Looking to convince your company to invest in a buy-in for per diem staffing? Flexible staffing models include healthcare staffing platforms that allow medical facilities to find nurses fast. Innovative and user-friendly apps such as Nursa improve patient care quality by connecting nurses with managers to fill PRN nursing jobs in real time.
The result is a fully-staffed facility that can take a sigh of relief—phew.
Contingent healthcare staffing offers a multitude of benefits, but how can you get buy-in for per diem staffing? That’s easy. Well, kind of. First, you have to really understand why per diem staffing is so invaluable in helping meet labor demands. Then, you will need to pitch and secure the buy-in of administrators and leaders in your workforce. Let’s explore the major perks of per diem staffing and some actionable steps to win the support of your leadership team.
Benefits of per diem healthcare staffing
If you are a nurse manager who would like to make a pitch for per diem staffing, familiarizing yourself with the benefits of this model is the first step. Some of the main benefits of per diem staffing are:
Flexibility
A per diem staffing model provides a healthcare facility with unmatched flexibility. This is because per diem staffing enables nursing managers to adjust staffing levels based on wavering patient needs. During peak seasons such as major holidays or flu season, per diem nurses can be sourced in real time.
This alleviates the workload of regular nursing staff, who may request time off during these times. Consequently, this model promotes overtime reduction, reducing costs and nurse burnout.
Last-minute coverage
Can you imagine being able to meet your staffing demands at a moment’s notice? This is exactly what per diem staffing can do. Per diem staffing helps streamline the recruitment process by eliminating the “middleman” and connecting nurse managers to nurses and other healthcare professionals in a snap.
For example, per diem staffing with Nursa helps a facility fill a shift in less than 24 hours. This assists facilities in getting their last-minute staffing needs while also maintaining a high level of patient care.
Burnout prevention
Happy nurses are better nurses. Unfortunately, burnout among nurses is common, with over two-thirds of registered nurses surveyed in 2023 saying, “Most days, I feel burned out."
A huge benefit of per diem staffing is that it can reduce nurse burnout. Facilities can quickly recruit nurses to cover shifts instead of increasing the workload or asking nurses to work overtime. In turn, when a facility is fully staffed, regularly scheduled nurses can get the break they need.
Access a large talent pool
Per diem staffing also gives facility managers access to a large pool of skilled nurses and certified nursing assistants in the surrounding area. These clinicians are actively looking to pick up shifts.
For example, Nursa has 300,000 per diem clinicians nationwide filling shifts.
Cost-effectiveness
Per diem staff is a more cost-effective way to meet fluctuating labor demands, especially if a facility needs staff coverage for a short period of time. Increasing overhead costs for a larger in-house staff roster to meet peak staffing needs can leave your facility over-staffed in periods of low patient census.
Per diem staffing allows you to augment your staffing levels only when you need them. Moreover, per diem contracted clinicians are not paid employee benefits; they are only paid for the shifts worked.
What to look for in a per diem staffing solution
Clearly explaining the benefits of a per diem staffing solution is important, but that alone is not enough. Before pitching for leadership buy-in, you should also understand what features your proposed per diem staffing solution will include.
The top features to look for in per diem staffing include the following:
- A high-quality clinician pool: An efficient per diem staffing solution should offer access to a large pool of skilled and local clinicians. It should also feature capabilities that either streamline the process of verifying licenses and certifications or take care of it altogether.
- No minimum usage contract: Apps or per diem marketplaces should offer flexible sign-ups and usage terms. These platforms often allow facilities to sign up free for a period of time with the flexibility to cancel at any time. A facility should not have to be locked into a contract at any time.
- Predictable, transparent pricing: Pricing for an on-demand per diem staffing solution should be predictable, and pricing terms should be spelled out clearly. This eliminates the surprise of hidden fees or “upselling” when further along in the sign-up process.
- Integrations with scheduling platforms: High-quality per diem staffing solutions should seamlessly integrate with scheduling platforms that facilities already use. These integrations should reduce the administrative burden and increase the efficiency of meeting staffing needs.
After familiarizing yourself with the benefits and must-have features of a per diem staffing solution, it’s time to pitch it to the leaders and investors of your facility.
Tips for pitching per diem staffing to administrators and leadership
Pitching per diem staffing to administrators and leadership will feel less intimidating once you understand the benefits and features of this staffing solution. In fact, staffing managers should feel eager to explain how per diem staffing can save costs and significantly contribute to better patient care.
To get started, here are a few tips on how to get buy-in for per diem staffing at your facility:
1. Get the support of other nurses
Start conversations with your nursing staff about the challenges of staffing shortages and how per diem nursing can offer a solution. Ask if any nurses on the team have benefited personally from a per diem staffing model.
Your nursing team’s support is key in persuading leaders higher up to invest in a staffing solution that can benefit an entire team.
2. Clearly list the benefits of per diem staffing
When pitching to administrators and leaders for a buy-in, make sure to clearly explain the benefits of per diem staffing. Accentuate the fact that per diem staffing models assist facilities in adapting staffing levels to the fluctuating patient census. As a result, this puts skilled nurses at the bedside of every patient in need.
List other features, such as how a PRN staffing model is able to source healthcare professionals quickly while being cost-effective.
3. Identify staffing needs at the shift level
It’s often easier to get buy-in for a few per diem shifts each month instead of hiring a large group of PRN nurses. Rather than pitching a large investment of rotating per diem nurses, suggest first filling only certain shifts.
This targeted approach can appear less intimidating for investors and leaders until they witness real-world results, not just hypothetical ones.
4. Establish a per diem nurse onboarding process
Establish a per diem nurse onboarding process to preemptively address any concerns about per diem nurse integration. Learning effective ways to onboard PRN staff at your facility, such as creating a “welcome” packet for new PRN staff, can set PRN nurses up for success.
How Brookfield Health uses Nursa to eliminate staffing gaps
A case study of Brookfield Health and Rehabilitation Center of Cascadia in Washington provides real insight into the benefits of on-demand staffing. Facing staffing shortages and last-minute callouts, Brookfield Health and Rehabilitation turned to Nursa to simplify shift scheduling.
Switching to Nursa has helped them with the following:
- Eliminate staffing gaps
- Substantially reduce hiring costs
- Staff to match fluctuating patient census
- Source quality nursing clinicians
Read more about the Brookfield Health case study here.
Try out per diem staffing with Nursa
It’s time! It’s time! For what? To get excited about pitching per diem staffing to the leaders of your facility. Per diem staffing is helping facilities all across the country to consistently fill staffing gaps and ensure patient coverage.
Per diem staffing isn’t a gimmick; case studies and research prove that it reduces costs and burnout and increases nurse retention.
Pitching this model to potential investors and administrators involves highlighting its cost-saving benefits and ability to drastically improve patient care quality. Want to test-drive per diem staffing with Nursa? Get started with Nursa today to connect with local clinicians and start filling shifts immediately.
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