PhD defence Frank Christian van de Baan

Keywords: Hospitals, Workforce shortages, Resilience, Sustainable employability 

"They’re only human after all: Examining the central role of staff in hospitals’ response to dynamic environments"

Hospitals face a double challenge: increasing uncertainty due to crises and political and social changes, and growing problems surrounding health, employability, and staff retention. New doctoral research shows that these two developments are closely linked and that it is essential for future-proof hospital care that hospitals focus on the well-being of their staff. 

The studies in the dissertation show that current initiatives to promote staff health and well-being are often inadequate. Staff are often not approached proactively, initiatives are often temporary, and insufficient account is taken of the different needs of employees. Moreover, most attention is still focused on patient care and the financial health of the hospital, rather than the health of employees. In order to truly address staffing issues, the dissertation emphasizes that responsibility for well-being should lie primarily with the organization rather than with the employee, and that the intrinsic human needs of employees should be addressed. This will also enable hospitals to better cope with crises and changes.

In addition, the doctoral research shows that financial and personnel reserves play an important role in reducing absenteeism and staff turnover. This has important implications for current government and health insurer policy, as the current focus on efficiency in healthcare has resulted in hospitals having few reserves. To combat absenteeism and staff turnover, it is therefore important that hospitals are given more freedom to build up reserves.

Click here for the live stream.