Staffing Robot - Healthcare Staffing Technology, Design & Marketing Blog

The Fun Theory

I came across a site called The Fun Theory. It's an initiative of Volkswagen, dedicated to the thought that making things simple and fun is the best way to change people’s behavior for the better. No matter what it is - yourself, your company, the environment, etc., the only thing that matters is change for the better. Essentially, it's a contest to have people create things that accomplish the goal of the initiative. 

It's an interesting concept. How often in your workday or when you're creating something are you thinking about keeping things simple and fun? When you're creating a form, designing a web page, making a new feature, presenting to a new client - are you just going through the standard motions? Or are you thinking about how to get people more engaged - how to grab their attention - to connect with them - to have fun? What  would be different if you did?

Something to think about.

This is my favorite one:

More on Innovative Programs Trying to Reverse Nursing Shortage Trend

Healthcare Finance News has a great article on more innovative programs trying to end the nursing shortage.

The article provides some updated data on nursing shortage trends:

• The nursing shortage is expected to hit 1 million by 2020.
• In 2008, 41,000 students were turned away from nursing schools.
• The average age of nursing staff currently working is 57.
• On a national average, only 30% of a nurses shift is spent with patients.

Many the innovations are about creating more scholarships, incorporating more technology into the classroom and changing the focus of much of the nursing education.

A big part of these initiatives is also focused on retention of healthcare professionals, not just recruitment. The best part of the article is when they highlight that people are trying to educate people on the issue and it's impact on all of us.

“At Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we’re trying to present nursing as a societal issue,” Hassmiller said. “Nursing is an economic issue for communities.”

Oklahoma's Innovative Approach to Reducing the Nursing Shortage

Here is a great article from the Journal Record on how Oklahoma City is attempting to get more people into the field of healthcare by implementing flexible and innovative schooling options.

The article reads: "Oklahoma not only needs more nurses – it needs more nurses teaching people how to be nurses. To increase its numbers in both areas, universities, hospitals and organizations are putting several programs into place. Oklahoma City University’s Kramer School of Nursing has begun a part-time bachelor’s of nursing degree program, catering to people who work or stay home full time. And the Oklahoma Nurses Association is meeting this week to discuss the educational advancement of nurses and how to increase the number of nursing faculty members."

The article talks about the importance of creating flexible schooling programs that cater better to people's modern lives. These days many people put off going to school because part time options are not available. Schools that create such an option give people a chance to start or further their career as a healthcare professional.

Because of the demands of the job, the average age of retirement for a nurse is 52. As more healthcare professionals delay retirement or re-enter the workforce, programs such as this, offering advanced degrees, will enable nurses to sustain their careers by pursuing new directions.

You can read the full article on Oklahoma's innovative nursing school program here.

Healthcare VMS goes out of business | Staffing Industry Analysts Articles

Today, the Staffing Industry Analysts announced another healthcare VMS company, U.S. Nurse Link, that is shutting its doors. 

According to the article: "A letter to suppliers from an attorney for U.S. Nurses with Purpose Inc., which does business as USNurseLink, said the healthcare vendor management system is going out of business and is unable to pay any of its bills. It recommends that billings should be made directly to clients going forward."

U.S. Nurse Link had a few small clients in Colorado but never really picked up much traction. Their system was also geared for hospitals to work with healthcare professionals directly.

It's unclear how many suppliers are owed money or exactly how much. This is yet another example of why hospitals and staffing agencies need to thoroughly screen their healthcare vendor management and managed service providers.

You can read the full article on the healthcare VMS bankruptcy here.

A Great Book for Success: Crush It! Why NOW is the time to cash in on your passion

"Developing your personal brand is key to monetizing your passion online."

That's a quote from the new book "Crush It! - Why NOW is the time to cash in on your passion" by Gary Vaynerchuk. If you haven't heard of Gary Vaynerchuk you should check him out. Billed as the "Social Media Sommelier" Gary produces an incredibly a popular video blog called Wine Library TV. Gary helped transform his family's wine business from a $4 million business to a $60 million business, by simply leveraging the power of the web and social media tools. 

Crush It! is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning more about the benefits of personal branding or starting and promoting a successful company through the web and social media. The book is about 1/4 motivational speaking and 3/4 reasoning for starting and successfully promoting your own business. The book provides several great sample business ideas, real world success tips and recommendations/explanations of useful online tools.

In the book, Gary goes so far to suggest that even if you have a job you like you should quit and start your own business - and that now is the best time to do it. Moreover, if you don't like your job (waiting for Friday every week and living for you vacations) Gary strongly suggests that you're wasting your time. He qualifies this only with one thing - his first rule is that you must first and foremost always do what you have to do to take care of your family and put them first.

What I like most about the book is Gary's encouragement for people to find their passion and figure out a way to monetize it. He suggests that doing so will change your life. No longer will you dread every day trying to slog through your daily job routines. When you're doing what you love your life and your job are one in the same - and that's ok with you.

Whether you're running a healthcare staffing or technology company, or considering doing either, Crush It! is an inspiring read that will encourage any individual to get out there and start Crushing It! for themselves.

Demand for Staffing Remains Elusive - WSJ.com Article

Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on the still unfortunate lack of improvement in the staffing industry. Some staffing agencies are apparently seeing slight increases here and there. While other staffing companies are embracing technology and innovation to make their way through this economy.

The article does fail to mention any bright spots such as an increase in demand for healthcare IT professionals. However, it's most likely because there is still a very long and dark tunnel before the faint light in the distance.

Med Staff On-Call's Innovative Approach to Healthcare Staffing

Company: Med Staff On-Call

CEO: Denise A. Kent PhD(c), RN, APN - CEO

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Positioning is one of the hardest challenges facing healthcare staffing agencies. Comparatively, each agency goes through the same/similar processes for recruiting and placing healthcare professionals at hospitals. This makes it difficult for staffing companies to separate themselves from their competition, typically leaving them with only price or volume as their true differentiators.

Recently, however, I discovered a healthcare staffing agency that has a completely different spin on what it means to be a staffing company. Med Staff On-Call is a fully automated staffing agency that uses technology to change the way their business is run. From recruiting, to hiring, to receiving and filling job orders, Med Staff On-Call has found a way to stand out from the pack. The efficiencies created in their innovative model allow them to contain costs, present competitive rates to their clients and provide an overall better work experience for the healthcare professionals they employ.

Med Staff On-Call has three key aspects of their company that make them unique:

Quality - The Intellimatch™ technology process they’ve created drives the quality of the staff they provide by ensuring that the medical professionals they place are the most qualified for every position. This automated matching process improves satisfaction for their employees by factoring in availability, shift and facility preferences, and credentials when notifying staff of available shifts.

Efficiency – Med Staff On-Call’s web-based staffing solution is much more efficient than a traditional staffing agency. The process is completely automated eliminating phone calls, faxes and other manual tasks associated with a traditional staffing process. Instead, staff post their availability on Med Staff On-Call’s secure website and receive notifications of qualifying positions via text message or e-mail. Healthcare organizations are notified instantly of filled positions. In addition, Med Staff On-Call has interfaced their system with leading healthcare vendor management companies so that job orders are made instantly available in their system.

 

Competitive Rates – Med Staff On-Call is 100% driven by innovation, leveraging technology to streamline the staffing process for their hospitals and medical staff. Their technology allows them to lower their internal costs and pass that savings on to their hospital partners. Efficiencies derived from their technology platform allow them to focus on recruiting and retaining quality medical professionals.

Q&A with Med Staff On-Call’s CEO - Denise A. Kent PhD(c), RN, APN

How do healthcare professionals sign up for your service?

“Healthcare professionals sign up for our service on-line. They complete all of the necessary pre-employment requirements and submit their credentials electronically. We then have their credentials verified by a third party. Once the information for the healthcare professional is validated and approved they can access our job orders, add their availability and sign up for specific job alerts.”

How are candidates submitted for jobs?

“Most of our job requisitions come in through on-line portals such as healthcare vendor management systems. These jobs are sent directly to our software application through the interfaces we have built to these VMS systems. If a job matches the preferences and credential qualifications of a healthcare professional they are alerted via text message or email and can respond through the same mediums for the jobs they want. The confirmations are then sent directly to the hospital.”

Why did you decide to run your business this way?

“We never had any intention of being a traditional staffing agency that’s old school. We knew we could create a competitive advantage by delivering higher quality staff, faster and at a lower cost by leveraging technology. Additionally, we wanted to provide healthcare professionals with a better work experience by giving them direct access and more control over their schedules and job preferences. Technology was the logical direction to go in.”

Do you feel that vendor management companies help or hurt your business?

“They definitely help our business. The vendor neutral vendor management companies completely handle the burden of credentialing, billing and job acquisition with our clients. Their systems improve quality by requiring proper documentation and including features like on-line performance evaluations. Overall the efficiency is completely complementary to our model.”

Do hospitals ever have an issue with your model being 100% driven by technology?

“Our clients love how quickly we can meet their staffing requests. We also have a very thorough screening process for our staff. All of their credentials are verified by a third party and all this information is accessible via our system.”

Do you work with other modalities outside of nursing?

“Currently, our primary focus is staffing nurses and nursing assistants. However, we have begun placing allied staff including pharmacy, PT and OT professionals.”

Do you feel your model has helped you in this economy?

“No question it has helped us. Because of our technology we are able to keep our costs low and offer staff at a very competitive rate to our clients. This has made us the number one provider to some of the largest health systems in the country.”

Conclusion: Med Staff On-Call is offering some of the most innovative solutions in the market to both their hospital clients and the heatlhcare professionals they employ. Such innovations will continue to have a positive impact in changing the way business is done in the healthcare staffing industry.