The Problem
For most staffing coordinators or schedulers, dealing with the industry-wide staffing shortage has been everything but easy. The constant back and forth with agencies, accidental overbookings, and time waste are all significant issues these facilities and coordinators face. Amanda Johnson, the staffing coordinator at Linwood Meadows Care Center, has had to deal with them all. Communication plays an important role when dealing with agencies, especially if you have to rely on them. For Amanda, filling open shifts means texting or emailing agencies, trying to confirm shifts, and getting no real grasp on scheduling her facility. She was spending hours every single day scheduling.
Daniel Richardson, the Executive Director at Linwood Meadows, said, “Our biggest challenge is staffing. We're grateful for registry services, but it became a significant headache, especially for my scheduler, Amanda. Working seven days a week, and her phone was constantly blowing up.” Not only can these inefficiencies harm the facility, but they can put way too much of a burden on the schedulers. Amanda said she spent an extra 10 hours a week scheduling and dealing with agencies. “I was working 10 to 11-hour days.”
The Solution
So how can Amanda keep shifts full, reduce the stress of coordinating with agencies, and not overwork? The answer was Kevala’s Open Shift Manager. Designed to make posting and filling shifts as simple as possible. It gave Amanda peace of mind by bringing all communications with agencies to one simple platform. “Kevala has made the interaction with my agencies so much easier. It has streamlined the process.”
This new way of scheduling is easily learned, giving Amanda peace of mind, knowing coworkers or new hires can take over for her if needed. With a scheduling and staffing process that is this easy to use, Linwood Meadows can rely on agencies without any inconveniences. Daniel said, “I have great peace knowing if there is a need for agency, there is a simple, efficient, effective, method to obtain those services.”
“I have great peace knowing if there is a need for agency there is a simple, efficient, effective, method to obtain those services."
The Outcome
Now that communication with agencies is much smoother for Amanda, problems have begun to dissipate. Overstaffing and overbooking previously cost Linwood Meadows $1,500 to $2,000 per month. “Since Kevala has been implemented, I haven’t had any overbooking. At all.”
Saving time has been another significant benefit for Amanda. Saving 10 hours a week has left a lot more time to focus on other aspects of her job. Normally, she’s scrambling to get her PBJ reporting done and is usually a month behind. Now, she can easily find time for this critical task and other important aspects of her role because of the time she saves with Kevala. “It literally takes me 5 minutes to plug in shifts and share.”
“Stress relief has been a crucial factor as well. “Open shifts are being filled much faster and that relieves so much stress off of me.” With no more worry-filled days scrambling to fill shifts, she can get home on time and spend more time with her kids. Maintaining a work-life balance is vital to the mental and physical health of healthcare workers like Amanda. Kevala is proud to help workers like her achieve that balance.
What's Next
Amanda had a huge relief in stress and an improvement in her work-life balance. Having more time away from her job has allowed her to start her journey of becoming part of the healthcare staffing solution. She is now enrolled in an LPN program, taking classes and transitioning to a part-time staffing coordinator.
Healthcare workers like Amanda deserve a healthy work-life balance and Kevala is dedicated to helping the individuals like her, who are critical to the healthcare industry, succeed. Now that Linwood Meadows has staffing under control, we’re excited to see Amanda pursue continued career advancement and become a part of the solution to this healthcare staffing crisis.
