How Healthcare Works, LLC

One way to continuously address and potentially mitigate diversity and workforce challenges is by establishing equity.  Naturally, there is no way to create equity in every area for every person. However, policies and procedures and hiring practices should demonstrate the organization's core values that are equitably applied to all employees. 1. Creating diverse staff and leadership. In a 2001 report by the Office of Minority Health, National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) were identified. CLAS standard 2 was to "recruit, retain, and promote"..."diverse staff and leadership that are representative of the demographic characteristics of the service area." In order to accomplish this goal, employers should create a diverse staff at all levels that is a general representation of the population in its geographic service area. For example, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, in the Kansas City, MO, area, the population is 59

After several years of high unemployment and essentially an employer's market for healthcare organizations, the tables have turned, and employers are facing low unemployment and workforce shortages.  The workforce shortages include some of the same issues already present, such as in nursing, and some new shortage areas, such as in behavioral health and social work. Employees are now becoming more in demand to fill empty positions, and employers are seeing themselves moving from a high supply of applicants to a low supply of applicants and from price makers to price takers. In order to combat the workforce shortage, healthcare organizations must address the long time looming concerns and complaints of those already in their employ and those wishing to be employed by their organization.  Here are some suggestions to do so: 1. Treat all applicants like potential employees/customers/patients. Every applicant who walks into a healthcare organization could be a potential hire. As

Mobbing is a type of bullying that occurs in schools,  workplaces, churches, communities, even in healthcare organizations. Mobbing typically starts with one individual, a leader of sorts, who then solicits secondary individuals to assist in the emotional abuse of a target. Thus, mobbing becomes bullying of one person by many individuals. As indicated in a 2009 article by M. Duffy in Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, bullying affects the health of an individual. Mobbing against an individual further creates a loss in multiple ways for a healthcare organization. Although the nursing profession is often identified as an area where mobbing and workplace bullying occurs, mobbing may occur in any area of a healthcare organization, even among leaders. The Workplace Bullying Institute indicates that often high performers are the target of workplace bullies, or mobbing. The targeted individual is often perceived as a threat in some way to the bully or mob. The "thr