Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health System said it has used its in-house developed app to redeploy more than 2,000 employees to critical need areas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Geisinger Steele Institute for Health Innovation operations team and Geisinger's human resources reassignment team worked together on the app, which was created April 4 and fully developed a week later, Emily LaFeir, senior director of operations at the institute, told Becker's Hospital Review via email. Staff were then trained on using the app.
Now, Geisinger uses the app to manage demands in departments as well as employee availability.
The health system said the app matches available staff to the department demand by creating assignment matches, which allows the human resources assignment team to monitor where staff have been reassigned. The app includes automation features such as recommended assignment matches based on employee skill sets and tracking whether an individual has the required clearances to work in certain settings.
"When matching assignments, we are able to track training courses that have been provided in order to prepare employees for current and future assignments," Ms. LaFeir said. "Many times, our staff may just need a refresher of skills they haven't used in a while and [the app] provides a tracking tool."
Geisinger said it also compares workforce needs in the Quick Base low-code application development platform with coded hours in the health system's timekeeping system. This allows the organization to see the employees who are taking partial time off due to not having work and can match employees' skills to open needs in critical areas of the organization.
While the health system has already redeployed more than 2,000 employees to critical need areas during the pandemic, Geisinger said it expects the efforts to continue.
"We know our current use will be needed for quite some time as we anticipate the ongoing need for reassignment as we meet the needs of our patients in this COVID 19 environment," said Ms. LaFeir. "The Steele Institute and HR redeployment team will continue to collaborate to evolve and develop the application to meet future needs. This has been so functional and valuable to us."