When there are staffing shortages, it’s not just the care teams that suffer. The ones who ultimately feel the shortages the most are the patients.
Since 2020, 20% of healthcare workers have quit, and as many as 47% are expected to leave their positions by 2025. This means that, for healthcare systems, finding solutions that can maintain the continuity of patient care is crucial.
Temporary staffing is an option that can provide the help that healthcare facilities need. Learn more about what temporary staffing is and the benefits it can offer any healthcare facility.
What is temporary medical staffing?
Temporary medical staffing refers to medical professionals who go to healthcare facilities on a short-term basis to provide support during staffing shortages or when sudden surges of patient need, like during flu season, threaten the quality of care. The assignments can vary in duration and could be as short as a few days.
These medical professionals provide immediate support, helping to alleviate the strain on the rest of the team and making it easier for patients to receive the care they deserve without any fluctuations or gaps.
How temporary staffing helps with continuity of patient care
Continuity of care is essential for favorable patient outcomes. It focuses on ensuring that a patient-centered team is fully involved in healthcare management and that every member is reaching for the same collective goal. It promotes patient safety and quality of care over time.
All of this can be disrupted if there are team members who leave or who are needed elsewhere, leaving gaps in care that can potentially be dangerous to patients.
When there are staffing shortages or an influx of patients, the ratio of patients to healthcare providers can shift. This means that the providers can’t offer the quality of care that patients need because they don’t have the ability to keep up with the amount of work.
Staffing shortages can also mean overtime, which could result in an exhausted and stressed-out team that can’t offer the right level of care.
Temporary medical staff can integrate seamlessly into any healthcare facility. Many of the staffing agencies that provide professionals work closely with facilities to make a smooth transition possible. They may provide training and orientations so that the staff is ready to offer quality care from the moment they step into the facility.
When there’s communication between temporary staffing and the existing team, it’s possible to maintain continuity of patient care.
Prolink’s world-class talent experience ensures smooth and hassle-free onboarding for both clinicians and hospitals alike. To learn more, visit our Healthcare Workforce Solutions page.
Further benefits of temporary staffing
One of the biggest benefits that temporary staffing offers is flexibility. When a facility has a shortage or an immediate need, they can quickly address it with temporary staff.
Having an influx of knowledgeable and experienced staff members can help ease burnout. Many healthcare professionals are dealing with burnout, one of the driving forces behind so many of them leaving their jobs. When there is adequate staff to help relieve some of the workload, job satisfaction rises and retention levels improve.
With temporary staffing, the regular care team can maintain a more normal work-life balance, which is another crucial factor in preventing burnout.
Temporary staffing is reliable staffing. They are carefully selected and vetted to ensure they bring what each facility needs. Staffing companies have a wide pool of talent to choose from, so they’ll always find the right option for your facility.
There’s always a streamlined onboarding and hiring process that saves time. Temporary staff can be fast-tracked through the hiring process so they can get right to work without any delays. The qualifications, employment history, and other data a facility would typically need to deal with have already been checked.
Having short-term staff also reduces the pressure a healthcare facility might feel to hire permanent staff. Hiring someone for a permanent position takes time and shouldn’t be rushed, and yet that’s what many facilities have to do to keep up with demand. With temporary staffing, that’s one less worry.
Because onboarding and all of the other necessary steps involved in hiring someone can actually cost a facility, hiring temporary staffing saves them money, too.
Getting the quality clinicians you need
If your facility has been suffering employee shortages, one of the best things you can do is turn to temporary staffing. Temporary staff can help keep existing care team members from feeling overworked while also focusing on the continuity of patient care.
At Prolink, we’re ready to help you build the exact workforce solution your facility needs. We have a wide pool of carefully selected talent ready to assist you through any challenges you’re facing. We take care of all of the work for you so that you can get the staff you need, when you need it.
Contact Prolink today to get the right temporary medical staff for your facility so you can maximize patient care.
