A solution to the healthcare workforce shortage

Maintain optimal staff-to-patient ratios with contingent workforce solutions

The healthcare industry relies on proper staffing to provide all levels of care and a positive consumer experience. Whether it’s a broken bone that lands a patient in the emergency room or an annual physical that requires a visit to the general practitioner’s office, there is a roster of staff that patients interact with before they even see a doctor. The reality is that workforce shortages are impacting all the roles that are vital to quality patient care and experiences.

Though certain staff are not necessarily “behind the scenes,” all workers are not fully visible all the time, either. They carry out their tasks on the periphery, ensuring shorter wait times, clean facilities, smooth communication, and the accurate transfer of information. These are the staff who check patients in, help with scheduling and billing, and keep track of medical orders and records, all in support of more conspicuous jobs like imaging and lab technicians, office managers, nurses, clinic staff, medical translators, janitorial staff, and more.

In a cross-sectional study, the frequency, type, and duration of contacts made by health care workers, other hospital staff, and visitors to patients in acute care settings were documented. Patients were observed in 7 units of 3 academic hospitals, with a recording of each occurrence of someone’s entry into the patient’s room. Hourly room entries ranged from 0 to 28 per patient (median, 5.5), and patients received visits from 0 to 18 different persons per hour (median, 3.5). Nurses made the most visits (45%), followed by personal visitors (23%), medical staff (17%), nonclinical staff (7%), and other clinical staff (4%).¹

This emphasizes the importance of all workers in healthcare facilities, no matter the title, seniority level, or medical expertise. But, much like managing the fluctuating government workforce levels, the healthcare industry has struggled to keep positions filled in recent years. This issue is not limited to the United States; all of North America is affected, from large healthcare networks to privately owned clinics.²

How the healthcare workforce shortage affects staff-to-patient ratios

Having enough workers is one of the most important aspects of maintaining high-quality patient care. Often referred to as the staff-to-patient ratio, this is what healthcare facilities use to determine resource allocation and how well they are meeting operational needs.³ Nurse-to-patient ratios, especially, are felt most acutely in a hospital setting. Over the last 20 years, more than 100 studies by academic researchers have produced evidence confirming the link between inadequate hospital nurse to patient staffing levels and poor patient outcomes, up to and including unnecessary death.⁴

Maintaining high-quality care doesn’t just rest on the shoulders of nursing staff—case coordinators and care managers also have a critical role to play. If these roles remain unfilled, it creates a hazardous ripple effect that spills over onto the medical staff. When these roles are vacant, the burden is passed to nurses and other personnel, who then struggle to balance patient care with these additional duties.

In the wave of staffing turmoil that hospitals and healthcare facilities have faced post-pandemic, many are feeling the burden of ensuring optimal staff-to-patient ratios, and it’s having a deleterious effect on the care they can provide.

The solution might appear simple: just hire more people. But finding and hiring skilled staff for the myriad of roles found in the healthcare industry is not so straightforward.

The reasons for the healthcare workforce shortage

The U.S. healthcare sector has gone through enormous strain in recent years, with the culminating result in 2022: nearly 1.7 million people quit their healthcare jobs – the equivalent of almost 3% of the healthcare workforce.⁵ Why? The reasons are varied.

In a recent survey of 1,000 healthcare professionals, 20% quit a job because of burnout.⁶ This is not surprising, given the difficulty of finding work-life balance in an industry of extremes. This also explains the higher rates of turnover often found in the healthcare sector.⁷

The shortage of workers in the industry means that healthcare organizations end up competing for the same small pool of applicants. Hospitals, healthcare facilities, and clinician offices face longer recruitment and onboarding processes than other businesses. In fact, the average time to hire is longer than in almost any other industry.⁸ Screening processes can be lengthy and fraught with delays, which only serves to exacerbate issues caused by gaps in staffing and highlights the need to fill critical roles.

Contingent workforce solutions for the healthcare industry

Healthcare organizations and facilities need a stable team of capable staff to meet the continuous demand for high-quality patient care. A contingent workforce solutions vendor can help by sourcing the best possible talent to keep hospitals and doctor’s offices running smoothly.

For some healthcare facilities, hiring for many roles requiring wide ranges of skills, education levels, and certifications can be difficult to navigate. Contingent workforce solutions can streamline the hiring process across many job categories and maintain a qualified talent pool to return to when future staffing needs arise.

Addressing the healthcare workforce shortage and optimizing staff-to-patient ratios

CAI's contingent workforce solutions can help alleviate the headache of talent sourcing and hiring for healthcare roles. We have placed qualified professionals in care manager and case coordinator roles, as well as a variety of other non-medical, supporting job titles.

Our vendor management system streamlines screening processes and manages contingent workforce reporting and payroll, simplifying onboarding and freeing up employee resources for more critical tasks.

To learn more about how CAI can help with the healthcare workforce shortage, fill out the form below.