Optimizing Staff Utilization: Effective Scheduling and Deployment of Internal Resources

The healthcare community is recognizing the power of nurses, and they are aspiring to new heights. Medical schools are producing more graduates qualified to practice nursing, but they often do not stay in the field of nursing. In 2003, U.S. News & World Report recognized that a shortage of trained nurses existed across all specialties and subspecialties, including critical care and pediatrics.

Many healthcare organizations today strive to meet the needs of their workforce by paying attention to the very human and natural elements of why people work. While it is a given that employees want to be happy at work, so do employers: motivation and satisfaction are directly affecting both sides as they seek to fill open positions. A great way to achieve high employee retention rates and top-quality service is by implementing a sound labor strategy.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 1.1 million new registered nurses will be needed in 2023, with more than 500,000 expected to retire in 2022. That's the projected retirement. Signs also point to younger nurses leaving the profession. One if the reasons are because of their mental health.

Strong hiring and recruiting practices keep your healthcare business well-staffed with top-talent clinicians. Deciding how to staff your healthcare facility can be challenging without a detailed staffing plan to guide your HR activities. So, what is staffing planning and how to do it?

We understand that the performance of healthcare professionals is the most important factor to your organization. At DirectShifts, we recruit strategically to diminish turnover rates and ensure the highest level of confidence in our clinicians before they walk through your door.

Nursing shortages are usually defined and measured in relation to a country's historical workforce, resources, and estimates of demand for health services. Deficiency can be further described in the definition of absolute and relative terms. An absolute shortage is when qualified people are not available for a specific job vacancy.