Sierra Vista, an urban island surrounded by small rural towns, vineyards, mines, and ranches, provides complex healthcare services for the entire area of over 6000 square miles and 125K inhabitants.
Smarter healthcare staffing solutions in Sierra Vista, AZ
Arizona has a 17% registered nurse (RN) deficit, over twice the 8% national deficit, and a whopping 52% shortage of licensed practical nurses (LPNs).
The LPN deficit is nearly 4 times more than the national average of 14%, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Overall, this means that out of 100 LPN shifts, only 48 are filled, and 52 are vacant.
This situation puts directors of nursing (DONs) and nurse schedulers in a bind, leaving facilities short of the resources needed for sustained excellence in care.
What solutions can we find?
One option is to leverage the flexible scheduling opportunities offered by healthcare staffing platforms like Nursa.
This rapidly growing technology helps you:
- Fill vacant shifts rapidly and efficiently
- Stay cost-effective and balance your budget
- Build a flexible bench of PRN clinicians
Technology-driven solutions are now empowering Sierra Vista facilities to sustain their high standards of care—bringing the same innovative models used in major metros like Phoenix and Tucson to the local facilities.
Understanding the staffing challenges in Sierra Vista
To find effective solutions, we need to understand the problems.
Sierra Vista is affected by statewide and national staffing issues, including typical pain points such as unexpected call outs or surges in demand, as well as rising recruitment and labor costs.
The "hollow middle" (LPN deficit)
When you can’t find enough LPNs, the RNs end up taking on more basic care tasks, driving up labor costs and depleting the staff’s energy and morale.
The LPN deficit hits the nursing homes especially hard, making temporary medical staffing for long-term care facilities a necessity.
Senior demographic
Local facilities serve an unusually high senior population: 4% of the U.S. population is over age 80, but in Cochise County, this figure is 6%.
This intensifies healthcare staffing challenges in Sierra Vista, AZ, increasing demand for nursing talent across the board—from hospitals to private homes.
Hospitals prioritize RNs for medical intervention, but long-term care and home health services require far more assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs).
Consequently, these facilities rely on LPNs and CNAs as their primary workforce for daily support.
Unexpected vacancies
Nurses are human, and life happens. But for a DON, a morning call-out transforms a routine day into a logistical nightmare.
Relying on phone trees or pleading with off-duty staff to double back is not a sustainable strategy; it’s a temporary fix that drains your team's morale and blows the budget on overtime.
Surges in demand
Sierra Vista suffers from dust storms and wildfires, which also cause overload in the healthcare facilities.
Dust storms (haboobs)
Exposure to coarse particles (PM10–2.5) found in dust storms in southern Arizona is a major contributor to increased mortality risk during haboobs.
People who are caught in dust storms risk:
- 4.6% increase in the overall mortality rate
- 8.5% increase in cardiovascular mortality
Wildfires
Facilities emergency staffing to face surging pressure during wildfires, treating burns and smoke-related illnesses that can:
- Damage people’s lungs and worsen asthma
- Increase risk of strokes and heart attacks
Emergency room visits spike significantly during wildfire events and dust storms, increasing patient census and placing the burden on hospital nursing staff and managers.
Healthcare challenges for an urban hub in a rural area
As an urban hub in a rural area, Sierra Vista has some unique challenges:
Long distances and scarce public transportation
Patients in surrounding rural areas often travel long distances for care, which is particularly challenging for the older residents or those with chronic conditions.
According to the US Census, a glaring 0% of Sierra Vista's population takes public transportation to work. This indicator could suggest that public transportation may not be a reliable option for rural residents who need healthcare.
How does this affect healthcare staffing?
Increase in high-acuity care
Rural residents might delay care due to a lack of transportation. Therefore, facilities in Sierra Vista may receive sicker, more complex, and more costly patients, requiring higher staffing ratios of specialized, experienced personnel.
Note: The community has worked to address the transportation issue, improving services to medical facilities for seniors and persons with disabilities.
Nurse staffing costs in Sierra Vista
Wages in Sierra Vista are higher than the national average for LPNs but lower for RNs.
The higher LPN wage likely stems from the high vacancy rate in LPN positions.
Given the heavy lift of balancing the budget with patient needs, you may need a fresh approach. Practical recourcing options can lighten the team's load while keeping your finances on track.
What are some insights into choosing a staffing strategy?
Tips for choosing the right staffing options
When you consider the challenges and options, a few questions may help you:
- Speed: Can we find a qualified local healthcare professional in minutes, or will we wait for days for a callback?
- Costs and efficiency: Does this model give us direct access to more nurses at a transparent price?
- Administrative burden: Does this system automate some administrative tasks, such as credential verification and background checks?
- Clinician’s skills and experience: How does this system facilitate access to ratings and reviews from other facilities to ensure we’re getting the right level of experience?
- Wildfire and dust storm surges: When environmental crises hit, will we be able to scale up our staff quickly without locking into long-term, expensive contracts?
Top staffing options in Sierra Vista
Here are 3 available ways to start building that support system today: internal float pools, nurse staffing agencies in Sierra Vista, AZ, and digital staffing platforms.
You may find your own balance with a mix of all 3 of these options.
How does Nursa help you navigate staffing challenges?
The Nursa marketplace leverages a powerful digital platform and intuitive app to save your facility time and money.
Our technology is designed to fulfill a singular mission:
“...to put a nurse at the bedside of every patient in need quickly and safely, removing the financial strain and operational gaps of traditional staffing methods.”
Sierra Vista facilities can strategically offset the high local LPN vacancy rates while capitalizing on competitive RN rates to reduce overhead and reliance on agencies.
Nursa features at your service
The following platform features will help enhance your facility’s efficiency and performance:
Auto-Schedule
Auto-Schedule automatically approves and fills open shifts with clinicians from their "Favorites List" or those who meet customized screening requirements.
The feature can be enabled or disabled for individual shifts or across schedules.
Billing Center
Nursa’s Billing Center gives facilities a secure, centralized way to:
- Manage invoices
- Track payments
- Monitor account activity
Clear visibility into balances, invoices, credits, and payment history reduces paperwork and frees teams to focus more on patient care.
Timekeeping
QR Code Timekeeping streamlines clinician clock-ins and clock-outs with a quick, secure scan at your facility’s kiosk. Time records sync instantly for payroll, reporting, and compliance.
Digital logs create audit-ready attendance records, giving facilities clear visibility into who worked, when, and for how long.
Clinician Profiles
Clinician Profiles give facilities instant access to verified, downloadable clinician information to support confident resourcing decisions. Each profile includes:
- Licenses
- Certifications
- Specialty skills
- References
- Facility ratings
Modern staffing platforms address both immediate surges and long-term retention strategies.
Nursa’s goal is to help you build a sustainable workforce, and, with that in mind, we charge zero hire-away fees.
If you consider offering a permanent staff position to a PRN nurse whom you found through the platform, we’re happy to have facilitated that match. You can actively use the per diem shifts as a “try-before-you-hire” strategy.
How does Nursa help you find PRN nurses in Sierra Vista, AZ?
Nursa offers on-demand staffing, and you only pay once a clinician completes a shift, at upfront rates.
Efficiency, flexibility, and reliability are all at your fingertips.
Follow these steps to get started on Nursa and harness technology to unravel your recruiting challenges:
- Create your account and link it to your healthcare center profile.
- Set your rate, specify your requirements, and post your first shift.
- Review credentials and profiles to select the best candidate.
Explore a fresh way to support your team and provide safe, well-staffed care to the Sierra Vista community.
Sign up with Nursa and take a load off your shoulders.
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