Understaffing can be dangerous—both to the safety of your patients and the reputation of your facility. Your patients have specific medical needs that increase with the severity of their conditions, especially in a hospital or acute care setting. You rely on your medical staff to deliver the treatments your patients need, but when you’re understaffed, care can begin to suffer. First, an understaffed medical team may be forced to choose which patients take priority, when all should. Second, if you’re working with a “skeleton crew” that is relied upon to put in extra hours, this can lead to burnout, exhaustion and human error. Don’t let these things hamper your facility’s reputation when you can take steps now to prevent understaffing. Here’s what you need to know.

Four tips to staff up within your healthcare facility

Texas does not currently require minimum staff-to-patient ratios—but that doesn’t mean your facility can’t draft this into its employment policy. This will help ensure you maintain adequate staffing in order to protect your employees and deliver a high level of patient care.

To find medical staff with the skills and qualifications you require, consider any of the following:

1. Offer referral bonuses. Birds of a feather stick together. Your current employees with strong work ethics may have colleagues, friends or family members of a similar caliber currently seeking employment. By offering a referral bonus program to employees, you can help to uncover qualified candidates without having to search on your own. Work with your recruiting firm to setup a process for employees to refer their peers. A well-defined process will not only make it convenient for your staff, but it will also allow your recruiter to start vetting the referred candidate as quickly as possible.
2. Participate in networking events. Your facility can get the most from industry events through more than just attendance. Seminars, conferences and job fairs may offer speaking engagements, which is a great way for your facility’s leadership to catch the attention and spark the interest of attendees.
3. Write specific job descriptions. Generic job descriptions ultimately lead to more time spent on your end sifting through resumes. By writing job descriptions that clearly list necessary skills, education, licensure, certification, etc., your candidate search process will narrow itself naturally. Leverage your recruiter’s industry knowledge to help clearly define your needs and craft an effective job description.
4. Work with a medical staffing agency. Partnering with a medical recruiter offers you several advantages. First, you can devise a staffing plan that works best for your facility. For example, you’ll have the option to directly hire full-time workers, bring on temporary staff for a probationary period with the possibility of full-time employment, or simply hire temporary medical workers to maintain a full staff during employee leaves for disability, maternity, vacations, etc. Second, your recruiter has expertise in your field and contacts throughout the industry—giving you access to both active and passive candidates who match your required skill sets. Plus, your recruiter will be able to help you find and place new workers faster and easier than handling this on your own—helping you to save time, money and frustration in the hiring process.

Find the right staffing agency

It’s important to choose a medical staffing firm you feel comfortable working with. Choose a firm that’s knowledgeable in your industry, reliable in its service, and easy to reach for questions and guidance. You’ll also want to find a recruiter that collaborates well with you and understands your staffing needs.

You can rely on Team1Medical

We’d like the opportunity to be your top pick for medical staffing! Team1Medical is a multi–award-winning healthcare staffing firm in Houston, Texas. With more than 20 years’ experience in the medical staffing industry, our passionate team of professionals will work with you for a staffing strategy that meets your unique needs. To learn more, contact us today!