3 creative solutions nurses are implementing to tackle the staffing issue
With many nurses leaving their jobs and the demand for nurses growing, many hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities are feeling the effects of the nurse staffing crisis. This ongoing problem in the healthcare industry has pressured medical institutions to come up with nurse staffing solutions. Here are some of the nurse collaboration strategies and creative nursing solutions to combat understaffing.
Telemedicine and virtual health visits
The onset of the pandemic has greatly affected how healthcare is delivered. Due to limitations in the past years, medical specialists have turned to telemedicine and virtual health visits. Through telemedicine, patients consult with their doctors through video or audio calls.
As the situation goes back to normal, many medical facilities still practice telemedicine. In fact, telemedicine is one of the nurse staffing solutions that nurses practice.
What happens during virtual health visits?
A virtual health visit is simple and straight to the point. First, the patient books an appointment with the doctor. After, without having to go to the hospital or clinic, the patient can talk to the doctor through an app or video call.
Benefits of telemedicine: convenience and less nurse work
Telemedicine is an example of creative nursing solutions that medical institutions can implement. It offers convenience to the patient as one does not need to go out, brave traffic, and wait long hours in the clinic. Consultations can be done in the comfort of one’s home.
On the side of the medical facility, it is also convenient as it requires less nurse work. This means some load off of nurses who are already juggling tasks due to the staffing shortage.
Because patients are just online, nurses manage and deal with fewer people on the ground. In effect, they have more time to accomplish other responsibilities.
Alternate staffing models
Medical facilities have different nurse teams focused on patient care for their respective departments. Truth be told, not all departments are the same. As a matter of fact, some are busier than others. Thus, they need more manpower for their patients.
One way medical facilities can mitigate the effects of the staffing issue is to alternate staffing models. They implement nurse collaboration strategies such as this to augment manpower in departments that need it the most.
Utilize and distribute existing nurses
The first step in nurse staffing solutions that make use of existing manpower is to evaluate. Review which departments need more manpower than others. Have an evaluation of the current nursing teams to see which have more people on their team.
Once you have an overview of this, match your staffing. Pick the qualified ones and lend them to nursing teams who can use their clinical skills and expertise.
For example, post-anesthesia care unit nurses and nurse anesthetists have training in critical care. If their departments are not that busy, you can assign their nurses to the intensive care unit when needed.
Assign experienced nurses to supervise and onboard
Moving to a new department can be quite challenging, especially if you are used to another specialty. To make things easier for both the department and newly assigned nurses, create a streamlined onboarding process.
Create subgroups per nursing team and assign an experienced nurse to look after each subgroup. This way, it will be easier for supplemental staff to adjust to their new workload. Should they have questions or concerns, they have someone to directly report to and ask.
Nurse collaboration strategies such as this foster a culture of camaraderie within your medical institution.
Increasing staff education
Maximizing your existing nurse staff and encouraging them through further education is often one of the overlooked nurse staffing solutions that medical institutions should practice.
Elevate the capabilities of your current nurse manpower. Nurse collaboration strategies like this are a win-win situation for both the institution and the individual nurses. As nurses increase their clinical skill set, institutions will also be able to provide better care and service.
Specialty training and certifications
Nurses who are highly specialized such as in cardiac, pulmonary, geriatric, and intensive care are often in demand.
Patients in these specialty fields need more tailored care than others. However, not every nurse qualifies to deliver such work. Specialty training and certifications are needed. This is where your medical institution comes in.
Instead of searching for specialty nurses to hire — which, by the way, is no easy task with the nurse staffing crisis — what medical facilities can do is train existing nurses.
Encourage further education by holding seminars and training so loyal nurses in your roster can step up. Offer incentives to those who undergo your training program. That way, your recruitment department can focus on hiring general care nurses who are easier to find than specialized ones.
Implementing creative nursing solutions to combat understaffing
Nurse shortage is a big problem in the healthcare industry. While hiring more nurses is the best way to go, many challenges make it hard to do so. Nurse staffing solutions and nurse collaboration strategies must be done to manage nurse workload while understaffing is being addressed. Creative nursing solutions include telemedicine, alternate staffing models, and encouraging further education among nurses.