Background Critical access hospitals (CAHs) are small hospitals in rural communities in the United States. Because of changes in rural population demographics, legacy financial obligations, and/or structural issues in the U.S. health care system, many of these institutions are financially distressed. Indeed, many have closed due to their inability to maintain financial viability, resulting in a health care and economic crisis for their communities. Employee recruitment, retention, and turnover are critical to the performance of these hospitals. There is limited empirical study of the factors that influence turnover in such institutions. Purpose The primary purpose of the study was to study relationships between interpersonal support, supervisory support, employee engagement, and employee turnover intentions in CAHs. A secondary purpose was to study how financial distress affects these relationships. Methodology Based on a survey of CAH employees (n = 218), the article utilizes mediated moderation analysis of a structural equation model. Results Interpersonal support and supervisory support are positively associated with employee engagement, whereas employee engagement mediates the relationships between both interpersonal support and supervisory support and employee turnover intentions. Statistically significant differences are found between these relationships in financially distressed and highly financially distressed institutions. Conclusions Our results are consistent with the social exchange theory upon which our hypotheses and model are built and demonstrate the value of using the degree of organizational financial distress as a contextual variable when studying motivational factors influencing employee turnover intentions. Practical Implications In addition to advancing management theory as applied in the CAH context, our study presents the practical insight that employee perceptions of their employer’s financial condition should be considered when organizations develop employee retention strategies. Specifically, employee engagement strategies appear to be of greater value in the case of highly financially distressed organizations, whereas supervisory support seems more effective in financially distressed organizations.
Introduction:While large cities typically staff ambulances with two emergency medical services (EMS) professionals, some EMS agencies use three people for ambulance crews. The Greenville, North Carolina, EMS agency converted from three-person to two-person EMS crews in July 1993. There are no published reports investigating the best crew size for out-of-hospital emergency care.Hypothesis:Two-person EMS crews perform the same number and types of interventions as three-person EMS crews. Two-person EMS crews do not have longer on-scene times than do three-person EMS crews.Methods:Data for the two most common advanced life support calls in this system—seizures and chest pains—were collected for the months of June and August 1993. Three-person EMS crews responded to both types of calls in June. In August, two-person EMS crews responded to seizure calls; two-person EMS crews accompanied by a fire department engine (pumper) with additional manpower responded to chest pain calk. The frequency of specific interventions, number of total interventions, and scene times for the August calls were compared to their historical control groups, the June calls.Results:One hundred twenty-six patient contacts were included in the study. There were no significant differences in total number or types of procedures performed for the two patient groups. Mean on-scene time for patients with seizures was 11.0±4.2 minutes for three-person crews and 19.4±8.3 minutes for two-person crews (p <0.001). Mean on-scene time for patients with chest pain was 13.6±4.9 minutes for three-person crews, and 15.4±3.2 minutes for two-person crews assisted by fire department personnel (p >0.05).Conclusion:Two-person EMS crews perform the same number of procedures as do three-person EMS crews. However, without the assistance of additional responders, two-person EMS crews may have statistically significantly longer onscene times than three-person EMS crews.
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