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Mentoring In Healthcare

Mentoring the next generation leaders in the healthcare organizations is the responsibility of the current generation.”

Healthcare industry is witnessing a rapid growth in India both in terms of revenue and employment. The overall Indian healthcare market is worth around US$ 100 billion and is expected to grow to US$ 280 billion by 2020, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.9 per cent. Healthcare delivery, which includes hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostics centers, and pharmaceuticals, constitutes 65 per cent of the overall market. The Healthcare Information Technology (IT) market which is valued at US$ 1 billion currently is expected to grow 1.5 times by 2020.

There are a lot of Government initiatives for the Healthcare system in India such as:

  • Framing of policies and rules for the medical devices industry to encourage local manufacturing and move towards improving affordability for patients,
  • Modifying the drugs and cosmetics act to promote generics and reduce the cost of medicines
  • The E-health initiative, which is a part of Digital India drive aims at providing effective and economical healthcare services to all citizens. The program aims to make use of technology and portals to facilitate maintaining of health records and book online appointments with various departments of different hospitals.

The phenomenal growth of employment in this sector can be attributed to:

  1. Increase in the percentage of ageing population requiring medical care
  2. Mode of Delivery of healthcare is witnessing a shift where medical facilities are moving closer to the patients place
  3. Decreased mortality rate owing to advances in medical technology
  4. Ageing population increases the employment in home healthcare services and nursing care
  5. Growth of the healthcare industry will necessitate increased need for administrative help
  6. The changing nature of healthcare will increase demand for pharmacy technicians, physical therapists, and home care aides etc.

Disruptive Technology will affect health care sector jobs as a result of which healthcare professionals need to constantly upgrade their skills.

The goal of mentoring in the healthcare organizations is to foster relationships, behaviors, and activities that defines the organization’s core principles and sustain a healthy organizational culture that remains stable.

Mentoring program reinforces healthcare enterprise performance in many areas including, quality improvement, risk mitigation, personnel recruitment and retention, staff education and leadership. By enhancing staff knowledge and team integration, mentoring programs will help support the healthcare sector to emerge as one of the major sectors in the industry. It also helps in minimizing adverse patient occurrences and related financial losses.

According to author Zardoya Eagles, a mentor can help a healthcare practitioner to prepare himself for the public service and support in the advancement of his/her career. The human factor, according to him, is one of the best reasons why mentoring should take on more significance in many of today’s healthcare settings.

Mentored employees learn through competition to become leaders in patient safety and quality improvement effort. Mentoring can be a useful tool for strengthening staff retention and recruitment.

Mentoring offers the following benefits to the organization and its stakeholders:

  1. Improvement of services in the healthcare industry.
  2. New exposure to ideas and ways of thinking.
  3. Professionals will receive advice on developing strengths and overcoming weaknesses.
  4. Increased visibility and recognition within the company.
  5. Help newcomers to develop the necessary skills and thrive in the healthcare environment effectively.
  6. Mentoring helps improve the management of hospitals, clinics and other healthcare institutions.
  7. Increase the intellectual capital.
  8. Groom future leaders within the organization.

Mentoring in healthcare sector is expanding and is practiced by numerous groups of hospitals throughout the country in order to support and provide a more effective means to care and assist clients.  The benefits of mentoring practice is difficult to quantify. It is an accredited process that helps improve the process within an organization and leads staff to achieve better results for their efforts, particularly in today’s knowledge-based institutions.

According to Marisol Gonzalez “Mentoring is a two-way street. The mentor gets wiser while mentoring and the mentee gains knowledge through mentor”.

Sourced From:

https://www.integratedhealthcarestrategies.com/knowledgecenter_article.aspx?article_id=530

https://skybluecross.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/the-growing-need-for-mentoring-in-healthcare/

Brand India. (n.d.) https://www.ibef.org/industry/healthcare-india.aspx