Emergency staffing situations pose a dire need in healthcare. Short staffing creates far too many risks to patient care and nursing staff. That’s why healthcare organizations must act quickly and apply strategies that ensure patient safety and avoid staff burnout.
Employee turnover is one of the primary reasons healthcare organizations face shortages. Burnout, inflexible scheduling, insufficient time off between shifts, and low wages all contribute to high turnover. While this remains a concern, it is primarily an operational issue and warrants a discussion about retention strategies.
The immediate concern for healthcare organizations is what to do when you simply can’t fill a shift. The need for staff becomes emergent. For your patients’ sake, and in order to maintain efficient operations, you need to resolve your staff shortages immediately.
Here we endeavor to break down the top reasons healthcare organizations confront this issue and offer our tips for filling staff vacancies, long-term or temporary, when you’re faced with emergency staffing needs. Understanding what contributes to the issue is the best way to get ahead of the problem. However, that isn’t always possible so we provide our top solutions as well.
Why Uncovered Shifts May Exist
When discussing those factors that commonly result in a staff shortage or unfilled shifts, we can’t ignore the ongoing nursing shortage. Of course, the lack of available recruits and candidates is a big reason healthcare facilities struggle with this issue. There isn’t much that can be done to immediately rectify the nursing shortage. But you can take steps to resolve some of the other major factors that cause staff shortages.
High Turnover Rates
While perhaps not the highest turnover rates when compared to other industries, healthcare does experience an extremely high rate of turnover. And in many cases, healthcare staff simply move on to other career paths, abandoning the medical profession altogether.
A big reason for the high rate of turnover? Burnout. And this comes from poor planning and poor employee management. Expecting your healthcare staff to work shift upon shift, cover for absent employees, and not recognizing their needs
When high turnover is part of your staffing issue, planning shift coverage becomes difficult at best. While it’s impossible to eliminate turnover, there are steps you can take to get ahead of burnout and other things that may contribute to higher rates of turnover.
Absenteeism
Whether due to burnout or flu season, absenteeism creates a desperate need for shift coverage in her healthcare organizations. Oftentimes, a local surge in viruses means that more than a few staff members may take sick leave for a few days. And, unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do to get ahead of that.
When expediency is necessary, partnering with a staffing agency to gain access to per diem staff is an excellent way to fill a shift. These healthcare workers can step in right away and hit the ground running. They’ve been vetted and background-checked and all certifications verified. All you need to do is make the request, and BOS Medical Staffing is at the ready with your emergency staffing solutions.
Seasonal Increase in Demand for Staff
Just as the flu or other viruses can affect your staff, they can also impact your need for increased patient care staff. Suddenly, the demand for care is up, and the need for nurses or other healthcare workers becomes crucial.
While every healthcare organization has a specific protocol in these circumstances, developing a proactive strategy is essential to answer emergency staffing needs that arise. Access to per diem staff or part-time workers can be beneficial.
Failure to Predict A Need for Increased Staff
Many healthcare facilities and organizations fail to accurately predict their need for staff. By implementing effective strategies based on data from previous times, you can get ahead of your need for additional staff to fill shifts when the patient census is high.
Inflexible Scheduling
Everyone, and most especially nurses and healthcare workers, needs to strike a work-life balance. Failure to recognize this need on the part of the employer leads to challenges when it comes to filling shifts. Being too restrictive in your scheduling results in your healthcare staff taking matters into their own hands and forfeiting shifts you may not be able to fill on short notice.
It takes time and planning to get ahead of these issues that lead to uncovered shifts. But by understanding the common causes of open shifts and low staff numbers, administrators can begin to develop and implement programs that help avoid emergency staffing crises.
Tips for Handling Emergency Staffing in Your Healthcare Organization
The need for healthcare doesn’t slow down and wait for you to catch up. When you need to fill shifts, you need staff now. There’s no time to recruit, interview, hire, onboard, etc. While you and your organization work on developing programs that help avoid open shifts and emergency staffing issues, here are some more immediate tips you can follow.
Implement and Immediate On-Call System
If a healthcare staff member calls out sick or has a personal emergency, you need a system in place that can immediately help fill the open shift. Many times, these calls come on short notice. You may only have a limited timeframe in which you can fill the open shift, often no more than a few hours. You need a pool of workers willing to come at a moment’s notice, with financial compensation, obviously
Implementing an immediate on-call system is fairly simple. Using predictive data based on prior urgent needs to fill open shifts, team size, and patient demand during peak times like flu season, which affects both staff and patient load. Implement a policy with specific guidelines and ensure each staff member understands these guidelines.
Specific software that outlines on-call schedules for staff members is a wonderful solution to preventing that last-minute scramble for nurse managers and the like. Utilizing an automated system also helps ensure you have enough available staff in your on-call pool.
Flexible Scheduling
One way to help healthcare managers answer the need for emergency staffing is by placing control in the hands of your healthcare staff. When you utilize a flexible scheduling system, you can creatively address those potential shift shortages by staggering start times, offering shorter shifts, perhaps six to eight hours over the more common 12-hour shifts, and allowing nurses and other healthcare workers to split shifts.
Flexible scheduling has the potential to reduce unplanned absenteeism, prevent call-outs, and allow your nursing staff to maintain a healthy work-life balance. That’s good for everyone in the long run, as ensuring a good work-life balance is one of the best ways to prevent burnout.
Begin your flexible scheduling program by assessing your current resources and needs. This helps you plan staff-to-patient ratios that maintain the right care. Discuss nurses’ preferences and identify those who are most willing to adapt to scheduling changes.
Cross-Training Staff Has Its Benefits
One popular remedy recently to address the nursing shortage is to cross-train care staff. When your medical staff is trained in more than one area, or carries skills, experience, and certifications necessary for more than one area, they become invaluable. These staff members can quickly jump in where they are most needed.
Cross-training has the additional benefit of improving the culture of your healthcare facility by fostering teamwork and improving patient care and outcomes. Offering a program in which the nurses who are so inclined may obtain the necessary training and certifications to be able to assist in other areas when called upon. There’s an investment on the part of your healthcare organization, but in the end, your return on that investment is exponential.
Implement a Strong Incentive Program
When you provide incentives, monetary or in the form of additional PTO, your nurses are encouraged to cover open shifts. Call on your creative side to come up with some interesting and enticing incentives, such as:
- Gift cards to local businesses and restaurants.
- Tickets to movies, concerts, plays, and sporting events.
- Public recognition in meetings or organizational newsletters.
- Use of a premium parking space.
- Spa day or getaway.
- Anything else you can think of!
You get the idea. An incentive that makes staff pause and consider taking on an uncovered shift is well worth the investment. One caveat, however: relying on the same employees who eagerly respond to your requests because of incentives can result in burnout or resentment among the team. When you implement an incentive program, limit the number of times an employee may volunteer for open shifts.
Fine-Tune Scheduling Channels Using Tech
In situations where open shifts become frequent and the need for emergency staffing is high, look to your own communication insofar as your staffing protocols. Incorporate technology to streamline scheduling and handle on-call notifications. When a need arises, an automatic text or call goes out, and a team member can respond and accept the shift immediately within the call or text.
Partner With A Quality Medical Staffing Agency
When your staffing needs are stretched to the limit and time is of the extreme essence, rely on BOS Medical Staffing for solutions. We have a large pool of vetted and qualified staff to jump in when you need them. We specialize in per diem, part-time, full-time, travel nurses, and medical staff available to fill your open shifts. We partner with a diverse group of healthcare organizations, as well as talent.
All medical staffing agencies are not created equal. In fact, many lack the experience and professionalism you’ll find with BOS Medical Staffing. When your needs are emergent, you want to be able to reach out immediately and find solutions. Don’t risk making a grave mistake. Partner with the right medical staffing agency. Your patients depend on you.
Avoid making costly and dangerous mistakes. Find out why so many healthcare organizations, large and small, specialized and general, trust in BOS Medical Staffing for all of their workforce needs. Contact us today, and together let’s make sure your shifts are covered.
