How Healthcare Staffing Agencies Can Benefit Your Facility
The nursing shortage is an ongoing issue that burdens the healthcare industry. Despite efforts to attract and retain nursing staff, the shortage persists, resulting in staffing challenges for healthcare facilities.
Managers are tasked with providing high-quality care to patients no matter the job climate. But it’s fair to say that this is becoming increasingly difficult as turnover rates and issues of staff burnout continue to rise.
So, what’s a healthcare facility to do?
There is hope on the horizon with the help of a healthcare staffing agency.
A healthcare staffing agency is a company that specializes in recruiting and placing healthcare professionals in various medical settings.
In this article, we’re going to dive deep into what a healthcare staffing agency does. We’ll also cover some of the common challenges a staffing agency can help alleviate.
And we’ll unpack the most important question of all: Is it worth it to hire a medical/healthcare staffing agency?
What Is a Healthcare Staffing Agency?
Your healthcare facility's recruiting team is facing all kinds of challenges. A high demand for talent, limited access to qualified candidates, and the ongoing need to communicate openings and opportunities—to name a few!
A healthcare staffing agency can help relieve some of these pressures and address capacity concerns by sourcing candidates for a variety of different roles:
Temporary Assignments: Sourcing talent for engagements with specific, time-based windows of employment.
Temp-to-Hire: This allows an employer to evaluate a temporary worker's long-term match for the position.
Direct Hire: This is when a staffing agency serves as the primary recruiter for permanent positions.
A healthcare staffing agency uses a rigorous screening and selection process to ensure a qualified candidate.
Once a qualified candidate is found, the agency works with the healthcare facility to place the candidate in the appropriate position. The agency often handles all the administrative and logistical aspects of the placement. This might include background checks, drug testing, and credentialing.
Whether your healthcare facility is large or small, hiring a healthcare staffing agency with a wide geographic and network reach can be beneficial. This is especially true if you’re disappointed with the candidates your own facility is able to obtain.
How Healthcare Staffing Agencies Fit Into Today’s Hiring Landscape
Overall, healthcare staffing agencies play a critical role in helping healthcare facilities address ongoing staffing problems.
So, is it worth it to hire a medical/healthcare staffing agency?
Truthfully, it depends on the needs and challenges of your particular facility.
One of the biggest challenges facing healthcare facilities today is maintaining adequate staffing levels. The nursing shortage continues to cause disruptions to care quality. This leaves managers constantly scrambling to keep roles in their facilities filled and patients cared for in an engaging manner.
A healthcare staffing agency can help organizations overcome some of the issues commonly faced during hiring shortages:
Prevent Staff Burnout: Overworked healthcare professionals can become burnt out and are more likely to leave their jobs. A staffing agency can provide temporary nursing staff to help alleviate the workload and prevent burnout among permanent staff.
Maintain Adequate Staff: It can be challenging for facilities to find and retain skilled nursing staff. Staffing agencies can provide a pool of qualified nursing candidates when they’re needed. Candidates can be selected for full-time, part-time, and temporary positions.
Cover for Absent Staff: When permanent nursing staff calls out sick or takes time off, it can create last-minute staffing gaps. It can also lead to an increased workload for other staff members. A staffing agency can provide temporary nursing staff to fill in these gaps, ensuring that patient care is not compromised.
When healthcare facilities lack an outlet to solve these problems, staffing issues can have serious consequences. Patients could receive a lower quality of care, staff can become overwhelmed, and the facility's reputation can be negatively impacted.
The Value of Healthcare Staffing Agencies
Recognizing the value of nursing staff and the role they play in the healthcare system is crucial to recruiting and hiring qualified nursing staff. But the challenges right now are layered, and the nursing shortage in healthcare facilities continues to be a significant disruption for managers, staff, and patients alike.
To address these issues, healthcare facilities should invest in outside resources. An example is a healthcare staffing agency to improve the availability of qualified staff and to fill shifts.
So, is it worth it to hire a healthcare staffing agency?
The answer is "yes."
If you agree and want to learn more, connect with us. We'd be happy to discuss your needs.
