The effects of employee engagement in the healthcare industry

Employee engagement is a concept that has gained considerable popularity in recent years. Research conducted in the healthcare industry has shown that employee engagement can be used as an indicator to predict outcomes for several factors including: patient safety, patient satisfaction, and employee retention. It has been found that high levels of employee engagement lead to positive while low levels of employee engagement have been found to produce negative outcomes. The effects employee engagement has on the three factors referenced above have the potential to have a positive or detrimental effect to an organization’s function, healthcare expenditures and image. More importantly the effect employee engagement has on those three elements has the potential to positively or negatively directly affect patient care. This literature review explores the effects employee engagement has on patient safety, employee retention and employee turnover. The information found in this literature review is significant to public health because the results demonstrate that employee engagement strategies can be used to improve patient safety and health within healthcare organizations and to reduce negative effects on patient care