The healthcare industry faces many challenges, such as increasing demand, rising costs, regulatory changes, and workforce shortages. These challenges require effective and efficient healthcare staffing solutions that can meet the needs of both healthcare providers and patients.
In this article, we will discuss how contingency staffing can help solve the talent shortage problem in the healthcare sector, the costs and benefits of healthcare staffing, how healthcare staffing can improve the quality of patient care, and more.
Challenges of Healthcare Staffing
- High turnover rate: Healthcare professionals often experience high levels of stress, burnout, dissatisfaction, and fatigue due to the nature of their work. This leads to a high turnover rate among healthcare workers, which means that healthcare organizations have to constantly recruit and train new staff members to replace the ones who leave. According to a report by NSI Nursing Solutions, the average turnover rate for registered nurses (RNs) in 2022 was 18.7%, which means that nearly one in five RNs left their jobs that year. [1]
- Skill mismatch: Healthcare professionals have different levels of skills, qualifications, certifications, and specialties that need to match the requirements and expectations of the healthcare settings they work in. However, finding the right match between the supply and demand of healthcare talent can be challenging, especially in rural areas or specialized fields where there is a scarcity or surplus of certain types of healthcare workers.
- Compliance issues: Healthcare professionals have to comply with various laws, regulations, standards, and policies that govern their practice and conduct. These include federal and state laws, accreditation bodies, licensing boards, credentialing agencies, ethical codes, and more. Healthcare staffing agencies have to ensure that their candidates meet all the necessary compliance requirements before placing them in healthcare settings. This can be a time-consuming and complex process that involves verifying education, experience, references, background checks, drug tests, immunizations, certifications, and more.
- Competition: Healthcare staffing is a highly competitive industry that has many players vying for a share of the market. According to the report, the U.S. healthcare staffing industry is forecasted to hit $26.97 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 3.4% from 2023 to 2030. This means that healthcare staffing agencies have to compete with each other as well as with other sources of healthcare talent recruitment. [2]
Talent Shortage and Contingency Staffing for Healthcare Sourcing
The healthcare industry faces a talent shortage that may get worse due to aging, disease, and other factors. To fill their staffing gaps, many healthcare organizations use contingency staffing, which is hiring healthcare professionals temporarily for specific needs. Contingency staffing can be done through healthcare staffing agencies, which provide qualified and ready-to-work healthcare talent and handle the administrative and logistical tasks of healthcare staffing.
Contingency staffing for healthcare sourcing has many advantages for both healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals:
- Scalability: Contingency staffing allows healthcare organizations to adjust their workforce size and composition according to their changing needs and situations. They can hire more or fewer staff members depending on their workload, budget, and goals. They can also choose the type and level of skills and experience they need for their staff members. Contingency staffing also allows healthcare professionals to choose when, where, and how they want to work. They can select the assignments that suit their availability, interests, and career objectives. They can also enjoy more variety and diversity in their work environments and experiences.
- Less Costly: Contingency staffing can help healthcare organizations save money on their labor costs by reducing their overhead expenses, such as recruitment, training, retention, benefits, and more. They only pay for the staff members they need for the duration they need them. They also avoid the risks and liabilities associated with hiring permanent employees, such as wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, etc. Contingency staffing can also help healthcare professionals earn more money by allowing them to negotiate higher pay rates and receive bonuses and incentives for their performance and referrals.
- Experienced Hires: Contingency staffing can help improve the quality of care provided by healthcare organizations by ensuring that they have enough staff members to meet their patient needs and expectations. They can also access a wider range of skills and expertise that can enhance their service delivery and outcomes. Contingency staffing can also help improve the quality of work life for healthcare professionals by allowing them to work in settings that match their skills and preferences. They can also avoid burnout and stress by having more control over their work schedules and conditions.
Costs of Healthcare Staffing
Healthcare Staffing Using an ATS
To overcome the challenges and ensure cost efficiency, you can leverage the power of technology and use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to find, attract, and acquire the right candidates. An ATS is a software solution that helps streamline and automate the recruitment process from end to end. Here are some of the benefits you’ll get from an ATS.
- Avoid errors: An ATS can help you reduce the risk of human errors and data inconsistencies that can affect your reputation and performance. You can ensure that your candidate data is accurate, complete, and up-to-date, and that your compliance documents are in order.
- Source candidates more efficiently: You can use ATS’ advanced search tools, filters, and AI recommendations to match candidates with jobs based on their skills, experience, and preferences.
- Improve the candidate experience: With an ATS, you can provide a positive and engaging experience for your candidates throughout the recruitment journey. You can communicate with them effectively through email, SMS, or chat, and keep them updated on their application status.
- Collaborate and coordinate: An ATS enables you to work more productively and efficiently with your team members, hiring managers, clients, and vendors. You can share information, feedback, notes, and documents with them in real-time, and schedule interviews and meetings with ease.
Manatal is a cloud-based recruitment software that is designed to source and hire candidates faster and smarter. Manatal offers many features that can help healthcare organizations overcome their staffing challenges and find the right candidates more efficiently.
Some of the features that Manatal offers are:
- AI-powered candidate sourcing: Manatal uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically source candidates from various channels, such as job boards, social media platforms, career pages, referrals, etc. Manatal also uses AI to enrich candidate profiles with data from LinkedIn and other social platforms, giving you a comprehensive view of each candidate’s background, skills, interests, personality, and more.
- AI-powered candidate matching: Manatal automatically matches candidates with jobs based on their qualifications, preferences, availability, etc. It also uses AI to rank candidates according to their suitability for each job, giving you a clear indication of who to contact first.
- AI-powered candidate recommendations: Manatal’s AI recommends candidates for your open positions based on their fit with your company culture, values, goals, etc.
Healthcare Staffing Best Practices for Staff Retention
Staff retention can help reduce the costs and risks of staff turnover, improve the continuity and consistency of care, and enhance the reputation and image of the organization. It can be influenced by various factors, such as compensation, recognition, feedback, development, engagement, culture, and more. Therefore, it is important to implement some best practices for staff retention for healthcare staffing agencies. Some of these best practices are:
- Offer competitive compensation packages: Compensation packages include salary, benefits, bonuses, incentives, and more. They are one of the main motivators and attractors for staff members. So, it’s important that you offer competitive compensation packages that match or exceed the market rates and reflect the value and performance of the staff members.
- Provide regular recognition and feedback: Recognition and feedback are one of the main drivers and enhancers of staff satisfaction and performance. You should provide regular recognition and feedback to their staff members who acknowledge their achievements, contributions, and improvements. Also offer constructive feedback that helps them identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges.
- Offer career development opportunities: Career development opportunities include training, education, mentoring, coaching, certification, promotion, and more. They are one of the main sources and indicators of staff growth and potential. Offer your staff members career development opportunities that help them acquire new skills, knowledge, credentials, and positions.
- Encourage staff engagement and involvement: Staff engagement and involvement refer to the degree to which staff members feel connected to and invested in their work and organization. They are one of the main factors and outcomes of staff loyalty and commitment. You should encourage staff engagement and involvement by creating a positive work environment that fosters collaboration, communication, and participation. It’s also a good idea to solicit and act on staff feedback, suggestions, and ideas.
- Build a strong organizational culture: Organizational culture is the shared values, beliefs, norms, and practices that shape and guide the behavior and performance of the staff members and the organization. You can make your staff identity and alignment stand out by building a strong organizational culture that reflects your vision, mission, goals, and principles. At the same time, promote a culture of trust, respect, diversity, and excellence among your staff members.
Conclusion
Healthcare staffing is a complex and challenging process that requires careful planning, execution, and evaluation. It can help healthcare organizations address their staffing needs, challenges, and goals by providing them with qualified, available, and flexible healthcare professionals. It can also help healthcare professionals find rewarding, meaningful, and diverse work opportunities that suit their skills, preferences, and objectives.
However, healthcare staffing also involves various costs, risks, and responsibilities that need to be considered and compared before making a decision. Therefore, it is important to do some research and compare different options before choosing a healthcare staffing solution that can meet your expectations and requirements.
—
Citations:
.png)
.webp)
.webp){kind=logo}
.webp)
.png){kind=small}
