Recruitment of health personnel to work in rural hospitals faces major challenges than urban hospitals due to various reasons including many health practitioners preferring to work in urban areas due to better schools for their children and job opportunities for their partners. For this reason, rural hospitals have difficulty in recruiting the best health professionals ( Williams Jr, 2011, p. 617 ). Many rural hospitals also spend a lot of money in the recruitment process of health professionals to work in rural hospitals. To overcome this problem rural hospitals should establish a strategic recruitment process that is effective in terms of saving cost and time needed.
Different strategies can be implemented during recruitment process of health professionals in rural hospitals. One of the effective recruitment strategies is the organization of monetary compensation and packages of the health professional to attract them to work in rural hospitals. This strategy can be undertaken in different ways such as considering the basic permanent salary and awarding of allowances. The allowances should cater for the overtime work, geographical location and conditions, workloads and job responsibilities. Many health professionals avoid working in rural hospitals because they target urban private hospitals where they can work and increase their income ( Humphreys et al., 2017 ). This strategy is effective because the rural hospital can control this factor to attract candidates to apply for the recruitment process.
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Another important strategy to employ in the requirement of health professionals in rural hospitals is involving the health professionals currently working in rural hospitals. Many professionals have never experienced rural life and are curious about rural life. By involving the health professionals in the recruitment process, they can assure the other health professionals of the opportunity and conditions of working in a rural hospital ( Slagle, 2013 ). Therefore, the current health professionals can persuade those wanting to join the rural hospital to consider joining the rural hospital and help them in overcoming negative perspective of working in a rural hospital.
Another effective strategy to use in recruitment in a rural hospital is reaching out in far and wide regions. Therefore, the recruitment process should be carried in a way that the number of candidates aware of the process is large. This can be conducted by using different platforms to market job opportunities in the rural hospital. These platforms can be social media, job online posts, email, and other advertising agencies. The objective of this strategy is to ensure that many candidates as possible are aware of the recruitment process. This is to ensure that those who did not consider the position because they are not aware of the recruitment are reduced.
Starting the recruitment process of the rural hospital early and efficiently is another effective strategy that can be used. Rural hospital vacancies take time to fill, therefore, the requirements in the hospital should be identified early and the process of recruitment initiated. This will ensure that many candidates have enough time to apply for recruitment to the rural hospital. The recruitment process should be carried efficiently to ensure that the candidates are not solicited to consider other positions diminishing the chances of recruiting the best from the competitive market ( M. Lee et al., 2014 ). Rural hospitals should always be in recruitment mode, to avoid any instance of being inadequately staffed when one health practitioner leaves the hospital unexpectedly.
Another effective recruitment strategy is focusing on health institutions and colleges. The rural hospitals can benefit from services that can be offered by the upcoming talent in the health sector ( Rourke, 2010, p. 396 ). Also, college is an important platform where a rural hospital can acquire partnership programs for voluntary and internship opportunities for young medical professionals. The rural hospitals can effectively implement this strategy by participating in college career shows and fairs where they can showcase their services, demand, and strategies. Also, the rural hospital can organize and attend career functions in various colleges to market the rural hospital and job opportunities that are available.
To ensure that the recruitment process is cost and time effective, the use of the Applicant Tracking System is an effective strategy that rural hospitals must consider ( Laumer et al., 2015, p. 421 ). This software automates the recruitment process by providing different features that can be used to advertise job opportunities available in the rural hospital and also find a suitable and qualified candidate from the competitive market. The Applicant Tracking System can post the job vacancy to different online sites which can be viewed by many different people, it can sort the applicants' information based on merits and can schedule when the interviews will be conducted for different candidates. The use of this software an efficient strategy that can be used by rural hospitals as it saves the institution time and budget.
The referral is another effective recruitment strategy that can be used in a rural hospital. These referrals can be organized in such a way that the current employees of the rural hospital receive a referral bonus for every successful recruitment ( Dennis, 2012, p. 189 ). Considering many people prefer living in urban areas, this strategy is effective because the current employees are used to bring on board competent health professional candidates. This strategy is time-saving, brings in quality talent, cost-effective and they are easy to bring on board.
Improving job interviews for rural hospitals is another effective strategy that can be used in the process of recruitment in rural hospitals. Interviews are important aspects that many candidates consider in the job-seeking process. The rural hospital should ensure that the interviewing process is better because during interviews the candidates are also interviewing the hospital management and operations. When the candidate has a devastating experience during the interview they are unlikely to continue with the recruitment process in the rural hospital. Furthermore, the candidate's review of the interviewing process can affect the institution's reputation affecting other potential candidates in the rural hospital. The rural hospital may consider conducting a stay interview with the health professionals. This is to ensure that the rural hospital checks on the issues that may be raised by the candidate such as personal issues and professional issues.
Another strategy that can be used by rural hospitals in recruitment, is offering education and continuity of learning to the health professionals. Many health professionals factor in their learning and continual of their professionalism in terms of education when looking for a job. This can be done by having opportunities to develop and learn new skills by having training programs in a rural hospital. The rural hospital can also offer opportunities that will ensure the career advancement of the health professional by giving them support and time to advance their education while working in a rural hospital.
Another important aspect that can be used to ensure effective recruitment in rural hospitals, is targeting their own in the recruitment process by collaborating with the leaders of the local community. In this recruitment strategy, the rural hospital supports and encourages a health professional to ensure that they acquire the required education and skills that are needed to offer health services in rural hospitals. After completion of their education and professional studies, these youths are recruited to offer health services in rural hospitals. This strategy has a lot of benefits considering they are familiar with the lifestyle and culture of the rural community and they can fit in the community comfortably.
Another recruitment strategy that can be considered in rural hospitals is targeting foreign-born health professionals. Many mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that foreign professionals can work in rural areas by the issuance of Visa by the health department. This visa can be issued to the foreign professional for three years and an extension can be applied to six years under different circumstances. Also, the rural hospital should recruit traveling health professionals who can offer their services in rural hospitals for a specific time, during which the professional may consider permanently working in a rural hospital. The rural hospital should also consider recruiting mission-minded health professionals. Many health professionals consider offering their services in understaffed areas, for example, rural areas and they always travel looking for this opportunity to be able to give back to society.
Conclusion
It is impossible to relocate the rural hospital to a different location. Thus, the rural hospital management must find an alternative strategy to use to ensure that the health services in the hospital are efficiently offered; by looking for the best in terms of the health profession is concerned. The hospital should ensure that they provide a conducive environment and conditions which will enable the health practitioners to offer their health services diligently to the rural community.
References
Dennis, C. L. (2012). Peer support for postpartum depression: volunteers' perceptions, recruitment strategies and training from a randomized controlled trial. Health promotion international , 28 (2), 187-196.
Humphreys, J., Wakerman, J., Pashen, D., & Buykx, P. (2017). Retention strategies and incentives for health workers in rural and remote areas: what works?
Laumer, S., Maier, C., & Eckhardt, A. (2015). The impact of business process management and applicant tracking systems on recruiting process performance: an empirical study. Journal of Business Economics , 85 (4), 421-453.
M. Lee, D., & Nichols, T. (2014). Physician recruitment and retention in rural and underserved areas. International journal of health care quality assurance , 27 (7), 642-652.
Rourke, J. (2010). How can medical schools contribute to the education, recruitment, and retention of rural physicians in their region?. Bulletin of the World Health Organization , 88 , 395-396.
Slagle, D. R. (2013). Recruitment and retention strategies for hospital laboratory personnel in urban and rural settings. Clinical Laboratory Science , 26 (1), 10.
Williams Jr, T. E., Satiani, B., & Ellison, E. C. (2011). A comparison of future recruitment needs in urban and rural hospitals: the rural imperative. Surgery , 150 (4), 617-625.
