Investing in continuing education programs and fine-tuning and cultivating a strong culture are two ways to deal with staffing shortages.
Two industry leaders recently connected with Becker’s to share what their organizations have implemented to best work through staffing problems.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What strategies have you used at your ASC/organization to combat industry staffing issues and shortages?
Jim Lowery. Director, Managed Care of Hendrick Health (Abilene, Texas): The answer here is not wildly complex – certainly the problem is however. Hendrick Health serves a mostly rural geographic area in west central Texas. Recruiting and hiring are a challenge for us when competing with more metro urban job markets elsewhere in Texas. So the first answer is money. We have constantly given attention to market wage assessments, and have increased compensation, sometimes more frequently than annually – to sustain staffing and stem the flow of staff departures. Temp staffing is another regrettable reality, we’ve had occasions to depend on extremely high-cost agency staffing for certain professionals, for example nursing and CRNA coverage. Overall labor costs for our system have increased by double-digits year over year the last few years.
Second, we have vigorously promoted continuing education and tuition assistance for staff with local nursing and allied schools. We have incentivized staff to remain in their tenure with us. And, we vigorously pursue young people who have grown up in our region to return here after their post-secondary education, promoting the comforts of their lower cost-of-living home town but with opportunity for competitive wages.
Lastly, we have supported our state hospital association in their tireless defense against certain proposed state legislation from both sides of the aisle that astonish us with threats of further stress on hospital operating margins. Texas sadly has experienced far too many small community hospital closures, yet the stress for achieving positive hospital operating margins vital to sustaining local access to medical care is seemingly too often expendable.
Kelsey Wells, RN. Administrator of Salem (Ore.) Laser and Surgery Center: What has worked extremely well for our staff retention is cultivating a team and prioritizing strengthening our culture of support and service, flexibility and positivity. We have been fine-tuning our team culture for several years and ensuring every member feels seen, respected and appreciated. We frequently reiterate that we could not do what we do so efficiently day in and day out, without each and every one of our team members; every single role is important and necessary for our center’s success. As I recruit, the most common theme I hear is that people are looking to work “for a person, not a system.” In these post-COVID times, people want to be seen and known at the workplace more than ever before. We are proud to lead with compassion and understanding, while also maintaining extremely high expectations.
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