Deductive Memo: Addressing the Staffing Pressures in NYC Hospitals

Deductive Memo
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name
Date
To: Yvette Villanueva, Senior Vice President HR at NYC Health and Hospitals
From: Cristina Contreras, CEO, Metropolitan Hospital, NYC.
Date: December 7th, 2022
Subject: Addressing the Staffing Pressures in NYC Hospitals
The demand for medical treatment in NYC hospitals has escalated dramatically this fall and has caused acute staffing shortages. The hospitals are experiencing an almost similar situation to the one occasioned by the upsurge in COVID-19 infections. During that period, hospitals witnessed an unprecedented high volume of patients seeking (Madad et al., 2020). In response to the dire situation, NYC Health and Hospitals brought on board a significant number of additional temporary and supplemental staff, which helped relieve pressure on the existing staff. The NYC hospitals are today going through an almost similar situation, which has resulted in profound staffing shortages. The same strategy implemented during the upsurge of COVID-19 should be applied even now. In a word, it is inevitable to factor in the welfare of the staff in NYC hospitals to boost their morale and enhance the quality of services they render.
NYC Health and Hospitals are understaffed due to the increasing demand for medical treatment.
Due to the healthcare market's dynamism, demand for medical services has skyrocketed this fall. This is converse to the number of staff that has declined. As such, it has become increasingly difficult for hospitals to maintain the requisite staffing ratios, which has impacted heavily on the staff. For instance, they have to work long hours and care for sicker patients (New York State Nurses Association, n.d.). This could prove detrimental to the health system if relevant entities do not institute comprehensive measures to mitigate the situation.However, promoting a long-term people strategy will bring about the desired turnaround in the NYC healthcare system. Adopting a long-term plan that will prioritize NYC hospitals and health employees will play a pivotal role in reinforcing the healthcare system. For instance, it will ensure that hospitals have adequate staffing to attain the required staffing ratio. To get a clearer understanding of this hypothesis, kindly consider the following points:
 A long-term people strategy will enhance employee motivation and engagement
The overall performance of any given organization depends on its employees, which makes it imperative to motivate and engage employees. Research, for instance, has shown that scaling up the engagement of employees in health facilities improves the safety of patients significantly (Scott et al., 2022). In addition, engaging employees helps institutions consolidate their positions through enhanced quality and service delivery, problem-solving, and financial performance.
One fundamental way of enhancing employee engagement is employing proper and effective communication systems. Communication is crucial in organizations because it enables all stakeholders to relay information from one person to the other. An effective communication system should be two-way and consistent to ensure that information flows fluidly from top to bottom and vice versa (Srivastava, n.d.). Equally crucial, it must alleviate the element of fear and victimization. This will inevitably make the employees enjoy a sense of belonging, which will enhance their dedication.
 A long-term people strategy will ensure adequate compensation for employees.
Compensation refers to the monetary and non-monetary rewards employees receive in return for the services they render. Ideally, healthcare institutions provide quality healthcare if their human resources are well compensated. In addition, they manage to attract and retain top talents besides ensuring the efficient use of financial resources. The contrary is true because poorly compensated healthcare staffs are less motivated and committed, which ultimately compromises the quality of the services they render.
One of the best strategies to manage compensation effectively is assessing the structure and level of health workers' compensation. This is critical as it will enable HR to quantify the additional wages an institution should pay (Hasnain, 2020). For instance, an institution should have rough estimates of the compensation it should pay for overtime work. At times, institutions keenly appreciate the need to increase employee compensation to boost their motivation and ...