New York Hospital Queens
College is the central educational resource
for the medical center's 2,600 employees.
New York Hospital Queens
was one of the first health care organizations
in the country to create the modern medium for
in-house education known as the corporate college.
The corporate college emphasizes continuous
technical and intellectual development for all
employees to help them provide maximum support
for organizational goals. It replaces a focus
on episodic, one-time training events primarily
to meet regulatory requirements.
Continuous learning is
essential in the health care field, where knowledge
and technology develop at a constant, rapid
rate and where the responsibility for human
welfare is so great. Our goal is to help each
employee to function at the highest level of
competency as roles and responsibilities continuously
evolve.
Mission and goals
The mission of The College
is to keep all employees at the cutting edge
of knowledge and proficiency in support of the
medical center's mission. The goals of The College
are to help employees enhance professional development,
attain the highest level of job performance,
and play a proactive role in providing superior
clinical care, medical education, clinical research
and customer service.
Organization
The College is directed
by a Chief Learning Officer (CLO), who translates
the strategic goals of the Board of Trustees
and President into teaching and learning goals
that engage and affect every employee. The CLO
is assisted by an Advisory Board that helps
to establish broad policy guidelines and general
direction for employee educational activities.
The Board is comprised of senior members of
the Administration and representatives from
Patient Care Services, the Health Education
Library, the Lang Research Center and Queens
College CUNY.
The teaching and learning
exchange can be observed in the medical center
at virtually every hour of every day. It takes
many forms, from one-to-one mentoring and preceptorships
to mandatory department oriented in-service
sessions, to invitational workshops and conferences
that include health care professionals from
other organizations.
The College also sponsors
two terms of elective courses per year, open
to all employees. The curriculum currently covers
approximately 20 topics in three categories:
the fundamentals of health care organization,
general business skills, and interpersonal skills.
These categories will be expanded as The College
grows.
Educational sessions are
presented as three-hour workshops, one-day seminars,
or a series of one to three-hour classes, depending
on the topic. They are taught by senior members
of the staff and by faculty from external academic
sources.
A segment of college programming
called Executive Sessions provides leadership
classes directed to management personnel:
In the Mentoring Program, senior administrators
meet with three to five managers one hour a
week for 15 weeks. The purpose of these sessions
is to share insights and knowledge related to
current issues in health care generally and
the medical center in particular. Mentored staff
gain advanced professional knowledge and skills
that benefit them as well as the organization
in a higher level of performance and production.
Other Executive Sessions
currently include workshops on budgeting and
finance, coaching, hiring practices and appraisal
techniques.
The College also offers
Seminars to Go, which are one-day seminars tailored
to the specific needs of a particular department.
The first of these seminars were conducted for
members of the Emergency Department, who were
taught crisis intervention skills and how to
communicate effectively in the face of constant
pressure.
New York Hospital Queens
College, which was founded in October 2000,
presented its first full term in the fall of
2001. |
