University of Chicago Hospitals

"We have made a conscious decision at the University of Chicago Hospitals to leverage employee education & training as a key driver for becoming an employer of choice. We firmly believe our organization's investment in employee learning directly impacts patient satisfaction and loyalty." - Mike Riordan, President & CEO

As one of the nation’s premier patient care, research and educational medical centers, The University of Chicago Hospitals (UCH) employs 5,100 people. Facing an increasingly competitive, rapidly changing healthcare environment, UCH developed a strategy to build a culture of continuous learning by developing learning systems and establishing strong partnerships with staff and educational institutions. To manage the planning, design and delivery of its learning strategy, UCH developed the first corporate university in the health care industry- the UCH Academy.

UCH believes that learning and development activities are strong recruitment and retention tactics, particularly in the healthcare industry where critical shortages of nurses and other healthcare professionals exist. To solve these staffing shortages, UCH has established unique relationships with a number of educational institutions throughout the Chicago area to offer convenient and customized degree and certificate programs onsite.

As a result of the work of the Academy, enrollment in UCH learning programs expanded eight-fold, incorporating all levels of staff, and an estimated 20 to 30 percent of staff elect to participate in learning opportunities, higher than average for most industries. In addition, evaluation techniques and other data have proven the effectiveness of UCH efforts. Staff turnover from 1996 to 1999 dropped from 26 percent to 15 percent.

Click here to view full case study. The information presented here was assembled in 2002. This does not necessarily represent the current status of UCH.