Between pandemic surges, caregiver burnout and the rise of both medically complex and behavioral health patient populations, healthcare staffing has never been more challenging.
While hiring is often the focus to address shortages, it is only a stopgap. Development and implementation of operational and clinical strategies play a critical role in helping hospitals recruit and retain top talent. Moreover, hospitals are finding that contract management or a joint-venture partnership can give them greater access to resources and expertise to help their behavioral health program excel within the community it serves.
Learn five benefits of behavioral health program optimization that can help a hospital develop and retain top talent – benefiting patient outcomes, facility operations and employee satisfaction.
Strategic partnerships can help your hospital:
1. Gain access to national behavioral health resources focused on program optimization.
Having a team of experts focused on the latest behavioral health trends, quality data and best practices enables hospital leadership to focus on their core acute services. It also helps relieve the burden of implementing and running a behavioral health program.
The combination of both local and national resources allows the hospital to leverage the latest national data, while simultaneously applying the key takeaways at the local level. This ensures a care approach tailored to the community’s specific needs.
2. Identify and recruit specialized behavioral health resources.
The supply of behavioral health staff is not sufficient to meet the demand for mental health and substance use services in the United States, and this imbalance only worsens in smaller communities.1 An experienced partner will have a team with both local and national reach, dedicated to recruiting top talent. This enables the hospital to effectively locate and hire talent that matches the culture of the hospital and the specific needs of the community.
Having a fully-staffed behavioral health team also helps patients get to the right care setting, faster. This ultimately relieves overcrowding within the emergency department (ED) – leading to better outcomes, higher levels of patient satisfaction and lower burnout of ED providers.
3. Provide best-in-class employee training and continuing education.
Supplying the latest educational resources for employees to excel within their role can lead to better outcomes and improved employee satisfaction and retention. A dedicated behavioral health partner with established programs for continuing education and employee development can help the hospital stand out from other employers in the community.
The University of California - Berkeley states that the positive outcomes resulting from employee career and education investment include:2
- Increased career satisfaction
- Improved self-confidence and sense of responsibility
- Increased motivation
- Ability to better attract top talent and retain valued employees
- Greater learning opportunities for the entire organization
4. Live out its mission and values through a positive culture.
The mission and values of a hospital are the underlying DNA that brings the entire organization together. Hospital staff who align with a company’s mission and values are more likely to enjoy their work experience, resulting in higher productivity levels and engagement. They are also more likely to continue their employment within the organization long-term.
Research highlights that mission-driven workers are 54 percent more likely to stay for five years at a company and 30 percent more likely to grow into high performers than those who arrive at work with only their paycheck as the motivator.3
5. A reputation of excellence.
An experienced behavioral health partner brings operational and clinical excellence that can help the program be known throughout the region. The additional resources and best practices also allow for greater efficiency, leading to less burnout and more flexibility.
Reducing burnout among employees is especially critical -- the average bedside Registered Nurse (RN) turnover in 2020 rose to an all-time high of 18.6 percent. This jump also represented the largest annual increase in seven years, according to the Advisory Board.4 These statistics don’t just pertain to RNs.
A partner with access to resources to aid in an employee’s professional growth and personal development can help a health system be viewed as an employer of choice within their community.
Benefit of partnership for behavioral health staffing success
Employee engagement and satisfaction is critical to overall program performance and a hospital’s ability to meet the needs of the community. Through a strategic partnership, hospitals can help optimize their overall operations – aiding in superior outcomes and improved employee satisfaction and retention.
To learn how we can help your hospital optimize its programs through focused employee engagement expertise, visit KindredBehavioralHealth.com
References:
1. Baum, N., & King, J. (2020, February). The Behavioral Health Workforce in Rural America: Developing a National Recruitment Strategy. School of Public Health Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center University of Michigan. https://www.behavioralhealthworkforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Recruitment-and-Retention-of-BH-Providers-Full-Report-2.2020.pdf
2. University of California, Berkley. (2021). Career Development. For Career Development | People & Culture. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://hr.berkeley.edu/hr-network/central-guide-managing-hr/managing-hr/managing-successfully/development/career.
3. Marie-Claire Ross, G. A. I. C. D. (2018, May 28). 5 reasons why mission-driven leaders are the most successful. LinkedIn. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-reasons-why-mission-driven-leaders-most-successful-ross-gaicd/.
4. (2021, October 6). Why so many nurses are quitting (and what to do about it). Advisory Board. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2021/10/06/nurse-turnover