Due to the high nurse-to-patient care ratio coupled with a growing staffing shortage, there is mounting concern about attracting and retaining new talent. Healthcare facilities, including long-term care and acute care, are all in a bind for talent and at risk of lessening the care and treatment of patients. According to the 2022 NSI National Healthcare Retention and RN Staffing report, the average hospital turnover rate was 25.9 percent revealing an increase of 5.9 percent over the prior year. (Source)
The time is now for top healthcare facilities in the US to look inward first and assess the management systems along with their hiring systems to change with the times. The management team needs to implement a good team-building strategy that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of all employees.
Here are a few tips for healthcare facility managers and HR staff to build successful teams:
1. Set clear expectations and job roles
For any healthcare facility, it is important to set clear expectations for all staff members. By doing this, there is clarity about the responsibilities and duties of each employee. Employees are also aware of what they will be accountable for and what they will not be answerable for.
During the hiring and onboarding process, stakeholders must ask questions to assess a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. Also, they must discuss the responsibilities that will require collaboration with other team members and how candidates plan to go about them.
This will boost coordination among employees instead of putting them under pressure, reveal the best practices to reach out for support, and understand that help is available when necessary.
2. Effective communication and feedback
Effective communication is paramount in ensuring that all employees are on the same page when it comes to the organization’s objectives. Healthcare facility managers, HR staff, and others must talk to each employee to ensure that they understand what is expected of them and can reach out to the management when in doubt.
Along with clear communication, timely feedback is also important. Management can schedule weekly or bi-weekly reviews for employees to point out things that need improvement and praise good performance to encourage hard-working employees.
3. Fair promotion and incentives
One way of causing a rift between team members is by rewarding those who are not performing as well as others. The management of these healthcare facilities must have a fair and transparent review system to rate employees based on hard work and contribution to the team’s objectives.
At the same time, they must also consider how well employees adapt to the facility culture and are aligned with the overall objectives. Based on this, the management must give fair promotions and incentives.
4. Conflict resolution
Even the top healthcare facilities in the U.S. usually have different employees working on the same patient at the same time, including nurses, physicians, technicians, and surgeons among others. This can cause conflict within the ranks as employees can feel someone is not working as per schedule when more pressing concerns arise.
Management must resolve conflicts when necessary to ensure that within the ranks there is no discord or miscommunication. Employers must identify problems as they arise and come up with effective solutions to ensure that employees respect each other’s contributions and efforts. Also, they must restate that the overall goal of all caregivers is the patient’s health.
5. Develop strong group dynamics with team development training
Healthcare facilities must use forming, storming, norming, and performing techniques to develop strong dynamics with team development training. In the forming stage, management identifies the kind of personnel required to treat and care for patients and selects from a large pool of candidates.
In the storming stage, management decides what type of role should be assigned to different individuals which candidates may not accept or agree to. Employers may hire more than one individual due to high demand in the facility and then assign different designations based on seniority and experience. This can cause a rift within the new pool of candidates, and everyone may not be happy with the roles assigned.
At this stage, it is important to give the right reasons for assigned roles to make sure team members work together. In the norming stage, employees learn to put their differences aside and buy into the process of working together for the benefit of the organization.
Finally, in the performing stage with the team structure set, each member gets to perform his or her role. Based on the performance of the team, the healthcare facilities can assign new projects to them or restructure teams by adding or removing members.
6. Build and manage a talent pipeline with SkillGigs
Apart from implementing the steps to build a successful team, healthcare facilities need to source the right talent at the right cost. Old models of hiring through VMS and MSP systems present a lot of challenges for management as they are simply removed from the direct connection of the talent.
One way to support the growth of a successful team is to develop a direct sourcing program to not only manage freshly curated talent but to stay connected to existing talents. Healthcare facilities hire a significant amount of travel professionals to support needed roles. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the prediction is a job growth of 6.2 percent per year which translates into an annual job growth of 6 percent for travel nurses. (Source). The ability of long-term care and acute care facilities to track, manage, rate, review, and stay connected to key travelers could save significant time and money when hiring pressures are elevated.
Top healthcare facilities in the U.S. are turning to talent marketplaces like SkillGigs for direct sourcing of candidates. Our marketplace organizes candidates’ information in an efficient manner including pay expectations, preferred location, and personal details. Also, the platform manages the credentialing of their key documentations, skillsets, and certification. Employers can choose from a wide pool of candidates who are ranked as per their skillset and work experience. Also, you can choose from different specialties like acute care, dialysis, critical care, labor and delivery, and settings like hospitals, clinics, and urgent care centers among others.
If the concept of direct sourcing for your facility is new, and you would like to learn more — no worries, it is why we built SkillGigs.com. Contact us to learn more!
What is SkillGigs?
SkillGigs is a fast-growing IT and healthcare talent marketplace that allows you to browse profiles of registered nurses based on seniority, experience, salary, and other important parameters. Simply bid for the ones that best fit your requirements, and in return, they provide the best care to the residents of your healthcare facilities.
Contact SkillGigs today for a free demo and consultation that could show you a newer, better way to hire!
