.seha.ae/seha/en/Pages/HospitalDetail.aspx?HospitalId=27
Guide 2 Dubai. (2013). Hospitals In Dubai.Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.guide2dubai.com/info/Corniche-Hospital.asp
Corniche Hospital.(2011c).Practical Midwife.Retrieved July 1, 2013 fromhttp://www.cornichehospital.ae/en/careers/apply-for-jobs/practical-midwife/
