Healthcare facilities face numerous staffing challenges. For one, they’re dealing with a shortage of healthcare workers that has been building for a few decades now and is expected to grow in the years to come. That makes finding qualified candidates difficult right from the start. On top of that, attracting talent can be a struggle, especially for facilities that don’t have the budgets to offer competitive salaries, bonuses, and other incentives. Beyond finding and drawing in new team members, many facilities have high burnout and turnover rates to contend with.
Maintaining a productive, efficient healthcare workforce is crucial, but it can be exceedingly difficult considering all the hurdles you’re up against. Companies like CHG Healthcare are here to help. Consider the following ways to streamline your staff from various angles.
Work With a Staffing Agency
In terms of finding qualified candidates and attracting new talent, working with a healthcare staffing agency can help make matters much faster, simpler, and more successful. Staffing agencies have vast and diverse talent pools to draw from, so they can find candidates whose qualifications and skill sets mesh with your hiring needs. They also have candidates who are looking for different work arrangements from permanent full-time positions to temporary ones and from on-site jobs to telehealth and hybrid models.
Furthermore, staffing agencies offer far more services than recruiting qualified candidates. They also assist with background checks, credentialing, and other essential factors. Some help with the onboarding process as well. All those services can help you find the qualified medical professionals, ensure they’re a good fit for your positions, and transition them seamlessly into your workforce.
Managing Staff Schedules
Another problem many healthcare facilities face is managing their staff schedules. This can be precarious in light of fluctuating patient volumes, unexpected absences, and many other issues that tend to arise. At the same time, medical facilities must keep staff-to-patient ratios, regulations regarding consecutive work hours, requested time off, and several other factors in mind when determining staff schedules.
Workforce management software can make a significant difference in this arena. It automates scheduling, time tracking, and other crucial elements. It can also oversee employee vacations and sick leaves, ensure appropriate staff-to-patient ratios, and handle other scheduling-related tasks. Predictive analytics software can foresee changes in patient volumes based on past trends to help you stay a step ahead of upticks and downturns. Those are only a few of the options available to you for managing staff schedules and ensuring you have enough staff members on hand at all times.
Reducing Burnout and Staff Turnover Rates
Burnout is among the main reasons for the growing healthcare worker shortage. That and high employee turnover rates are largely responsible for many medical facilities’ specific staffing issues as well. Countless medical professionals are overworked, unable to take time off when they need it, and in need of a more satisfying work-life balance. Avoiding those issues is one of the keys to streamlining your workforce. That may entail more flexible scheduling, allowing employees to swap shifts, and bringing in locum tenens providers to cover for vacations and leaves among other measures.
Making Your Workforce More Efficient and Effective
Medical facilities are up against an array of staffing challenges from finding qualified candidates to fill their open positions to keeping the employees they have and beyond. Several measures can help you streamline your workforce, including working with a staffing agency and automating your scheduling processes. Reducing burnout and staff turnover rates can help you to better retain team members and enable them to work more effectively. These and many other strategies can help you keep your facility running smoothly and ensure your patients get the best possible care.
