Millennials that work in the healthcare system have brought a lot of positive changes as baby boomers retire. According to the co-chair of Emerging Health Leaders Toronto, Melicent Lavers, the next generation of healthcare professionals (with less than 15 years of experience) bring many advantages to the table:
“One of the advantages of younger physicians is that they are digital natives.”
At Monday’s National Health Leadership Conference in St. John, Lavers explained that the millennial professionals use social media to “engage with peers and patients,” adding that the advantages of using social media should only be used “to hear the patients’ needs.”
New Goals For Young Talent
Health institutions, in Lavers’ opinion, struggle hiring and keeping young professionals in the medical field:
“Emerging health leaders have a different set of values and look at work differently. [They] want to travel more, they want to collaborate and they want to take part in decision-making at a younger age.”
Human resources experts agree. Jess Chapman is the owner of EThree Consulting, adding that employees should redefine job performances and understand that dedication is not reflected by the time spent at work:
“Getting your head around what performance means, and how to flex time and hours for somebody who wants more balance is going to be important. Starting to think about different work structures, allowing people to work different shift patterns, allowing people to share jobs and being more creative in the way we think about work is going to be very important.”
Chapman and Lavers know that technology will help millennials achieve that work-life balance.
“The generational gap is not a bad thing.” – Michelle Moonesar
Hiring a young generation will also help older physicians and health care workers, said Michelle Moonesar, co-chair with Emerging Health Leaders Canada. Lavers agrees, saying that millennials understand how important AI is and combining young physicians that can use technology with the senior physicians, “that would make for the best health care system.”
Doris’s passion for writing started to take shape in college where she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Even though she ended up working in IT for more than 7 years, she’s now back to what he always enjoyed doing. With a true passion for technology, Doris mostly covers tech-related topics.