Abstract
Industry 4.0 solutions have penetrated the healthcare sector, thus creating challenges that healthcare entities should meet. For this, a proper relationship between human resource management (HRM) within healthcare entities and Healthcare 4.0 is needed. In addition, organizations mainly focus on HRM practices, yet organizational issues are overlooked. In this context, the aim of the article was to analyze and evaluate the involvement and roles of key HRM actors, such as line managers and human resource (HR) specialists (HR departments) within strategic healthcare entities, namely hospitals. It was also important to identify the potential of hospitals to meet the requirements of Healthcare 4.0. A study was performed on a group of 285 Polish hospitals. Five respondents were recruited from each hospital. The total population amounted to 1425 interviewees. Due to the complexity of the research, it was outsourced. The results of the analysis identified that hospitals largely engage line managers in medical personnel management. However, a lack of managerial competence may become a major barrier in coping with challenges created by Healthcare 4.0. Organizational solutions do not support the strategic role of HR specialists; their anchoring in the organizational structures limits the possibility to support the changes required for the transformation towards Healthcare 4.0.
Highlights
The revolution of the manufacturing sector towards Industry 4.0 started a while ago
Hospitals were asked to forward the survey to other groups of respondents, such as physicians and nurses serving as ward managers and line managers, as well as individual physicians and nurses
The main difference was that the surveys for hybrid managers (HMs) and employees were shorter than that used for directors, and they were focused only on key human resource management (HRM) issues
Summary
The revolution of the manufacturing sector towards Industry 4.0 started a while ago. It gradually affected various branches of the economy and entered the service sector. Healthcare 4.0 is a collective term for data-driven digital health technologies, such as smart health, mobile health, wireless health, e-health, online health, medical IT, telemedicine, digital medicine, health informatics, pervasive health, and the health information system. It describes the digital frontiers and disruptive innovation in the healthcare sector that are creating new business models and value networks [8]. The new approach to the delivery of care is expected to enhance the quality and effectiveness of healthcare services, paving the way for a more direct relationship between patients and providers [9]
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