The nursing and staff shortages in health-care facilities across the nation leave many administrators and professionals worried.
Hospitals, in particular, are searching for creative ways to alleviate these staff shortages without hindering their level of patient care. These solutions will help you retain existing employees and entice incoming recruits to choose your facility. Let’s take a closer look at some of these creative solutions!
Onboarding programs
A thorough and well-manicured onboarding program can encourage recruits to feel welcome and needed. They know the facility wants them to fill an open position, but outside of that, they should also feel like a necessary component to the operation of their role.
Through an onboarding program, a facility can employ the hands of existing employees to facilitate certain aspects and provide a location-specific training segment that aids in a recruit’s ability to adapt.
Incentivization
Providing and offering an incentives program can encourage an excellent code of conduct for existing staff. It’s also a strategic selling point for incoming recruits. Employees of all skill levels want to have others recognize their hard work, especially when they are typically performing tasks outside of their pay grade.
When there is a staff shortage, employees have to do many people’s jobs instead of just their own. Incentivizing is an effective and creative way to alleviate the burdens and reward hard work.
Long-term education and development
Receiving a college education is the prerequisite to job fulfillment. But continued and long-term education and development are necessary to ensure they can offer quality and knowledgeable care throughout their career.
Training and education should always be a top priority any time there is new equipment in the building. Technology advances and equipment changes, so ensuring everyone is up to speed can help them with their patients. Staff will also have a sense of passion and purpose around their responsibilities, which can mitigate an unnecessary departure from an unorganized institute.
Competitive referral compensation
The existing staff is one of the best assets for recruiting by referrals. If a facility offers a competitive referral compensation, the staff is more likely to communicate any openings to their friends. There are various ways you can compensate an employee for a quality referral but consider this program’s short-term and long-term benefits.
Scheduling flexibility
It’s challenging to maintain flexibility in health care, no matter the facility. But once a facility has enough staff, remember to rotate the schedule around to help alleviate any employee burnout.
Additionally, if a staff member is experiencing active burnout, consider making schedule shifts to allow them a day or two to recoup. An employee experiencing burnout could lack in providing quality patient care.
When it comes to a large-scale solution, various drastic changes are necessary. But in the short-term, a hospital can alleviate their immediate staff shortages through some practical and creative options.
