Media Contact: Toshia JohnsonE-mail: [email protected]Telephone: 310-423-4062 or 310-423-4767
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the largest not-for-profit hospital in the western United States, is launching a concerted, sustained marketing campaign designed to draw new talent and distinguish Cedars-Sinai from other hospitals in the region.
"We're appealing to professionals who want to have their skills and professionalism challenged and rewarded," according to Janice Buehler, human resources manager whose responsibilities include staff relations, recruitment and diversity. "Because of Cedars-Sinai's reputation as a research center and an innovative medical center, some of the most complex, challenging cases are referred to us. We're looking for professionals who want to come and work with the best."
The campaign also targets the underlying reason many people decide to pursue a healthcare career in the first place. "We're trying to attract those who got into healthcare because they wanted to help people, to make a real difference in lives," Buehler notes. "I think people know that Cedars-Sinai has great benefits. We have put some pay programs into place to make it a very attractive place for a new grad to get his or her start. But this campaign is not about more money or better benefits. It's about the personal rewards that can be found at Cedars-Sinai like no place else."
Print ads feature 30 real Cedars-Sinai employees photographed by celebrity photographer Alan Weissman. Although most of these employees represent nursing disciplines, many are from other areas that also have shortages -- medical records coding, diagnostic imaging, respiratory therapy, research, laboratories and pharmacy.
"There are acute shortages in nursing and many other areas, and they're all interconnected," according to Buehler. "If there is a shortage in the pharmacy or radiology or the labs, it affects the nursing floors."
Buehler, who has been with Cedars-Sinai for about 13 years, says the campaign focuses on the medical center's ongoing effort to increase diversity of ethnicity and gender. She hopes to hire more male nurses, for example. She also hopes to gradually correct a few misconceptions.
"Strangely, while patients know Cedars-Sinai for its high level of personal care, potential employees often expect it to be a very impersonal place to work. This is due in part to the sheer size of the medical center. Therefore, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., we're going to make every effort to have every call from prospective RN employees answered by a real person. No voice mails. No e-mails," Buehler says. "We believe that a friendly greeting will be the first step in dispelling this myth."
To attract the best and brightest, hospitals constantly try to unveil innovative incentives, more appealing benefits, and higher pay rates. But few secrets last long.
"One hospital may have a slight difference in a pay scale for a specific nursing specialty, but we all survey the market a couple of times a year -- for nursing and other professions," Buehler says. In fact, she compares recruiting efforts to a chess game. Each move is matched by another. And the intensity of the players is a good indication that administrators recognize that a hospital's success revolves around its nurses.
"If our hospital starts doing something different that works, someone else will adopt it. And if I find out that another hospital has developed a new, effective program, I'm going to implement something similar. In fact, we actually share a lot," says Buehler, who serves as president of the Southern California Association of Healthcare Recruiters. "We're not going to tip our trade secrets, but we share what's working and what's not working, and we network quite a bit. In some ways, there's a collaboration because we're all in the same boat."
Still, while it may be friendly, competition exists, and it is not likely to ease any time soon. Nursing shortages are known to be cyclic, but the current cycle may be more persistent than were its predecessors, due to a combination of factors. Fewer nursing schools exist today than before, and while the workforce is aging and decreasing in numbers, demand is increasing as patient acuity rises. Caring for the same number of patients in 2001 requires more nurses than it did five years ago.
As part of its long-standing commitment to developing and attracting nurses and other members of the team, Cedars-Sinai offers a full complement of educational opportunities. With a health-careers academy, nursing scholarships, nursing career luncheons and other programs, nursing administrators hope to plant the health career seed early and nurture it into the next generations of Cedars-Sinai employees.
The new recruiting campaign, which launched in April, is intended to put real faces on Cedars-Sinai's trademark qualities.
"With its reputation for providing excellent care and offering a stimulating professional environment, Cedars-Sinai is a great workplace for people who thrive on challenge," notes Buehler. "We believe our employees -- the people who know Cedars-Sinai best -- can be our most effective recruiters."
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For media information and interviews, please contact Toshia Johnson via e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 310-423-4062 or 423-4767. Thank you.
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