Finding PRN clinicians in Long Beach, California, is quick and easy with a healthcare staffing app. Discover flexible staffing solutions for hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Staffing solutions with a healthcare app in Long Beach, CA
PRN medical staffing comes in many forms.
You do not need a nurse staffing agency or a long-term contract to access qualified and vetted clinicians for last-minute coverage.
Explore the advantages of using a healthcare staffing app to address the specific needs of health systems in Long Beach, California.
Understanding California’s healthcare landscape
Various factors make California’s healthcare landscape unique.
Low RN-to-population ratios
Over 80 percent of areas in California are experiencing a shortage of RNs.
In 2020, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) updated the criteria for designating regions as Registered Nurse Shortage Areas (RNSA). RNSAs are areas with a ratio of employed registered nurses (RNs) per 100,000 people below the national 25th percentile.
Based on the updated criteria and the latest data, the OSHPD designated 58 of 72 custom areas in California as RNSAs. Of the 58 RNSAs, 19 are considered high-severity, 19 medium-severity, and 20 low-severity.
In addition to the number of areas in each category, it is interesting to consider the percentage of the population in each type of area. The following indicates the percentage of Californians living in low-, medium-, and high-severity RNSAs:
- Low: 51%
- Medium: 14%
- High: 11%
In short, most people in California live in regions with significantly lower RN-to-population ratios than the national average.
Mandated nurse-to-patient ratios
California is one of the few states with mandated hospital RN-to-patient staffing ratios.
The following are mandated staffing levels per hospital unit in which an RN must provide nursing care:
- Intensive care newborn nursery service units: 1:1
- Critical trauma patients in the emergency department: 1:1
- Emergency department (triage staffing requires RN licensure): 1:4
Additionally, the following are mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in settings that allow up to 50 percent of the hospital nursing staff to be licensed vocational nurses (LVNs)—also known as licensed practical nurses (LPNs):
- Step-down units:1:3
- Telemetry units: 1:4
- Specialty care units: 1:4
- Medical/surgical care units: 1:5
- Psychiatric units: 1:6
- Pediatric service unit: 1:4
- Postanesthesia recovery unit of the anesthesia service: 1:2
- Critical care unit: 1:2
- Labor and delivery suite of the perinatal service: 1:2 (active labor patients) and 1:4 (antepartum patients who are not in active labor)
- Postpartum area of the perinatal service: 1:4 (mother-baby couplets)
- Postpartum areas: 1:6 (mothers only)
- Combined labor/delivery/postpartum area of the perinatal service: 1:3 (patient combination of one woman in active labor and a postpartum mother and infant)
How do staffing ratios impact the healthcare landscape?
Mandated staffing ratios aim to protect patients, nurses, and healthcare systems and improve healthcare outcomes overall.
However, they also pose challenges for healthcare facilities.
- Meeting these minimum ratios at all times makes coordinating mandated meal breaks difficult. Some hospitals have hired nurses to cover meal breaks specifically.
- Mandated ratios don’t leave room for flexibility. Minimum ratios are the same during day and night shifts and do not vary based on patient acuity.
- Hospitals must find immediate solutions to last-minute call outs.
- Cross-training staff has become essential to increase float coverage.
- Many hospitals reduced the ratio of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and other support staff in favor of increasing their RN workforce, forcing RNs to take on more nonnursing roles.
- Hospital CEOs claim it has been difficult to absorb the costs of maintaining mandated ratios, especially during low census periods. This has led hospitals to reduce services and/or increase consumer costs.
- Patients sometimes must be held in emergency departments due to insufficient staff and occasionally even sent to different hospitals.
What is the status of the nursing workforce in Long Beach?
The most recent reports show that Long Beach is a low-severity Registered Nurse Shortage Area.
It has a population of 1,576,476 with 13,087 employed RNs. This translates to an RN-to-population ratio of 830.1 per 100,000 people. As mentioned, this ratio is lower than the national 25th percentile.
In other words, the demand for RNs is greater than the supply. This shortage creates significant staffing challenges for healthcare facilities in Long Beach, especially considering California’s mandated nurse-to-patient ratios. The shortage also impacts care outcomes.
How can facilities maintain the required staffing ratios?
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities can meet mandated nurse staffing ratios in numerous ways.
Recruiting staff for employee positions in Long Beach, CA
Healthcare facilities often post open positions on their websites or other job boards. Then, they must go through numerous resumes and schedule interviews. The hiring process is typically lengthy. Filling a hospital RN position takes about three months.
Using nurse staffing agencies in Long Beach, CA
Many facilities use nurse staffing companies to source new employees, travel nurses, or PRN staff. However, using a nurse staffing agency in Long Beach, CA, presents numerous drawbacks.
One of the most significant disadvantages is that relying on agencies is not a cost-effective staffing strategy. Travel nurses are notoriously expensive. Furthermore, agencies charge exorbitant hire-away fees when facilities employ one of their nurses.
Relying on a healthcare staffing app in Long Beach, CA
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities increasingly rely on digital platforms to find PRN nurses in Long Beach, California.
Nursa is the best healthcare staffing company in Long Beach, CA. The app connects hospitals and other facilities with local healthcare professionals for on-demand staffing.
This healthcare staffing app helps facilities find reliable nurses at the lowest cost.
What advantages does the PRN staffing platform provide?
Our healthcare staffing platform provides facilities with short-, medium-, and long-term solutions. The following are some notable advantages of using the PRN nursing app:
- Flexible scheduling: Facilities can access a large and varied pool of local talent to fill last-minute open shifts. PRN clinicians on the platform include RNs, LVNs, CNAs, respiratory therapists, certified medication aides, and more.
- Transparency: Facilities approve pay before a shift is posted. They only pay for the hours worked, and there are no hidden costs or employee benefits, such as health insurance.
- Various pricing options: Local Nursa Support teams help facilities determine the lowest pay they can offer for a shift while attracting the needed clinicians. This algorithmic pricing considers the cost of living in the area, among other factors. Facilities can also establish a maximum amount they want to pay for shifts to stay within their budgets.
- Credential verification: The platform conducts background checks and verifies the documents and credentials of all clinicians before they can find shifts.
- Digital CDPH Form 530 management: The platform facilitates meeting the CDPH Form 530 requirement by providing a digital form on the app. Facilities can digitally sign their portion of the form for each shift while verifying a Shift Report. These forms can be downloaded individually or in bulk.
Can using a PRN app be a long-term staffing strategy?
PRN or per diem staffing is typically considered a short-term solution. However, with our healthcare staffing app, facilities in Long Beach, California, can employ PRN clinicians without paying hire-away fees.
Here’s a potential scenario:
A healthcare facility posts PRN shifts on the app to meet staffing needs. A PRN clinician stands out for their knowledge, skill, positive attitude, and effective teamwork.
Initially, the nurse manager may add this clinician to the facility’s Favorites list on the app. This allows facilities to use the Auto-Schedule feature to automatically schedule the clinician for future shifts, saving valuable time.
After continued positive experiences with the clinician, the facility may offer them a permanent position. Since the PRN clinician has no exclusivity contract with our job search platform, they would be free to accept, and the health system would not have to pay any hire-away fees.
How are other healthcare facilities using the app?
Hillsboro Health and Rehabilitation Center is a skilled nursing and rehabilitation care center in Hillsboro, Oregon.
A decrease in full-time staff led the Hillsboro team to explore agency staffing. However, this strategy came with its own set of challenges.
“Before Nursa, we used traditional agency staffing. While this method filled the need, it required a lot of emailing back and forth just to get someone to pick up a shift. The lengthy process didn’t help support last-minute call outs or people who would leave halfway through their shift.” - Grenika Soysa, Nursing Home Administrator at Hillsboro Health and Rehabilitation
Since Hillsboro started posting PRN shifts on the app, they have remained fully staffed. Removing the middleman helped the facility fill shifts quickly and easily.
“Nursa helps keep us going. It’s such a quick and flexible process. It’s rare that we post a shift and it doesn’t get picked up.”
Furthermore, the app has provided the facility with more than a simple, quick fix.
“When we post shifts, we keep an eye out for the quality clinicians who have worked for Hillsboro before…Through Nursa, we were able to meet and work consistently with one of our favorite RNs, Janie. She’s very punctual and thorough with her work. She’s a self-starter and is always happy to jump in and take any assignments across the facility.”
Give our healthcare staffing app a test drive today
Address your hospital’s or long-term care facility’s staffing needs by downloading our healthcare staffing app and posting PRN shifts in Long Beach, California.
Find flexible, reliable, and cost-effective solutions for your facility’s staffing needs.
Sign up today and experience the advantages of using our PRN staffing platform firsthand.
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