Regardless of the size or scope of your healthcare facility, you likely have a time-tested staff that you trust. But as your facility expands, or even encounters unforeseen issues, your core staff may be too busy to deal with an increase in patients — or those with specialized healthcare issues. What causes this shortage of nurses and physicians?
As the baby boomer generation retires, and continues to live longer due to advances in healthcare and technology, there is a huge demand for nurses and physicians to take over their roles and to care for them as they age. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 16 percent from 2014 to 2024, and employment of physicians and surgeons is expected to grow to 14 percent — both of which are much faster than average for all other occupations.
However, just because these two fields are excepted to grow more than others doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be getting more employees. These occupations will grow because demand is growing — and your healthcare facility needs to keep up with it.
At times when it’s not realistic or possible to hire more permanent staff, many healthcare facilities are hiring contingent workers to fill in the gaps and maintain the expected quality of care. Contingent workers can help hospitals and clinics handle severe shortages, or even cover shifts if nurses or physicians are too sick to work, or require time off.
In all the chaos of searching for staff to cover shortages, it can be easy to give in to panic. But remember: It’s extremely important to vet all prospective employees that you come across. As an employer, you need to have the tools to perform proper, thorough background checks, ensuring there’s no deduction in quality across your organization. A vendor management system, also called a VMS, helps to nip those problems in the bud.
With a VMS, it’s easy to manage contingent workers of all types. From dietitians to X-ray technicians, allied health professionals and contingent workers are best managed by a VMS. With this technology, it’s easy to find, hire, pay, and review contingent and temporary workers. You’ll have access to important staffing information in just one system.
With just a click, you can go from viewing your current employees’ schedules to viewing a contingent worker’s expiring credentials. A VMS helps you take total control over every type of worker who makes up your staff. With all of the important information right in front of you —easily accessible — you have the right equipment to make important staffing and business decisions.
At ShiftWise, our VMS technology is developed for healthcare, by healthcare. We maximize your entire staff’s potential by combating non-compliance, staff shortages, cost increases, and overall inefficiency. Used directly or with an MSP, ShiftWise is the smart choice when it comes to building a qualified, organized, and dedicated contingent workforce.
[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm
[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm