Employee salaries and wages can account for as much as 80 percent of a hospital’s budget. With that kind of investment, hospitals should do everything in their power to ensure that their greatest resource is giving its maximum effort. And the human resources department is who can make that happen.

New research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine shows that implementing three key human resources practices can improve clinical work behaviors and ultimately help the hospital provide better outcomes to patients.

Senior managers from more than 450 hospitals across the country were surveyed for the study. Lead author Naresh Khatri, an associate professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics, and his team asked questions regarding the relationship between the hospital’s CEO and its HR department, the leadership within the HR department and the quality of patient care.

Researchers found that the following three strategies enhanced quality of patient care while also prompting physicians to exhibit more proactive behaviors in their workforce:

1. The hospital’s CEO must make the importance of HR known to the faculty and staff.
2. An HR director who has a clear vision of how to use HR to enhance hospital performance must be put in place.
3. HR employees need to be trained to be capable of modifying, reconfiguring and renewing HR practices and systems in line with the HR director’s vision.

"If hospitals are to capitalize on their employee skills, knowledge and abilities, it is critical that attention is paid to finding the right individual to head the HR department, while empowering him or her to perform the role to the best of their abilities," Khatri said.