Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

According to Steve Jobs, Chief Executive Officer of Apple Company 'Great things in

business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people.'

The greatest asset of any organization is its people. Today's business environment appraises

the role of human resource as a strategic partner instead of merely supporting the administration.

It is an organization's responsibility to effectively manage the talent of its workforce to achieve

sublime business objectives. The holy grail of a successful business would be that company finds

the best people, train the best people and retain the best people (Dwivedi, 2018)

In this modern era of globalization and competitive business, it has become a herculean

task for most of the organizations in healthcare sector to retain skilled medical staff due to higher

turnover of healthcare hospital staff. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that out of

a total of 59.2 million fulltime paid health workers worldwide, 67% (39,470,000) are health service

providers and 33% (19,750,000) are health management and support workers. On average there

are 9.3 health workers per 1,000 people worldwide.

Employee turnover is challenging in service-intensive industries such as in health care

(hospital industry) where the employees have a direct impact on the quality of patient care. The

cost to replace an employee is a non-value added expense to an organization’s. The cost includes

recruiting, hiring, and training, and extends to organizational productivity, as replacement

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employees are slower and require additional training. The cost of turnover for entry-level

employees is 30% to 50% of their annual salary (Laddha, Singh, Gabbad, &Gidwani, 2012).

Employee turnover is considered by many as the most talked topic in Human Resource

Management. As defined by Farlex (2015) the term employee turnover refers to the ratio between

the employees that needs to be replaced over given period of time over the average number of

employees.

Profile of the Company

Adventist Hospital-Palawan, also currently known as AHP (A Happy Place), was

conceived in the late 1970s when the heavy influx of migrants from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao

was just beginning in Palawan. The rising and urgent need for competent medical and dental

services was then recognized. It was formally opened on October 10, 1982 as Palawan Medical

Clinic, located at 33 Abad Santos Street, Puerto Princesa City, simultaneous with the ground-

breaking ceremony at the hospital’s present location in Junction 2, San Pedro.

At the start, the workers at the clinic were handling two or three different jobs and were

even spending overtime at work most of the times. Post-graduate interns and med tech interns were

later requested from Manila Sanitarium and Hospital to help lighten the load of workers. After the

long, arduous task of the hospital building, Palawan Medical Clinic became known as Palawan

Adventist Hospital. The hospital was officially inaugurated on June 16, 1988.

As years went by, the populace did not only increase in number but also in medical

awareness so much that demands for specialists accelerated. To meet this demand, the hospital

added staff physicians in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, General Trauma

Surgery and Internal Medicine. Accreditation of visiting consultants with different specialties was
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opened. Finally, by the grace of God and the perseverance of all workers from the rank and file to

the supervisors and department heads and administration of the hospital who contributed equitably

to the effort, this hospital was certified ISO 9001:2000 compliant on December 28, 2005 by TUV

Philippines. This means that the hospital’s healthcare services are at par with international

standard healthcare practices.

In 2008-2009, more hospital funds were dedicated for face-lifting and building expansion.

First, the 11-Room Garden Suites were completed. Followed by the repainting of the ER, DR, and

Hallways. The fully-glassed façade made the entrance neat and elegant. The Clinical Laboratory

upgraded its facility and acquired new equipment. The Intensive Care Unit was opened equipped

with machines and manpower. A major renovation of the hospital followed primarily in the

Dietary, Administrative offices, and the Newborn Intensive Care Unit to meet the minimum

requirements of the DOH for its application as a Tertiary Care Hospital. Other services such as

Marketing and Medical Social Service were also added to enhance the efficiency of the company.

In 2010, the Hospital was conferred by the Department of Health the license to operate as

Tertiary Care Hospital, thus making a history as the first and only Tertiary hospital in the province

of Palawan. Last January 29, 2010 we have been re-accredited as an ISO 9001:2008 certified

hospital. May 08, 2012, Palawan Adventist Hospital officially became known as Adventist

Hospital-Palawan since it was agreed by the top management to have a centralized company name

among sister’s institution.

Currently, QMS officers and the top management completed the requirements for the re-

accreditation as ISO 9001-2015 in year 2018. Adventist Hospital Palawan expanded its capacity

to cater more patients in terms of its bed capacity, from 98 to 162 bed capacity, Level II DOH

hospital and also a Philhealth Insurance Accredited. This resulted that the hospital to hire more
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healthcare frontline staff due to an increase number of patients in the hospital. The ratio of a nurse

and a patient is 1 Nurse is to 7 patients.

At present Adventist Hospital Palawan has a total of 580 employees, consisting of 275

Registered Nurses and Nurse Aides, 27 Medical Technologist, 9 Physical Therapist, 4 Registered

Pharmacist and 5 Pharmacy Aide, 18 Radiologic Technologist, 7 Clinical Dietitian, and the

remaining 236 are the employees in the health care support system like finance and operations.

Healthcare frontline hospital staffs are composed of Nurses, Medical Technologist, Radiologic

Technologist, Clinical Dietician, Pharmacist and Physical Therapist. They are the ones that have

a direct patient contact in the hospital and they are also called the core of the organization.

The purpose of this case study is to recognize the reasons behind the employees’ turnover

of the healthcare frontline staff of Adventist Hospital Palawan, which could serve as basis for

intervention program of the Human Resource Management Office.