From AI and robot-assisted surgery to CRISPR genetic editing that designs personalized medicine to 3D printing creating custom prosthetics and building organ models for surgical practice, healthcare has routinely looked to stunning innovations in technology to improve patient outcomes and push forward extraordinary advances in medical knowledge. There have been notable technology advances for patient care and management, but the healthcare industry remains hesitant to embrace change in solutions for managing and optimizing the workforce.
When it comes to the workforce, too often, the highest level of technology leaders are working with is the spreadsheet. Payroll reconciliations are still managed through a row of Post-it notes attached to a monitor, PTO requests and shift swaps require time-consuming emails and texts, and productivity and overtime reports take so long to generate that nursing leaders can’t react to them in time to make a difference to the bottom line or patient care.
This overreliance on manual, outdated, disparate systems leads to costly mistakes, inefficient processes, and a heavy administrative burden on staff and managers. And too many healthcare organizations are content to get by with the clunky, inadequate systems and processes they have in place for managing nurse and staff scheduling, payroll, and time tracking.
I believe it’s an attitude that’s hard-wired into healthcare. Nurses are almost generationally engineered for a ‘make it work’ mentality. So, if a workforce management tool doesn’t meet all needs, teams will have to figure out workarounds and how to piece the information together. Because nurse priority is patient care and that’s where they are committed — into finding new, innovative ways to care for patients.
The problem is that clinging to legacy systems has impacts that go beyond workforce management, and can include hidden costs, inefficiencies, higher IT maintenance, and worst of all, potential impact on patient care from understaffing, burnout, and employee disengagement.
According to Jonathan List, partner at Chartis healthcare consultants, one big change the industry has seen recently is that, whereas in the past it might have been acceptable for departments to manage their resources independently, health systems today are demanding a level of transparency that allows them to see how resources are being used across the organization, so they can ensure efficiency.
As healthcare organizations continue to grow and consolidate, the ability to gain real-time visibility into workforce needs will only increase. Only by understanding the availability and capabilities of every individual in the care team, from physicians and nurses to non-clinical staff, can organizations ensure that they are deployed where they are needed most.
Embracing Change: Turning Risks into Opportunities
It’s not hard to understand why some healthcare organizations are resistant to changing their workforce solutions. Familiarity may breed contempt but let’s be honest, it’s also comfortable. Managers and employees know how systems work, processes basically function as intended, and the prospect of change can seem overwhelming. The lack of clear executive ownership further complicates the picture in healthcare, as different stakeholders can have widely varying expectations for what a new workforce management solution can — and should — deliver to the organization.
By contrast, those health systems and hospitals that choose to address the fear of change head-on and move forward with new workforce management implementations find that they are able to simplify processes, modernize their workforce, focus on long-term value, and enhance outcomes for employees and patients alike.
So, what sets these healthcare organizations apart? What characteristics separate those organizations that make the successful transition to a modern unified workforce management solution from those that don’t? For some in the industry, it starts with the ability to see investment in the healthcare workforce not as a costly liability, but as an asset. It’s important to recognize that the ability to effectively staff healthcare resources plays an important role in patient care and experience.
List notes that often, organizations don’t fully appreciate the capabilities the advanced scheduling solutions are offering, and there is this misconception that they just need to replace their manual system with an automated one without really understanding the flexibility, visibility, and transparency that they will be able to take advantage of by fully utilizing the capabilities of the solution.
Echoing this statement, David Murdock, principal at ECG Management Consultants, who specialize in healthcare consulting and work to make healthcare more accessible, sustainable, and effective for patients, notes that healthcare organizations often focus on the task rather than what he calls the “why.” People tend to get trained in how a task is completed – not in why it’s done that way, and that thinking gets passed along through the organization. The challenge with a new implementation is to get people to see how they can use the technology to accomplish tasks in new, different ways by understanding why they’re doing it the way they are.
Murdock encourages organizations to be willing to take a fresh look at how they’re managing their workforce, even if it means saying goodbye to familiar processes. He notes that organizations don’t just want to replicate what you were doing before – especially when there’s a better, faster, and more efficient method available. Instead, he recommends starting from existing work rules and building a solution from there. Take the opportunity to rethink processes with the new capabilities that are available.
And while organizations are reimagining workforce processes, it is also important to rethink who’s in the room while decisions are being made. To build consensus for a new solution, you can’t simply rely on the executive suite. More clinicians should be brought into the buying and implementation processes, so the decision isn’t made in a silo, including nursing staff, Chief Nurse Executives, and Chief Human Resource Officers.
When nursing executives are part of the team, they are able to ask the right questions, like, “how do our end users really feel about this? How does this help our managers? How does this help our staff – everyone from the environmental and nutrition services associates to the nurses at the bedside?
From there, make it personal. While the benefits to the organization as a whole are obviously important, new implementations won’t succeed unless employees embrace them. Organizations must figure out what’s in it for the users and show them how the solution will support them in their roles. That report that used to take three hours? Show them how they can run it in five minutes. When you elevate someone’s game and make them a super user, then they become champions for change.
With users across the organization engaged in the new solution, the benefits reach beyond ROI. With multiple generations in the healthcare workforce and changes like the rise of telemedicine and hybrid models, scheduling is becoming much more complicated. You need solutions that can handle these complexities. When nurses and staff have greater control over their schedules, that flexibility and autonomy lead to higher engagement and retention.
And maybe the bottom line is that change doesn’t have to be so daunting. After all, healthcare is always changing, with new medicines, methods, and procedures being discovered and deployed all the time. One of the things the pandemic showed us was that when healthcare has to move quickly, it can. The industry has the ability to adapt and change and that’s one thing we should try to hold on to from that experience.
Healthcare organizations can ease these transitions with an upfront planning process. Make sure users and leaders understand, before implementation, what true measures of success will be. When you include this step in your planning process, you’re more likely to have the right resources and stakeholders in place to set you up for success once implementation is complete.
If a company is concerned about the disruption that change may cause, it’s important to consider what the cost of not trying is, and what the management of your workforce looks like in five years, maybe even two years. Instead of focusing on the potential drawbacks of changing a legacy system, or a system that only partly meets organizational needs, we should reframe the question and ask, ‘What if it works? What if it enhances your operational vision, improves your day-to-day operations, and ultimately transforms your organization for the better?’
About Courtney Green, MCN, RN, NE-BC
As the SVP of Nurse & Staff Workforce Management Solutions at QGenda, Courtney brings over 20 years of experience in nursing, healthcare operations, leadership, and healthcare IT to help organizations optimize their workforce. Her mission is to enhance workforce performance, productivity, and engagement while ensuring compliance, quality, and safety. With a focus on building strong, collaborative relationships, she helps facilitate the successful implementation and adoption of workforce solutions, leading to increased workforce satisfaction and engagement within the healthcare industry.
