How to Manage Medical Staff Shortages Effectively At Your Office?
An industry is built by the people working for the same. As it is with any other industry, similarly the medical industry is also based on the medical staff working for it. The medical industry is a wide industry with several departmental diversities. When talking about a hospital, practice, clinic, or any other healthcare unit, we cannot simply avoid the diversification of the departments.
From the reception or front office to the waiting rooms, doctor's chamber, dispensary unit, and more, there are a number of departments that work coordinately together. The existence of these many departments inevitably needs proper supervision and maintenance, for which each of them requires an adequate number of working staff who are guided by the departmental heads.
The medical staff has always been essential to practices. The healthcare workers form the core of the healthcare industry. Doctors, nurses, medical workers, and other healthcare professionals take the sole responsibility of extending the utmost care for the patients. It is they who personify the medical industry and it is upon them that the hospital and other care units rely on to preserve their brand image and flourish. It is so real how the medical staff bears their responsibilities with utmost care and dedication.
Covid-19 was the live example of how the medical sector copes up with even the most devastating circumstances, adapting to the primary requisites of the time and acting at the right moment to mitigate the dangers surrounding it. However, the sad reality is that health workers are leaving their professions at a shocking pace and this staffing crisis in healthcare has surfaced as the most alarming of issues related to the healthcare industry.
A brief about the staffing crisis in healthcare
The healthcare industry has also been revered as one of the largest industries that occupy a massive number of staff and departmental heads, all of whom work together under the same roof for a unanimous goal of providing the best healthcare possible to the patients. It is for the number of people that work with the industry, which helps it gain the strength with which it strives forward. Therefore, it is really dreadful to imagine these staff leaving the industry and that is the reality.
The statistical data says that 1 in every 5 healthcare workers have quit their job since the pandemic outbreak. In other words, around 18% of the total strength of the industry has left their jobs since the pandemic onslaught began. One immediate reason for the drastic decision that is driving the healthcare workers to quit their medical jobs is the coronavirus pandemic itself.
The healthcare workers are , dedicated, and dependable. Therefore, the parting of them at such an alarming pace is nothing but a red flag for the medical practices, hospitals, and other healthcare units.
Why are the medical workers resigning at such a rapid pace?
There are numerous reasons for which the medical staff is resigning so quickly from their job roles. Some of the major reasons that are leading to a mass resignation at hospitals, practices, clinics, and other healthcare units are:
Pandemic-related issues
The pandemic has struck fear in most of our hearts but along with it, the COVID-19 pandemic has also let the doctors and other healthcare professionals go uncared for.
The coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath have resulted in pay cuts, layoffs, decrease in revenues, reduced benefits, canceled holidays, canceled raises, and what not for all of them who work for the sector. It is not acceptable if, after all, that the healthcare workers have done, they have to bear the brunt of the pandemic. Along with all these, the medical staff are also forced to work overtime, which is simply not done.
Burnouts
Professional burnouts are being more common than ever in this era that we are living in and the emergency sector that includes the medical industry sees the most burned-out employees. This happens mainly due to the severity of the work, all the distressed people and diseases that they see and hear off, and the exhausting nature of the work they are engaged in.
These burnouts often result in severe mental and physical stresses, thereby leading to long periods of absence or switching to different job roles when it comes to medical staff.
A growing fear of diseases
Diseases are many and varied, while some of them stay for a bit the others are often life-threatening. These diseases are increasing in numbers and exponentially rising as far as their severity is concerned. All of these are increasing the fear of diseases.
Deadly diseases like the coronavirus have begun to change the mindset of healthcare workers too. Where the medical staff earlier wanted to hit their clinic/practice regardless of what the obstacle may be, they are now shying away from their duties fearing the diseases that may infect them hard or take a toll on their family members push them towards the worst of situations.
Fearing for missing out (FOMO)
Fearing for missing out is another reason why medical workers are increasingly quitting their jobs. With technological advancements and the introduction of cutting-edge medical office software, systems, and technology, it is the digital way that we are looking forward to marching through. Here the manual labors and laborers both would be less required. This is what is instilling fear in the minds of healthcare workers.
Decreasing income
The prices are increasing but the salaries of the workers are not rising to meet the demands properly. This disparity between the income and the expenses for the healthcare workers is what is demotivating them from working in their sector leading to a conspicuous shortage of medical staff.
Lack of recognition
Medical workers work day and night to improve the quality of healthcare. They even rise to various occasions and emergencies whenever they are required to act. However, they are not much recognized for their efforts. The performance of the healthcare workers needs to be monitored and adequate feedbacks need to be shared. The healthcare professionals also need to be appreciated for the extra efforts that they put in along with annual and biannual raises.
Technological challenges
Technology is advancing with each passing day and this makes it mandatory for the working professionals and others to stay informed and updated with the latest software and cutting-edge technology that is in use. However, when it is not possible and it is often discovered that the workers fail to keep pace with the changing environments and the advancing technologies, they simply drift away. Thus, the downcast workers are often disengaged and seek to stay away from their job roles and eventually resulting in leaving the medical industry.
Better opportunities in other sectors
There are not one but many industries now. We are living in an era where dedicated industries are there for everything. These industries are flourishing with old and new players and startup companies, which are bringing a host of new opportunities that surround us. These new opportunities are also luring the healthcare staff to change their present medical jobs.
What are the common impacts of staff shortage in healthcare?
Staff shortages have been prominent in many industries since the turn of the past decade and it is the healthcare industry that is seeing a majority of its employees quitting their job roles.
A total of 57 countries are diagnosed with a critical shortage of healthcare workers, which makes up a total deficit of around 2.4 million doctors and nurses. As per the recent records, the Americas currently have 24.8 healthcare workers per 1000 population while Africa has around 2.3 healthcare workers per 1000 people.
The staffing crisis in healthcare is a very real problem, which is affecting the sector dearly. This crisis is appearing to be so bothersome in some countries that it is also being aired in the public media. Though with the emergence of the latest medical office software and systems some of the tasks could be managed with these promising alternatives, the others are difficult to tackle without adequate medical staff. These medical staff shortages are creating more problems than one not only for the medical practices but for the healthcare industry in general.
Some of the common impacts of staff shortage in healthcare are:
A sharp decline in the quality of healthcare
Staff shortages in the healthcare industry mean less productivity. Now, it is understandable that some of the regular duties of practice rely upon or are bettered by the cutting-edge technologies and software in use, however, medical staffs are simply indispensable when it comes to clinics and practices.
Areas like the reception, nurses, doctors, janitors, and others need to be manned with expert professionals at patient clinics and practices to boost the morale of the patients and improve the overall connection of the patients with the healthcare staff.
Lowering morale
Leaving staff tends to decrease the overall positivity or the morale of the remaining staff working at a clinic or healthcare facility. Besides, the other medical staff is rather overburdened with their work and lacks much enthusiasm from the practice owners or managers.
This leads to the quitting of the other staff as well.
Lack of manpower to tackle emergencies
Emergency is a common word when it comes to healthcare and they are known to be efficiently tackled by the healthcare units and medical practices but that is all possible with the manpower that the industry boast of. However, with the recent trend of staff leaving their respective healthcare facilities, dodging emergencies can be a huge hassle in the times upcoming.
Increase in irregularities
The medical industry and its staff ought to be punctual in their services and attending to the patients in a timely manner are one of the most important things that they should bear in their minds.
Mismanagement
With an increasing number of staff leaving the medical sector, mismanagement is a common aftermath that both the practices and the patients. The billing department is the most affected this way. It has been seen that the bills amounting to $10,000 or more contain an average error that costs over $1,300 to the industry.
Chaotic workflow
The patients' workflow is a crucial thing that is severely affected by the rapid leaving of the medical workers. Patient workflow is a system that needs to be properly regulated in practices with the help of the latest tools that GrowPractice brings the practices of today with the help of experienced medical staff.
Prolonged wait times
The wait time is regarded as one of the most crucial factors to consider when it comes to medical facilities. Around 43% of the patients are of the opinion that the wait time is the most frustrating part while they are looking to visit a doctor. These wait times are with more and more medical staff leaving the healthcare units per day.
Stunted growth
The medical service providers are seeing a reduction in their total number of staff, which is having a toll on their overall productivity. This also hampers the growth of the healthcare units and impedes its future growth plans.
Unhappy patients
Patients need care and attention and that is hugely dependent on the medical staff that works in the hospitals, clinics, and other medical service providers. The healthcare workers engage the patients, take care of them and motivate them to stay happy which otherwise has an adverse effect on the patients who turn out to be unhappy.
Worsening patient experiences
Patient experiences are directly related to the employees they interact with at a medical facility. Lack of adequate medical staff, operational inefficiencies, and increasing wait times heavily influence the patient experiences.
Nearly 84% of the patients declare that the wait times they face add up to their overall patient experience and this increase in the wait times is also associated with the total staff working at a medical office. Hence, the decreasing number of medical workers would severely worsen patient experiences.
The decline in the patient satisfaction ratings and feedbacks
Patient satisfaction ratings and surveys has become a vital part of studying the patients' overall satisfaction with the healthcare facilities. These reviews shared by the patients are hugely diminishing in terms of the positive ratings earned with the lack of quality medical staff in clinics and medical practices.
GrowPractice helps these practices implement the online way to collect patient feedback through interactive online surveys. The leading patient medical office software providers enable the practices to collect the all-important surveys 24*7 with the help of their easy, online procedure. This has lead to a significant reduction (around 85%) in negative online reviews along with attracting new patients.
These impacts matter much when it comes to the practices and practice managers, who are readily affected by the shortage of medical staff that are predominant today.
How can you manage healthcare workers shortage effectively?
The healthcare industry is changing. With the revolutionary invention of the computers, many industries of the world have changed forever and most of them are slowly imbibing the change, thereby revitalizing them to stay for long. One of such industries is the medical industry.
The healthcare industry of today has already seen numerous innovations across departments that are radically improving to take the industry to great heights. However, the shortage of medical workers as is seen in the past decade, which is simply catalyzed by the pandemic and its related worries, is palpable and a global problem.
That being said, there are still some ways in which you can manage the medical staff shortages at your medical office or practice. Below are some smart curated ways following which you can give your practice a bit of relief from the growing troubles it has been facing since the mass quitting of the medical staff. So, let's dive into them without any further delay:
Hiring Smart and Trained Workers
With a large number of medical workers leaving your practice at the same time, it might be difficult to cope up and manage things back at your practice but it gives you opportunities to hire smarter and more efficient workers this time. Smart workers mean greater efficiency, which would certainly help you increase practice revenues effectively.
So, hiring trained medical staff and workers would be an excellent step forward to combat staff shortage issues.
Reaching out to Experienced Physicians and Nurses
Along with all other medical staff, physicians and nurses form the core of the medical practice or a healthcare unit in practice. It is for the doctors that the patients arrive at different medical facilities.
This is why it is important to have experienced doctors and nurses working with your practice. It might be depressing with a few of them leaving their jobs recently, but you can always reach out to other experienced doctors and nurses to bring in a game-changing rise in patient retention, attract new patients, and boost the practice revenues.
Implementing Cutting-Edge Medical Software Solutions
The trusted medical software and systems that GrowPractice brings your way would instantly reduce the dependence of your practice on its staff. The advanced medical office software from GrowPractice starts from efficient online booking systems to hassle-free medical billing software, easy online patient check-ins, and many more, all of which are sure to change the style of your practice.
With the GrowPractice software solutions, you would efficiently improve the overall collections, patient ratings, and practice revenues, while retaining your present medical staff and all the future medical workers and keeping them satisfied and happy!
Improving Practice Tools and Diagnostic Equipment
Along with changing the patient service software in practice, it is also essential to revamp the diagnosing tools and software because they play an important role in influencing the patient experience and enhancing the overall care provided to the patients.
With the improved medical office software coupled with advanced diagnostic tools and practice equipment practices would be able to balance their effectiveness and extend quality care.
Encouraging the Medical Workers
Medical workers also need motivation for the work they do. The healthcare workers working at hospitals and practices are often demotivated, disinterested, and burned out.
However, monitoring them and their performance, chatting with them, taking the burden off their shoulders, and helping them with proper counseling sessions and positive feedbacks would help them stay and work with the practices along with helping the practice get the best of their efforts.
Bringing Rewards and Recognitions to Practice
Recognizing them, rewarding them, and motivating them with words and gifts, raises, and bonuses for the work they do would infuse a whole lot of positivity among the medical office staff and workers and would certainly turn out to be a huge success in terms of revenue and growth of the practice!
Tackle the impacts of staff shortage in healthcare without worries with GrowPractice
GrowPractice is a leading medical office solutions provider, which helps private medical offices physicians and practices boost their operational efficiency, fight medical staff shortages effectively, save time and efforts of the medical staff, and eliminate numerous other hassles when it comes to healthcare.
The cutting-edge software and solutions that GrowPractice lends have been proven to cut staff time on the phone by 75%, eliminate all the hassles involved in staff's manual follow-ups for collecting payments, and more. What's more important is that by choosing GrowPractice you shouldn't have to worry anymore about the lack of trust because GrowPractice assures you of HIPAA-compliant tools that are empowered by multi-grade security and advanced data encryption.
So, start streamlining your patient experience and boost the overall patient satisfaction along with retaining your present and future medical staff in your office and never let the shortage of medical staff bother you anymore!
