Patient care is the prime focus of healthcare processes. And staffing plays a pivotal role in delivering high-grade patient experience/care. In the situation where not experienced healthcare professionals are available, not only does the patient care suffer, but even the patient’s overall experience will put your brand image at risk. Now the question is are you willing to take that risk?

Healthcare Staffing Catastrophe

The plight faced by the healthcare staffing industry is primarily affecting the nursing profession in the United States. As per Reuters “Nursing shortages have occurred in the past, but the current crisis is far worse. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be more than a million registered nurse openings by 2024, twice the rate seen in previous shortages.”

And when we talk about the paucity of nurses, there isn’t just one cause – there are multiple components contributing to this shift. As per Staffing Industry Analysts, what caused this deficiency is the huge number of highly-proficient retiring nurses, and the job openings for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations averaging at 624,000 a year. “The retirement wave of Baby-Boomer nurses will create a particular drain on clinical expertise and institutional knowledge, which are critical to quality patient care and organizational success for healthcare providers,” as per an article published by SIA.

Healthcare systems are reportedly in a perilous situation as they risk compromising on patient care if they are not able to fill the gap. This puts the staffing supplier in the front and center of their patient care and experience strategy.

Additionally, as the nurse-to-patient ratio lowers, nurses are under immense work pressure. Nurses working in under-staffed healthcare centers even reported low job satisfaction and a significantly high turnover due to their huge workload.

Trouble dealing with the healthcare staff deficit?

Impact of Staff Paucity of Healthcare Systems

An understaffed healthcare center is typically perceived as an unreliable brand in the public view.

Lawsuits remark to understaffing are already proving expensive. To give you an example, ‘a jury in Kentucky awarded $20 million to the family of a man who suffered a heart attack after allegedly being ignored and untreated for several days. To prevent such lawsuits, it is often not enough to improve staff training or to implement enhanced procedures. In many cases, it may be necessary to increase staffing levels as well as to implement systemic changes,’ as per Caring for the Ages.

What Role Does A Healthcare Staffing Supplier Play In This Situation?

Having the right healthcare staffing supplier can help healthcare centers in dealing with seasonal requirements that need them to scale headcounts up and down.

A good staffing firm should be able to fill the gap between the demand and supply of healthcare professionals even at the times of shortage. Choosing a staffing company is similar to a strategic alliance- they should be able to play multiple roles – act as a talent consultant,  has the ability to predict the health care center’s demand for talent, and delivers practical healthcare staffing solutions that accelerate supply.

Top healthcare staffing agencies will always ensure that the talent they supply is a great cultural fit. A specialist healthcare staffing firm usually has access to a pool of pre-qualified nursing and allied health candidates, which might not even be available to healthcare institutions.

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How to Choose the Healthcare Staffing Agency

Healthcare system managers faced several hardships to find and recruit the best talent. The numerous issues caused by a staffing shortage can be nullified by working with a professional healthcare staffing supplier that is capable of providing a steady supply of qualified nurses in the times of shortage. In the below section we list down certain things healthcare system managers can look for in a reliable supplier:

• Refreshed Database – Suppliers who have an in-house QA team to keep a check on the quality of the talent they deliver are able to keep both the client and resource happy.
• Pre-Assessed Talent Pool – The Candidate background check is the most important part of the healthcare hiring process, find a supplier who does this. A pre-vetted talent pool ensures quality patient care and experience, thereby improving the overall performance of the healthcare system.
• Tie-ups with Nursing Schools – A good supplier is one that has access to fresh talent. By giving the freshman opportunities at the start of their careers they are able to grow high-quality talent since the beginning.

The shortage of nurses in the U.S. is the difficult problem to solve. However, with the support of a good healthcare staffing firm, this issue can be resolved. A stable healthcare staffing supplier can enhance the healthcare system service levels by providing access to the quality talent pool.

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