Recruitment and Retention of Rural Hospital Administrators: A Multifaceted Approach

Abstract

A major challenge confronting healthcare delivery in the United States is the shortage of clinical professionals in rural areas. Although most of the research surrounding this problem has focused on physicians and nurses, other healthcare professionals have received much less attention. Although not a clinician or hands-on care provider, the hospital administrator is an integral component of rural healthcare delivery systems and is instrumental in the organization and delivery of services. This article examines some of the factors that impact the recruitment and retention process for rural hospital administrators. The authors suggest that recruitment and retention success can be best achieved by adopting a multifaceted approach that includes aspects of and considerations from 3 separate areas: personal, organizational, and community attributes. The authors provide recommendations and insights for rural hospital governing boards responsible for this process.

Retaining Experienced Hospital Administrators: A Neglected Topic in Healthcare

“…However, a common denominator of all CEO turnovers is the fact that there are always personal or job-related factors involved. In a context of recruiting and retaining hospital administrators in a rural setting, Stretton and Bolon (2009) described these factors as personal and organizational attributes, respectively. The authors suggest that personal attributes refer to inherent personal aspects of the hospital administrators and their families.…”

“…In this regard, healthcare researchers and economists are concerned that as baby boomers enter their senior years and begin to seek retirement, there will be a widening gap created by retiring healthcare professionals leaving the industry without enough people to replace them (Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics 2009). While there have been initiatives to increase retention of direct healthcare providers (such as physicians and nurses) through active policy changes and incentives, efforts to retain other healthcare professionals, especially including hospital administrators and other healthcare managers have been scarce (Healthcare News In-Depth 2007;Larkin 2007;Stretton and Bolon 2009).…”

Acquisition and Allocation of Human, Financial, and Physical Resources in the Health Care System

“…If that is the case, until the problem is fixed, the money spent on recruiting is being wasted. 4 Hiring new employees to fill vacant positions may not be the ideal solution. Human capital will depend on each employee's ability to market himself or herself upon entry in a particular job search within the health care field.…”

“…Although new talent is necessary for the growth of the organization, retention deserves more of the focus for the long-term health of an organization. 4 Retention is more important than recruitment for the organization because high retention rates imply that employees are happy or satisfied. It takes less effort to keep staff than to find new staff.…”

Nurse retention in rural United States: A cluster analytic approach

“…2 The shortage of nurses in the United States is having a significant impact on the American healthcare system. [3][4][5][6] According to Upenieks,7 'Nurses have felt physically exhausted and emotionally drained because of the increased patient load and the conditions under which they must work…the present shortage is more acute as a result of nurses opting out of the nursing profession due to dissatisfaction with their roles in a clinical setting'. Additionally, nurses report high levels of burnout that lead them to reconsider the nursing profession.…”