How to Future-Proof Nursing: Staffing, Wellness, and Flexibility

Curtis Anderson, founder of Nursa, and Becker's Healthcare collaborated on a Webinar sponsored by Nursa on November 11, 2024, to discuss how digital tools can improve staffing outcomes.

Joining Curtis on this webinar were:

• Sheila Kempf: Interim CNO and former CNO of Penn Medicine Princeton
• Mark Smith: Vice President of Workforce Insights, Optimization, and Staffing, Providence Healthcare
• Kaitlin Rose: Senior Director Healthcare Consultant for Huron Consulting Group

Highlights of this webinar include:

• Involving current staff in decision-making and trusting nurse leaders' decisions improves the acceptance of contingent workers.
• Technology integration is necessary to improve the quality of care and reduce turnover rates, burnout, and staff stress.
• Ultimately, improving scheduling processes improves patient outcomes. There are no “fluffy dollars;” every patient and every experience counts. Focusing on patient care ensures staff satisfaction.
• Having a centralized and unified platform simplifies operational efficiency for managers. Thinking outside the box and testing new strategies is vital for healthcare facilities.
• All healthcare facilities must rely on nurse leaders and consult with a multidisciplinary team to solve short—and long-term problems. This usually involves working alongside nurse leaders, recruitment, HR, finance, and IT.
• Decisions should be made based on real-time data and in consultation with nurse supervisors, as this allows for optimal staffing levels in all units.
• Transparency in talking to all staff and hearing their ideas when consulting on staffing issues can make a difference in the acceptance of PRN on-demand workforce.
• It is important to free nurses from roles they should not be performing through innovative staffing solutions and non-traditional roles, to improve nurses' ability to focus on patient care.

Curtis noted that because Nursa charges no hire-away fees, more than 25 percent of people in Nursa have secured in-house positions at a facility they found via the platform. Nursa has a large pool of nurses, whereas when exclusivity is required, the pool decreases.

Improving staffing processes improves the quality of service and patient care and saves the facility money in the long run. In Curtis’ words:

“Nursa provides each manager who has a short-term need with the lowest cost, reliable nurse who can meet that need.”