The Ultimate Healthcare Employee

What exactly is the best qualities in a healthcare employee? Is tact, compassion, competence, high work ethic, or diligence the most important? In many ways these qualities tend to boil down to three aspects (not in order of importance): 1. Passion for their profession, 2. The ability to use intelligence in an efficient and effective manner, and 3. The ability to work together.

One of the most important qualities for any potential candidate is not only the ability to work well and cooperate, but also have the desire to do so. Cooperation is the benchmark of any well organized, efficient, and effective healthcare organization as many departments tend to overlap and are heavily dependent on one another. This quality has become so important that many hiring managers have begun to examine beyond the professional and academic qualities of an individual to see if they can become part of the "team" (Bowen et al, 1991). The ability to cooperate and act in a professional manner at all times, while seemingly a simple request, can have a significant effect on the overall efficiency, clinical efficacy, and financial stability of the organization. In summary, the faster the work is processed the more inexpensive the product becomes.

While the ability to cooperate can be look upon as the foundation of any "team", it is also important that each member of the team be well informed, well educated, and continually updated on any pertinent information. Generally, this does not mean that the individual has the potential to be intelligent, but rather that they have the continued ability to gain further knowledge and insight into new techniques, tools, etc. in the ever changing healthcare field (Ganzach, 1998). The ability to have new information and in turn apply it in an effective and efficient manner can not only improve the overall quality of the organization, but also have significant impact on improving employee moral.

Finally, a healthcare employee must have a passion for their work. The healthcare industry is similar in many ways to other industries, but is also incredibly different at the same time. The reason behind this is simple: every action each employee takes directly or indirectly affect the livelihood of an individual. It is critical that each employee or potential employee have the desire to work as many hours as possible, work as hard as possible, or learn as much as possible to help improve the lives of others around them. In the end, while organizations must remain financially solvent it is even more critical that they also remain passionately solvent.


References:

Bowen, D., Ledford, G., Nathan, B. (1991). Hiring for the Organization, Not the Job. The Executive, 5(4), pp. 35-51.

Ganzach, Y. (1998). Intelligence and Job Satisfaction. The Academy of Management Journal, 41(5), pp. 526-539.