Staffing issues are a major concern for any health care organization. It is not that there are not enough workers. Instead, the issue starts with finding the right staff, such as employing skilled employees (Kaliannan et al., 2016). Retaining them is also another concern. Whether they leave due to turnover or layoffs (budget cuts), they will always create staffing problems that the organization will have to deal with (Johnson et al., 2011; Hayes et al., 2012). A good example is the Emory University Hospital. During my internship in the imaging department on the informatics side, I more often than not had to work extra hours to keep the workload to a minimum. Even though several employees were working with me, the demand for our work always exceeded what we could do without burning out.
Therefore, if I were in a position to effect real change, I would start by accepting that staff coming in and going is normal and acceptable. What would be unacceptable is letting it affect health care delivery. Therefore, to prevent this from happening, I would always partner with incoming and experienced employees in an in-house mentorship program. Whenever a new employee comes in, they would be trained and mentored by the experienced staff. This way, if we lose staff, the remaining employees would still be up to the task. This strategy sustains skills in the long term.
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Responses to Posts
Gurminder
I like your post, especially the part where you expressed that even though it was a free clinic, it was still there to serve patients. Therefore, yes, you had staffing problems and solved them by adding more on-call staff.
Jessica
I like how you related your staffing problem with the needs of different patients and other stakeholders at the hospital. Additionally, I concur that having more than 90% of the staff with the required skills to manage any ICU patient. However, I find it contradictory that having 90% of staff working (hence, adequate staffing) reduces burnout and turnover. While these solve the problem, they also add some of their own.
References
Hayes, L. J., O’Brien-Pallas, L., Duffield, C., Shamian, J., Buchan, J., Hughes, F., ... & North, N. (2012). Nurse turnover: a literature review–an update. International journal of nursing studies, 49(7), 887-905.
Johnson, N., Oliff, P., & Williams, E. (2011). An update on state budget cuts. Center on Budget & Po-licy Priorities. Washington, DC at, 1, 10-12.
Kaliannan, M., Abraham, M., & Ponnusamy, V. (2016). Effective talent management in Malaysian SMES: A proposed framework. The Journal of Developing Areas, 50(5), 393-401.
