Trending Now: 3 Innovative Staffing Flexibility Models for Hospitals
It's no secret that the supply of nurses isn't keeping up with demand. While hospitals may have limited influence over the nursing school bottlenecks that restrict the flow of new nurses into the profession, they can take meaningful steps to retain their current nursing staff and prevent premature retirements. One such step is incorporating innovative staffing flexibility models into their operations.
Hospital Workforce Trends Driving Staffing Flexibility
Before we discuss staffing flexibility models for hospitals, let's examine some of the workforce trends driving these creative, alternative approaches to shift fulfillment and quality care continuity.
Workforce Stability
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities must implement initiatives to build and sustain a dependable, well-balanced workforce. The process begins with identifying the root causes of nurse burnout and turnover within their organizations and fostering supportive work environments that retain current staff and attract recruits.
Cost Control
Hospitals and healthcare facilities face significant financial strain due to overspending on travel nurses and contract labor to cover shift vacancies. They must develop more sustainable workforce strategies to maintain financial stability without compromising patient care or overburdening their internal nursing staff.
Flexible Staffing Models Worth Considering
1. Internal Float Pools
The healthcare industry and patients' needs are constantly evolving. Hospitals often face challenges like unexpected admission surges and seasonal fluctuations, requiring flexible staffing solutions. Internal float pool nurses are essential in this context, providing a scalable workforce strategy. These nurses help maintain adequate staffing levels, reduce reliance on costly external contract labor, and ensure consistent, high-quality patient care.
2. Local Latent Workforce
Tapping into the local latent nurse workforce is a valuable strategy for hospitals to address fluctuating staffing needs without relying heavily on external contract labor. These licensed nurses, though inactive due to reasons like retirement, career breaks, or family responsibilities, remain available in the local area. They can be reactivated or recruited during high-demand periods, such as healthcare crises, seasonal surges, or staffing shortages.
3. Hybrid Patient Care
Hospitals and health systems can enhance their services by integrating virtual nursing programs to complement bedside care. This flexible hybrid patient care approach allows organizations to tap into experienced nurses wanting to reduce hours or retire due to physical limitations. Virtual RNs handle admissions, documentation, remote monitoring, and discharges, enabling bedside nurses to focus on direct patient care. Additionally, seasoned virtual nurses provide valuable support to less-experienced bedside staff.
Innovative Workforce Management in Healthcare
How can hospitals incorporate staffing flexibility models into their operations? Fortunately, several new workforce management solutions are now available, making it easier than ever to implement these strategies, including:
1. Nurse Scheduling App
Hospitals can utilize mobile app technology customized to their branding and staffing requirements to fill scheduling gaps and adapt to patient volume fluctuations with internal float pool nurses. These apps give float nurses 24/7 access to available shifts, allowing them to claim shifts according to their preferences. As nurses increasingly seek job flexibility, mobile app technology simplifies the recruitment and management of internal float pools, enhancing staffing efficiency and flexibility.
2. On-Demand Workforce Marketplace
Hospitals can leverage an on-demand workforce marketplace to access their local latent nursing talent, which includes thousands of credentialed CNAs, LPNs, and RNs. A marketplace allows hospitals to connect quickly with qualified nurses ready to provide quality clinical support as needed. It's an approach that aligns internal and external nursing staff with a hospital's workforce strategy to ensure a stable, cost-effective workforce.
3. Digital Managed Service Provider
Hospitals can partner with a digital managed service provider (MSP) specializing in healthcare to streamline their contingent labor needs. MSPs offer a centralized approach to workforce management, eliminating the need for multiple vendor relationships and disparate systems. Through an MSP, hospitals gain access to a diverse pool of professionals, including nurses, respiratory therapists, and allied healthcare workers, who are available for per diem, contract, travel, and permanent positions.
How Hospitals Are Adopting Flexible Staffing Solutions
Many hospitals and health systems employ multi-faceted strategies to stabilize their workforce and reduce labor costs, with flexible staffing solutions playing a crucial role.
Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico uses flexible workforce solutions from ShiftMed to reduce reliance on travel nurses by tapping into a local pool of nurses outside the Presbyterian network.
“ShiftMed is helping us build the workforce sustainability we need,” said Jay Sundheimer, chief nurse executive at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center. “It’s amazing what you can do with adequate staffing and how many patients you can care for in unique settings.”
SSM Health in Missouri uses credentialed ShiftMed RNs, LPNs, CNAs, and respiratory therapists to fill scheduling gaps in critical care, medical-surgical, behavioral health, and emergency units on demand.
“We use ShiftMed nurses as an extension of our regional float pools,” said Jessica Potts, system senior director of strategic workforce operations at SSM Health. The health system also uses ShiftMed as a pipeline for permanent nurse recruitment.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities using ShiftMed's workforce management solutions gain complete control over their staffing operations through:
Adaptive scheduling that ensures efficient response to changing patient demands.
AI-powered software that routes shifts to the most cost-effective labor pool options.
Predictive analytics that promote better-informed decisions and optimal resource allocation.
AI-driven automation that streamlines administrative processes and maximizes productivity.
Future Trends in Hospital Staffing
Given the ongoing nursing shortage, hospitals and healthcare facilities are likely to explore innovative solutions further to maintain optimal nurse-to-patient ratios while managing labor costs. Much of this will involve advancements in workforce management technology.
Predictive technology in hospital staffing, for example, helps reduce the risk of overstaffing or understaffing by analyzing historical data, patient trends, and other variables to forecast staffing needs more accurately. With better forecasting, hospitals can minimize the need for expensive last-minute staffing solutions like overtime or agency nurses, helping to control labor costs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is also starting to play a more transformative role in nurse staffing and scheduling by freeing healthcare professionals to focus on what they do best—caring for patients.
AI-driven systems can adjust schedules in real time, responding to sudden changes such as unexpected patient surges or nurse absences, minimizing the administrative burden on nurse managers.
AI algorithms can also analyze patient acuity, nurse skills, shift preferences, and historical data to create optimized schedules that meet patient care needs while accommodating nurses' preferences.
Conclusion
The nursing shortage remains a critical challenge, but innovative staffing models offer solutions to maintain high-quality patient care. Hospitals can reduce reliance on costly external labor and build a sustainable workforce by implementing internal float pools, tapping into local latent talent, and integrating hybrid care models via mobile apps, workforce marketplaces, or digital MSPs. Embracing these flexible solutions, along with predictive technology and AI-driven tools, allows hospitals to optimize staffing, minimize costs, and enhance patient outcomes while supporting nurse well-being.