Addressing Workforce Challenges in Healthcare: The Critical Role of Leadership

Hospital CEOs recently ranked workforce challenges as their top concern, surpassing financial issues for the second consecutive year. This shift underscores the urgent need for effective leadership and operational excellence in critical areas throughout every department.

Leadership: The Linchpin of Workforce Stability

Appropriate interim and permanent leadership is essential in navigating the complexities of today’s healthcare environment. Leaders who excel at managing resources, fostering a positive work culture, and implementing strategic initiatives can significantly mitigate workforce challenges. Interim leaders, in particular, offer a unique advantage by providing immediate expertise and stability during transitional periods, ensuring that operations continue smoothly without compromising patient care.? Having appropriate leaders in place, both interim and permanent, can help drive cost savings while promoting retention across your organization and deliver against your strategic priorities, optimizing revenue streams without compromising patient safety or outcomes.?

“We look to develop our leaders from within. Still, sometimes, when a leadership opening needs to be rapidly filled, we will look for an interim leader to engage and bring outside experiences that can prove to be insightful for our organization.” - Paul Bolin, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Senior Vice President, Chief People & Administrative Officer at Northern Light Health

Sterile Processing Departments: The Unsung Heroes

An often-overlooked department, the SPD impacts virtually every patient encounter and can directly affect employee burnout and retention.? The Sterile Processing Department profoundly impacts revenue and plays a pivotal role in maintaining the quality and safety of healthcare services. A fully operational and optimized SPD, staffed with experienced and certified professionals, directly addresses the pressing issue of technician shortages. By ensuring that surgical instruments and medical devices are properly sterilized and ready for use, the SPD helps to stabilize revenue, drive throughput, prevent infections, and enhance patient safety. This, in turn, reduces the burden on other healthcare staff and improves overall efficiency.

“Among the group of Peri-operative Departments (Anesthesia, PACU, OR, SPD), Sterile Processing is often referred to as the non-revenue generating department. When a department is not recognized for its impact on revenue, it is often overlooked when capital budgets and employee pay increases are at the decision-making table. SPD does not have a billing process to charge patients or insurance companies for using sterile surgical instruments. However, hospital and surgical center executives should consider sterile processing as the foundation for surgery. Invest in the foundation; keep it firm and stable. No instruments, no surgery, no revenue.”?- Monique Jelks, MSOL, BA, CRCST, Director of SPD at Memorial Health University Medical Center and 2023 Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) President.

A Strategic Approach to Workforce Challenges

To effectively tackle workforce challenges, hospital executives must prioritize the following:

1. Invest in Leadership Development: Cultivate a pipeline of skilled leaders who can adapt to changing circumstances and drive organizational success.
2. Focus on Burnout Prevention: Implement programs that address burnout among leaders, physicians, and non-physician staff, improving retention and job satisfaction.?
3. Project-based Leadership: ?Leverage the “gig economy” of healthcare executives for project-based leadership needs to manage through cultural change, revenue, and finance optimization, mergers and acquisitions, and to provide mentorship and coaching to foster career growth and drive retention.
4. Enhance SPD Operations: Ensure the Sterile Processing Department is fully staffed and operational to support the broader healthcare team and help stabilize revenue streams by avoiding delayed or canceled cases.? Enhanced SPD operations will also drive retention amongst departmental leaders, nurses, and physicians.

By focusing on these areas, hospital executives can create a resilient workforce capable of meeting the demands of modern healthcare. The path forward requires a strategic approach that leverages leadership and operational excellence to address the most pressing concerns facing our hospitals today.

At Moab Healthcare, we're committed to helping you address your workforce challenges head-on. Whether through flexible staffing models, strategic guidance, process improvements, or interim leadership services, let's optimize together. Contact our team at [email protected] or call 1-833-773-8324. Thank you for being part of our Intel for Healthcare Leaders newsletter community!