Healthcare Staffing Solutions in Scottsdale, AZ

Scottsdale, Arizona, holds first place among U.S. cities for the highest percentage of seniors. It ranks among the top retirement destinations for safety, quality of life, a favorable tax climate, and excellent healthcare.

24% of the population is over age 65, well above the national average of 16.8%. What’s more, 10.9% of the population is over 75, a demographic trend that fuels demand for healthcare staff.

To keep pace, timely recruitment is essential to healthcare staffing in Scottsdale, AZ.

Healthcare staffing in Scottsdale, AZ

With the increased healthcare needs of the senior population and the nurse shortage, Scottsdale healthcare facilities face an uphill battle every day.

In this article, we will look at challenges facing medical staffing, points to consider when selecting your workforce strategy, available options, and how Nursa’s PRN staffing strategy helps you find nurses.

What are the challenges to healthcare staffing in Scottsdale?

Typical pain points range from systemic issues, such as the ongoing shortage, to administrative headaches, such as balancing the budget or last-minute call outs.

The ever-present nursing shortage

In 2030, Arizona is expected to have a 10% shortage of registered nurses (RNs), exceeding the national average of 7%.

The nursing shortage is complex and involves a snowballing of interrelated issues, including nurse turnover, burnout, a shortage of nursing school faculty, and early retirements.

Highs and lows in patient census

In Scottsdale, each season has its health issues, but they vary in the type of healthcare required.

Seasonal fluctuations:

Winter relief: “Snowbirds” from colder states, especially retirees, flock to Arizona and Scottsdale, increasing demand for healthcare.
Late spring and early summer allergies: The peak allergy season, driven by pollen and desert dust, heightens patient volume.
Summer heat: Often over 100℉, dehydration is a common issue in urgent care centers. The Phoenix metro also ranks 4th-highest for smog pollution, increasing hospital admissions and emergency room visits for respiratory problems, especially asthma.
Fall flu: The flu season begins in the fall, although it peaks in December and January. Older adults have the highest rate of flu-related hospitalizations.

Let alone the predictable seasonal fluxes, Scottsdale also sees unpredictable demand swings.

Unpredictable variations:

Poor air quality due to dust storms: With massive walls of dust thousands of feet high, these storms increase the risk of Valley Fever, a respiratory illness caused by inhaling microscopic fungi carried by the wind.
Wildfire smoke: Wildfire exposures are associated with increased urgent healthcare demand. With roughly 61 wildfires each year, Scottsdale facilities see an increase in respiratory and cardiac cases.

Many of these may not involve hospitalization, but the outpatient census also directly affects the number of nurses needed to care for the patients.

Staffing costs

Staffing accounts for over half of hospital expenditures, and nursing staff alone accounts for almost one-third of those expenditures.

These figures are even higher in long-term care settings, where staffing costs account for a larger proportion of the budget.

The average wages for nursing clinicians in Arizona are as follows:

Registered nurses (RNs) earn on average $45.79 per hour in Arizona and $46.26 in Scottsdale.
Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) earn on average $35.02 per hour in Arizona, and $35.33 in Scottsdale.
Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) earn an average of $20.70 per hour in Arizona and $21.03 in Scottsdale.

Nursing clinicians' average wages are higher in the Phoenix metropolitan area, underscoring the need for facilities to find cost-effective staffing methods.

Administrative workload

Schedulers, directors of nursing (DONs), and healthcare managers coordinate and manage patient and staff appointments, maintain accurate schedules and records, handle budgeting, and ensure regulatory compliance.

The work is heavy enough when everything goes on schedule, but high turnover and burnout lead to frequent last-minute call outs and shift changes, suddenly making the job much more stressful.

Whether the call out is due to illness, a family emergency, or exhaustion, you have to find a clinician to cover that shift.

What is your staffing approach?

The interplay of the nursing shortage, escalating costs, and fluctuating healthcare needs calls for innovative healthcare staffing options.

A few points to consider are the following:

Time: How long does it take to fill a vacant shift?
Safety: Are the clinicians credentialed and vetted?
Cost: Beyond the pay itself, what are the added costs?

Ultimately, successful nursing staffing solutions balance efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness, enabling healthcare providers to meet healthcare needs and support their valuable workforce.

Nursing staffing companies in Scottsdale, AZ

Scottsdale offers traditional options as well as innovative healthcare staffing solutions, each with its own pros and cons.

Traditional staffing agencies

Traditional nurse staffing agencies in Scottsdale, AZ, offer comprehensive services for long-term staffing demands, but they may not have the speed that you require, and can charge sizable fees.

Pros: Full-service staffing support and access to licensed clinicians
Cons: High cost, minimum shift commitments, limited facility participation in selection, slow onboarding for short-notice vacancies

Internal float pools

Some facilities maintain a pool of on-demand clinicians to relieve regular staff of the stress of overtime or understaffing, but this is a limited group.

Pros: Known staff, familiarity with the organization and policies, lower cost
Cons: Limited pool of resources regarding specialties, overtime policies usually apply, not scalable for peaks in patient census

Travel nurses

Large healthcare systems use travel nurses more than long-term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, or smaller clinics. The cost of travel nurse contracts makes this an unsustainable solution in the long run.

Pros: Scalable to cover predicted peak census periods or longer-term needs, access to specialized clinicians
Cons: Very high cost, including housing and travel stipends

Open healthcare staffing platforms, like Nursa

Once you register, digital platforms can save you time, money, and stress, and the process takes just a few minutes.

Pros: Cost control, scalable solutions, transparent processes, and greater autonomy for facilities and nurses, plus immediate access to a large pool of PRN nurses in Scottsdale, AZ
Cons: Initial facility verification for signup and establishing onboarding protocols for per diem clinicians

Traditional nurse staffing companies, internal float pools, and travel nurses each have their place. You may want to consider a combination.

How does Nursa help you find nurses in Scottsdale, AZ?

Nursa is an experienced, national per diem healthcare staffing marketplace with a pool of more than 300,000 qualified nursing professionals, working with over 2400 facilities.

Nursa connects you to reliable nurses, with the following practical advantages:

Real-time on-demand staffing: Post open shifts for RNs, LPNs, or CNAs and fill them rapidly.
Autonomy for the facility and the nurses: You set the pay rates and select the applicant to fill the vacancy. The nurses choose their shifts.
Credentialing: The Nursa platform automatically checks the credentials and background of all clinicians before they are allowed to pick up a shift.
Auto-scheduling: Keep a Favorites List of PRN nurses who have worked out well for you, and enable the app to schedule them automatically when they apply for an open shift.
Flexibility: With flexible PRN scheduling, you can scale your workforce up or down as needed: no minimum shift commitments or long-term contracts.
Nursa Billing Center: Facilitate and accelerate invoicing and payment processes, reducing administrative workload and ensuring timely, accurate billing for completed shifts.
Cost-effectiveness: PRN nurses do not receive benefits. No buyout or hire-away clauses. High-quality care without overstaffing. You pay only for the shifts worked.

In addition to these advantages, Nursa’s software platform can be used as a recruitment tool to assess nurses’ on-the-job performance before offering them an in-house position.

Brookfield Health and Rehabilitation turned to Nursa

Facing nursing shortages and last-minute cancellations, Brookfield Health and Rehabilitation called on Nursa for solutions.

Located in Battle Ground, Washington, Brookfield experienced the frustrations of maintaining full staffing and ensuring top-quality clinicians were at the bedside of its patients.

Josh Clark, Brookfield CEO, said:

“The need for staffing support is a day-by-day question. Sometimes I don’t know if I need support for tomorrow until 10 PM the night before.”

Brookfield found Nursa and solved the problem.

“Switching to Nursa helps us plan out weekends, which eases stress across the whole team.”

Make Nursa work for you

Nursa is your gateway to quickly filling shifts with trusted RNs, LPNs, or CNAs right when you need them most.

Follow these easy steps.

Sign up: Visit Nursa’s website or download the app to register your facility and create a free user account. Nursa will promptly contact you to verify and connect your user profile to your facility.
Post your vacant shifts: Upload your open shifts to the platform with the license type, date, time, location, and pay rate. Your posts will be immediately visible to the pool of nurses.
Check the applicants and make your choice: View profiles and credentials, then select the best match.

Done. Your shifts are covered, and your facility has gained further capacity to adapt to a changing environment and successfully meet evolving healthcare challenges.

Sign up today and start filling your schedule gaps.

Sources:

Nurse staffing options in Scottsdale, AZ

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Healthcare staffing in Scottsdale, AZ