The nurse staffing shortage is hitting hospitals and long-term care facilities hard.
Are you a healthcare facility manager in Amarillo, Texas, struggling to fill gaps in the schedule?
Here’s what you can do to source certified nurse aides (CNAs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), and registered nurses (RNs) to shore up your staffing ratios.
PRN healthcare staffing solutions in Amarillo, Texas
The nurse shortage.
A nationwide problem that requires strategic, local solutions.
Several state-level initiatives, including the Nursing Shortage Reduction Program (NSRP) and clinical expansion programs supported by the Texas Hospital Association, are expanding access to nursing programs to grow the future generations of nurses. Nevertheless, those initiatives don’t solve today’s problems.
Keep reading for a concise summary of the nurse staffing challenges specific to the Texas Panhandle region (Amarillo), and learn about the PRN staffing app that provides local solutions to both acute and post-acute facilities.
Amarillo’s staffing challenges
There are the typical pain points that frustrate nearly all staffing managers nationwide, such as last-minute call offs, the new CMS staffing mandate, turnover, and fluctuating patient census.
Additionally, we can look to data to better understand the context of the nursing shortage and ways it impacts staffing in Amarillo.
The Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies published its 2024 data that analyzes nursing staffing trends in hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health, and hospice.
Here are critical highlights from its staffing reports.
Changes in hospital recruitment
Texas hospitals reported their nurse recruitment process took 31–60 days in 2024, shorter than the 91-day average reported in 2022.
There was almost no change in the percentage of hospitals that use shift differentials, employee benefits, and tuition reimbursement to bolster their recruitment strategies. However, there was a notable decrease in the number of hospitals using sign-on bonuses, from 81.7 percent in 2022 down to 67.7 percent in 2024.
Nearly 60 percent of hospitals reported flexible scheduling or job sharing as a recruitment strategy.
Changes in hospital staffing budget
Nearly half of Texas hospitals reported an increase in the budget for direct care full-time positions.
Seven Panhandle hospitals reported a budget increase for direct care hiring, one a decrease, and 19 reported no change.
Of the seven Panhandle hospitals that plan budget increases this year, additional direct care full-time positions are projected as follows:
- RNs: 62
- LVNs: 17
- CNAs: 12
The increased number of full-time positions is mainly due to increasing patient volume and acuity.
Changes in hospital turnover and vacancies
Vacancy rates for CNAs, LVNs, and RNs decreased slightly (less than three percentage points) but continue to be higher than pre-COVID levels.
The turnover rates for CNAs and RNs decreased slightly from 2022, but the LVN turnover rate increased.
Despite these decreases, the figures for statewide turnover for hospital nursing staff remained uncomfortably high:
- CNA turnover was 40.4 percent.
- LVN turnover was 26.1 percent.
- RN turnover was 15.5 percent.
Changes in long-term care facility recruitment
The majority of facilities reported using paid leave, employee recognition programs, and health insurance as recruitment strategies.
Only 32 percent of facilities reported using flexible scheduling and job sharing as a recruitment strategy.
Changes in long-term care facility staffing needs
More than half of facilities reported they will need more direct care RNs and CNAs, and 44.3 percent reported they will need more direct care LVNs.
When asked why, facilities commonly reported patient census and acuity as reasons.
Changes in long-term care facility turnover and vacancies
Vacancies for all direct care staff positions decreased from 2022 reports. Specifically, the Panhandle facilities reported vacancy rates for RNs, LVNs, and CNAs that were lower than the statewide average. They are as follows:
- The vacancy rate for RNs in direct care was 6.7 percent.
- The vacancy rate for RNs in administrative positions was 5.9 percent.
- The vacancy rate for LVNs in direct care was 10 percent.
- The vacancy rate for CNAs was 6.6 percent.
Unfortunately, the turnover rates in the Panhandle facilities remained high, with a CNA turnover rate of 51 percent; turnover rates for RNs in direct care and administrative roles were 32.5 and 36.7 percent, respectively, and turnover rates for direct-care LVNs were 36.4 percent.
Home health and hospice
Seventy-seven home health agencies across Texas provided information to the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies. Only two of these were in the Panhandle region.
These responses indicated that nearly half of these agencies had to decline patients because of insufficient staffing to provide services. A total of 6,625 patients were declined.
The most common recruitment strategies used by home health agencies included the following:
- Paid time off
- Flexible scheduling or job sharing
- Gas allowance or company car use
Top healthcare staffing options in Amarillo, TX
These workforce studies show us that the definition of “nurse staffing shortage” is nuanced and varies for different work settings and healthcare professions. Additionally, many facility administrators want to offer flexible scheduling to their staff.
This means facility schedulers need versatile strategies to account for different needs.
Travel nursing has been around for decades and rose to the forefront of headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it isn’t a financially sustainable option in the long term.
Nurse staffing agencies in Amarillo, TX, may at first glance seem more affordable, and yet they often control candidate selection, impose complicated contracts, and charge hire-away fees if a facility offers in-house employment to the agency clinician.
So, what options are left?
Per diem staffing with the healthcare platform, Nursa.
How Nursa solves scheduling problems shift by shift
Nursa offers facilities the adaptability they need to be strategic in scheduling regardless of the need. Here’s a rundown of some of the features of the on-demand staffing app that will help you:
- Responsiveness: Facilities can cover last-minute call offs and plan to cover paid time off by posting per diem shifts to the platform. Posts are updated in real time, and clinicians receive notifications when a new shift is available in their area.
- Flexibility: There’s no limit to how often a facility should use the platform. Often or seldom—there are no quotas or costs associated with frequency of use.
- Transparency: When facilities receive invoices, there are no surprises. There are also no contracts. Facilities choose the shift price before posting the shift, making the app a cost-effective option and easy for budget planning.
- Control: Facilities choose the candidate they want for the shift by browsing local healthcare professional profiles and building a list of Favorites over time that can be auto-scheduled when they’re available.
- Streamlined processes: The platform streamlines emergency staffing and can be integrated with operations software such as Covr and UKG, keeping staffing and timekeeping management all in one place.
- Versatility: Use the platform for quick shift coverage in short- and medium-term situations as well as a try-out for clinicians before offering them in-house employment. No hire-away fees. Ever.
- Verified talent: Nursa handles all credential verification and background checks, ensuring that when PRN nurses and CNAs in Amarillo, TX, pick up a shift at your facility, they’re ready to work right away.
How many of those features would be beneficial to your schedulers right now?
Pick and choose how Nursa can serve your staffing needs when you register your facility today.
Sources:
.webp)
.webp)
.png)
.png)
