In an interactive session at Becker's 11th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, Curtis Anderson, founder and CEO of Nursa — a healthcare staffing platform — led a discussion with hospital and health system executives on technology-based strategies that address challenges in the nursing workforce.
Mr. Anderson shared insights on current workforce trends and nurse shortages, reiterating the need to make meaningful progress in this long-standing issue. He shared the backstory of Nursa, including the company's recent, significant growth and geographic expansion to 28 states; how its digital platform connects nurses with flexible work opportunities quickly, enabling users to list, match and fill shifts within 24 hours of shift start time; and how this approach is addressing ubiquitous, short-term staffing gaps. Roundtable participants shared their own experiences and current strategies for workforce development, including upskilling staff, creating nurse-led advisory committees, and improving internal culture and work-life balance. Common organizational challenges included staying competitive, navigating union environments and meeting nurses' expectations for flexibility. The group also shared their vision of what it will take to get staffing to a sustainable level industry-wide.
Editor's note: Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
Key takeaways:
1: The healthcare staffing crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, isn't new — yet the industry struggles to make meaningful strides toward improvement.
Curtis Anderson: "Staffing agencies contribute to the issue. It's a giant, adult game of telephone where they're one of the ones messing up the message from the front to the back end. We wanted to make that better. There's a difference between a per diem need, a 12-hour need, a travel need and a longer-term, contingent commitment."
2: The healthcare industry is not aligned on how to approach staffing challenges.
CA: "Hospitals are getting pinched from both sides. I think part of the disconnect is a misunderstanding on either side of this discussion of what is important to the other side. It will forever intrigue me how nurses ended up in bed costs, like any other inanimate resource allocation."
3: Technology enables greater visibility and job satisfaction for both healthcare organizations and contingent staff.
CA: "This is one place where technology offers an opportunity that historical alternatives have not. The quality of the interaction, the experience and the facility are all a much more nuanced conversation. When a shift is done, both parties receive a review opportunity — meaning the nurse will rate the facility and the manager will rate the nurse, blinded. We get objective feedback that way. Because we're an app-based platform, we also can know where that clinician is; we help remind them when to leave to make it to their shift on time. From this we get longitudinal data that gives us a rich understanding of where that clinician will fit best from a dependability, follow-through and tenacity perspective."
4: Workforce development hinges on bringing nurses' voices to the table, measuring progress and meeting staff expectations for flexibility.
CA: "Involving them, making sure there is education and illustration of what a path forward looks like — those are key. Optionality, to have choice and flexibility, reigns supreme."