Workforce woes. Nursing retreat. Smart staffing solutions.
How many nurses are exiting healthcare? How serious is this problem for the healthcare system? The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) released a study that paints a troubling picture of the nursing workforce in the U.S. The research shows that well over 100,000 registered nurses (RNs) left nursing either due to retirement or going into a different field of work since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but even more worrisome is the fact that this did not begin or end with the pandemic. It is an ongoing trend.
Explore current trends and challenges in healthcare staffing in Jacksonville FL, and both reliable and flexible staffing strategies to find solutions.
Facing the Future
The NCSBN study projects that by 2027, nearly 900,000 additional RNs, representing approximately one-fifth of the nation's 4.5 million RNs, plan to leave the healthcare workforce, posing a significant threat to the stability and effectiveness of the U.S. healthcare system.
A 2023 study on Evolving Contract Labor Opinions in the Healthcare C-Suite found that 98% of chief financial officers (CFOs) surveyed viewed nurse staffing as a significant challenge for their health system.
What About Jacksonville, Florida?
The Florida Hospital Association projects a demand for 59,100 more nurses by 2035. Although Florida is not among the states with the most severe nursing shortages, hospitals are addressing the challenge by developing partnerships with local nursing schools that provide “earn while you learn” programs. Florida provided over $125 million for nursing education in 2022, and universities across Florida expanded their nursing schools and faculty with this support.
For example, UF Health in Jacksonville steps up to the challenge with an Academic Partnership Unit that allows nursing leaders to recruit student nurses. This university also offers a fast-track bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree for students with a bachelor’s in other fields who want to pursue a BSN in less time.
Understanding the Staffing Challenges in Jacksonville
Florida has a whopping growth rate of approximately 800 new residents per day, a 1.6 percent increase in 2023. Jacksonville is also part of this population trend, with a 1.13 percent increase in the metropolitan area, far higher than the 0.5 percent national average.
Both the increase in population and the 17 percent over age 65, drive the surging need for nursing in Florida. Moreover, peak healthcare months, such as flu season, last-minute call-outs, and emergencies, all create an additional demand for short-term hospital nursing staff.
Emergency situations are not uncommon: hurricanes or tropical storms often hit Jacksonville. Hospitals prepare for the hurricane season with backup plans for adequate emergency staffing, backup power systems, an ample inventory of medical supplies, secure storage, and much more.
Healthcare deals not only with the injuries directly due to the impact of hurricanes but also the rise in infectious disease in the aftermath due to contaminated water and food, aggravation of pre-existing chronic conditions, and increased mental illness, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
In Jacksonville, Florida, per diem staffing options are one of the strategies available to face the growing demand, peak seasons, and even natural disasters.
Impact of Staffing Shortages on Facilities and Patients
Nurses face burnout due to overwhelming workloads, leading to higher turnover rates. Financially, healthcare organizations struggle with increased costs and reduced revenue, threatening their ability to deliver timely care, and jeopardizing their institutional strength and growth.
Florida requires 1.7 hours of direct care by licensed nursing staff per resident daily. PRN nurses in Jacksonville, FL, help meet this requirement successfully. For more information on safe nurse-patient ratios, see RN Nurse-to-Patient Ratios by State [2024].
Choosing the Right Staffing Option
When considering staffing strategy, healthcare facilities may take into account a few options to help ensure stability, flexibility and responsiveness to changing needs:
- Embrace flexible staffing models: An intelligent combination of options allows you to manage and integrate short, medium and long-term staffing solutions, and enables scaling the workforce up or down based on demand, while ensuring optimal care standards during peak times and minimizing costs during slower periods.
- Set up an internal resource pool: Develop an internal pool of flexible workers for on-demand staffing.
- Harness technology for workforce management: Taking advantage of constantly emerging tech support, facilities may use per diem staffing apps such as Nursa and/or a unified workforce platform that integrates all types of staff management, from full-time employees to temporary workers. This kind of platform can streamline scheduling, onboarding, and compliance, giving visibility to staffing needs and guiding efficient resource allocation.
- Highlight nurse well-being and retention: Implementing flexible scheduling options can allow nurses to manage their work-life balance, reducing burnout, and lead to higher job satisfaction and lower turnover.
PRN nursing apps, such as Nursa, use technology to streamline the urgent hunt for temporary nurses and favor flexibility and the nurses’ work-life balance. Nursa can match your facility’s staffing needs with appropriate clinicians with the required skills, whether it is for a long-term care facility, a hospital, or other healthcare organizations. See more on recruiting strategies in Nine Best Practices for Recruiting Nurses.
Top Staffing Options in Jacksonville
As staffing crises persist, healthcare facilities are adopting a variety of nurse staffing solutions, such as the following:
- Per diem staffing: Per diem staffing is an agile short-term solution that helps facilities ensure consistent patient coverage at low cost and empowers nurses with flexible scheduling. Facilities can contract per diem nurses directly using a platform such as Nursa, allowing clinicians to pick up shifts without a nurse staffing company.
- Staffing Agencies: These reliable intermediaries provide a model for outsourcing much of the hiring process. However, using the agency implies an added cost.
- Local Contract Nurses: Contracting local healthcare professionals posted on online job boards may be heavily time-consuming for the facility’s human resource department or manager.
The main drawbacks of these first three options are the lack of familiarity with the facility and limited continuity of care.
- Travel Contract Nurses: Offering a temporary, medium-term staffing option that may last from 4 to 26 weeks, this approach results in lower hiring costs than more permanent staffing solutions, although it involves higher pay rates and housing stipends.
- Traditional Staffing: This long-term solution provides stability for both the facilities and the nurses, with fixed contract terms and benefits. The team is familiar with the facility, its procedures and policies, as well as their colleagues, but this staffing option has higher costs and very low flexibility. It often involves fatigue and burnout and this reaches even more critical levels when shortages lead to working overtime.
In-house nursing staff provides the necessary basis for a cohesive team of skilled professionals committed to working together for the common goal of providing excellent patient care. This structure is the basis, and yet it depends on other options to cover staffing gaps or offer nurses more flexibility. By leveraging a blend of staffing solutions, facilities can effectively create a strategy that ensures quality care, supports their workforce, and maintains the integrity of the facility. For further information, you may be interested in the benefits of per diem staffing platforms versus staffing agencies.
How Nursa Helps Facilities Find Nurses in Jacksonville
Nursa connects facilities directly with nurses, allowing the facility to post shifts, and the nurses to find and request jobs. The facility chooses the best candidate to fill the shift without the hassle of hunting for reliable professionals. They find you.
Nursa brings facilities and nurses together on the platform.To post shifts you follow a few simple steps:
- Sign up with your facility on Nursa for free and connect to your facility account.
- Create a compliance list of requirements.
- Post open shifts for clinicians to consider and start receiving requests.
- Review the requests and schedule the nurses you need
Sign up for free and pay once shifts are completed.
Nursa applies algorithms to match candidates’ skills, experience, and qualifications with job openings, and takes care of credential verification. Facilities will have candidates that fit their requirements in less time and with much less frustration. Let Nursa do the nurse hunt for you.
Sources:
U.S. Census: U.S. Population Trends Return to Pre-Pandemic Norms and the Census Reporter
