Contributing Factors to the Nurse Staffing Shortage
Nurses are understaffed and overworked. While the nurse-to-patient ratio is one of the biggest contributing factors, there are several factors that have led to the nurse shortage such as retirement, dissatisfaction, burnout, wages, large administrative workloads and working conditions.
Falling Short of Addressing the Staffing Challenges
Hospitals executives understand the severity of the shortage, several healthcare systems have made attempts to aid the problem, but many have fallen short of addressing the challenges that are contributing to the staffing issue.
98% of hospital CFOs stated that nurse staffing is a significant challenge, according to an article by Staffing Industry Analysts. The article also stated even when starting wages were increased, nurses still left their profession, implying that wages are not enough to attract and retain talented nurses because the challenges extend far beyond pay.
To improve the crisis, hospital executives and healthcare staffing firms must address these issues as a whole rather than in a silo.
Nurse to Patient Ratio
Nurse to patient ratio is the most challenging issue facing nurses and one that doesn’t have an immediate fix. Addressing the crisis would lead to better patient care, higher quality nursing staff, lower turnover rate, and increased redeployment rate. This not only benefits nurses but the nation’s overall health system, unemployment rates and the healthcare staffing industry.
The American Nurse Association (ANA) are attempting to support the crisis by pushing for proper nurse to patient ratios. A proper nurse to patient ratio would alleviate the nurse’s workload, mitigating an encumbered patient roster. If nurses were not weighed down by an excess number of patients combined with the abundant amount of administrative work tied to each patient, they would be able to provide higher quality care to all patients.
Managing the Nurse Staffing Shortage
While there isn’t a solution that addresses all the challenges nurses face, there is a solution that helps increase nurse satisfaction and improve recruitment efforts.
The Staffing Platform
A staffing platform benefits both nurses and healthcare staffing firms by delivering a platform that improves the way a nurse manages their career while increasing attraction and retention efforts for the staffing firm.
Nurse Benefits
In addition to managing an already intense workload, nurses must also manage their career. A staffing platform makes it possible to manage their career from the palm of their hand. From document control to shift-scheduling, a staffing platform re-imagines the nursing career.
A staffing platform can modernize the landscape for both nurses and allied healthcare professionals by reducing the stress of job hunting with a professional briefcase to manage all essential HR documents and certificates, an automated license verification to ensure licenses are verified in minutes and a curated job board with intelligent job matching to ensure the best fit.
Staffing Solutions
The nurse staffing shortage is plagued with high turnover rates, too many jobs and not enough candidates to fill those jobs. A staffing platform aids in re-engaging your dormant database with a custom marketplace allowing you the autonomy to cultivate your own brand while making it easy for your clinicians to manage their career with a mobile app that provides everything from shift-scheduling to automated credentialing.
By utilizing a healthcare staffing platform, you can increase your attraction and retention efforts while improving the candidate journey all with one platform.
Reach out to us today on ways to attract, hire and redeploy more nurses and allied healthcare professionals.
