Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/519657
1 4 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E J U N E 2 0 1 5 Francine Daley: They must manage an aging workforce, while always dealing with recruitment and retention issues. Finding the right person with the right experi- ence and the right mindset who works well in a fast-paced environment can be difficult. Managing a surgical staff can be difficult for several reasons — person- ality conflicts, individuals performing at different levels and members of the team who are quick to criticize change, co-workers and managers. Corrie Massey: Finding high-quality staff with the perfect blend of personality and skill is a challenge. Administrators must offer compensation and benefits pack- ages that compete aggressively with other facilities. They must be nimble enough to cover time-off requests and sick calls, while not overstaffing. They must maintain competencies by offering new ways of learning that are both engaging and educational. The OR also draws an "intense" personality set, and managing these multiple "passionate" personalities can be difficult. • Is managing a surgical staff getting more difficult? Ann Geier: I think it is. Employees are working harder than ever and benefits are getting cut. Administrators and managers are often working in the fray and don't have time to deal with human resources issues as they arise. A problem employ- ee can take up a significant amount of the administrator's time at the expense of other required tasks. Problem employees are often kept on due to fear of losing a full-time worker and not having a body to fill the role. • Do administrators have the training needed to manage most effectively? AG: Human resources is a very difficult responsibility. Administrators need to handle issues correctly, they need to be fair and they need to be consistent. But most have no HR-specific training, and they don't know where to go for help. They often don't have the resources to assist them. We hope to provide them with answers to their most pressing questions and solutions to their most difficult problems.