4 Tips to Hire Healthcare Workers During CoVID-19
Hospitals and medical facilities are overburdened with CoVID-19 cases nowadays. Social media platforms are flooded with gratitude images and videos for medical professionals. And people across the globe are lending their hands to help the poor survive this catastrophic time. But amid this overwhelming situation, the world has also come across a startling reality of healthcare resource shortage.
Healthcare industry is struggling to keep pace with the sudden rise in demand for healthcare professionals. Due to this sudden upsurge in demand, the dearth of supply and apprehensions of endangering their lives, the healthcare industry is finding it difficult to get their hands on the right medical staff in such a short duration.
But one thing is for sure that following the traditional recruitment processes will not suffice in the current scenario. You would need to innovate and experiment with different recruiting strategies to attract and place the right medical talent.
In this blog, we have laid out four healthcare staffing tips that can help you move beyond the traditional methods.
1. Improve Wages and Benefits
According to a survey conducted, a large proportion of 1,257 health care workers who were attending CoVID -19 patients in 34 hospitals were reported to be experiencing depression (50 percent), anxiety (45 percent), insomnia (34 percent), and psychological distress (71.5 percent).
Mental toll CoVID-19 has taken on healthcare professionals is grave. As a facility surviving on the perseverance of doctors and pursuing healthcare staffing, you cannot rely on intangible methods of appreciation to attract potential workers.
To attract a new lot who is willing to risk their lives, you would need to move beyond the standard benefits and wages. And it starts by awarding the staff with increased wages and extra work benefits to fuel their motivation. Many countries like Canada and India have already increased their medical’s staff remuneration by a double mark.
Read More: How You Can You Prevent Nurse Burnout
2. Hire Travel or Per Diem Nurses
Travel nurses have always been a big fallback for the healthcare industry during any health crisis. In times of CoVID-19, their roles have become even more important. Large range of health institutions are relying on travel and per diem staff to fill in their urgent vacancies. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, travel nursing was projected to grow by 19% by 2022 even before the CoVID-19 hit the world.
In Massachusetts alone the demand for travel nurses quadrupled in the last few months, followed by double demand in California and New York. Nationwide in the US, travel nurse pay has also risen by 76% and has gone up to 90%. Hospitals are paying crisis/pandemic rates up to $4,400 weekly to quickly staff up for the caring of COVID-19 patients.
All these stats indicate that apart from full-time medical nurses, you need to hire travel or per diem nurses to curb the temporary and urgent hiring needs of the healthcare industry. Doctors and nurses are highly likely to be affected to the virus due to their prolonged exposure. In such cases, per diem and travel nurses come in handy to backfill these vacant positions without much delay.
3. Associate with Medical Schools
Owing to the CoVID a lot of medical schools have suspended their last year’s clinical internships. But as the danger of pandemic escalates and hospitals run out of staff, you will have to turn to the medical schools for healthcare staffing.
Currently, fresh medical graduates can act as an asset to support the healthcare backbone. Although, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has released guidelines for students to restrict any direct care of suspected CoVID cases. Yet, medical students can prove to be of immense help in taking off the medical staff’s burden by handling or assisting the other pending medical cases or assisting with the testing procedures.
To start with, you can collaborate with medical schools and conduct online series of examinations to filter the candidates. Upon initial screening, you can train these candidates to assist in the regular medical processes and simultaneously prepare them for the impending future. This will also help you create a reservoir of resources if the CoVID cases start to gain pace again.
4. Collaborate with Healthcare Staffing Companies
Partner with healthcare staffing companies to gain access to a wide pool of qualified candidates. Healthcare staffing companies have a wide ambit of resources and reach that helps them target the right candidate for the job.
During CoVID-19, you already have a lot on your plate. Testing suspects, quarantining potential patients and treating affected ones, and much more. In such case, transferring your burden to a healthcare staffing partner will ease the entire process for you.
Don’t get stuck in the hassle of searching for the right candidates. Instead, you can simply focus on your healthcare work and let the staffing company handle the complete hiring for you.
Healthcare staffing companies are highly proficient in recruiting the right medical staff as they are well aware of the nuances and already have a wide pool of resources at hand to make the hiring process prompt.
Looking for a healthcare staffing partner who can help you hire the healthcare staff? Let us be your helping hand. Our experience of 14 years in healthcare staffing helps us place the right medical staff for you.