Here are three HealthLeaders articles from the past year that provide a closer look at hiring and retention practices for solving staffing issues.
Staffing and retention in the home health and long-term care market continue to be difficult, forcing post-acute leaders to get innovative in their recruiting efforts.
With skilled nursing facilities having been severely impacted during the pandemic and home health agencies trying to ensure they have the staff they need to meet the demand for their services, HealthLeaders continues to survey workforce issues and provide actionable insights from industry leaders and executives.
Here are three articles from the past year on hiring and retaining practices that offer suggestions as to what organizations can do to recruit and keep staff members.
Home Health Nurse Training Prepares Nurses for Autonomy of Role
Recent graduate nurses who want to work in the home health setting can now become home health nurses through supplemental training at OSF Health. In the past, there was a requirement that a nurse who wanted to work in the home health setting had to have prior nursing experience. OSF Health's training varies according to the individual's experience and skill level. The training focuses on wound identification, assessment, and care; in-home IV therapy; pediatrics; and different components of case management.
"We want to make sure that the nurses that we onboard are here a year from now, given the staffing crisis we find ourselves in with nurses in healthcare in general," J.J. Guedet, vice president of business development and strategy at OSF Health, said. "The emphasis is less on rushing someone out to see a patient, and a lot more intensive on building that experience where clinicians feel they're set up to succeed."
Nursing Homes Doing the Best They Can Despite Financial, Hiring Struggles
Due to the worker shortage, many organizations raised employee wages to be more attractive in the competitive market. Out of all sectors of the industry, nursing homes increased their wages the most, seeing how staff absences and turnover were heavily impacting them.
Holly Harmon, senior vice president of quality, regulatory, and clinical services for the American Health Care Association notes that nursing homes also offer an array of benefits such as flexible or self-scheduling, mentorship programs, and career development opportunities, and are continually innovating and developing others to improve their marketability.
"We have a number of other ideas of how we can help really elevate the nursing home profession for individuals that are out there and want to serve our elders."
Q&A: Leigh Davis on Post-Acute Recruitment and Retention
Taking a closer look at the competitive labor market, HealthLeaders spoke with Leigh Davis, a post-acute healthcare consultant, about ways home care agencies can improve their recruitment and retention efforts to stand out.
Davis' suggestions include:
- Developing a recognition and promotion program where talent see that they have a future with the organization
- Use the BEAP tactic when you talk to applicants about the benefits of the job, explaining B is for broader mission, E is for education path, A is for advancement, and P is for promotion
- Getting rid of "behind the desk" mentality and bringing everyone into a team mindset
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.