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Facilities Enhance Work-Life Support with Locum Tenens
A recent study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings states nearly two-thirds of the surveyed physicians admitted to experiencing at least one burnout-related symptom during 2021. That is up from approximately 38 percent in 2020. As this survey and many others confirm, physicians and advanced practice providers across the country continue to feel the impact of high patient demand, ongoing clinician shortages, and increasing administrative obligations, all of which contribute to symptoms of burnout.
The circumstances have prompted hospitals and other healthcare employers to invest more resources into building well-being programs. Examples include appointing chief wellness officers, launching educational campaigns to destigmatize mental health concerns among healthcare professionals, and expanding employee assistance programs. Adding locum tenens to your staffing plans is another option that can assist your personnel in gaining a more satisfying work-life balance.
Locum tenens can help: Manage Caseloads
Studies indicate when physicians and advanced practitioners have the bandwidth to spend quality time with patients, they are more likely to feel engaged in their careers. However, high patient-provider ratios can reduce time available for high-quality interactions. Utilizing locum tenens professionals during periods of high patient census, for example, can redistribute caseloads. Having additional clinicians on site frees up staff members to engage with people in a more rewarding manner, and thereby, increases job (and patient) satisfaction.
Locum tenens can help: Reinforce Continuity of Care
Clinicians also desire reliable, stellar care for the people at their facility and in their community. Supplementing your staff with thoroughly vetted locum tenens professionals, especially during periods of high demand, reassures permanent personnel that your patients will continue to receive medical services that meet your facility’s standards without increasing their caseloads or overtime.
Locum tenens can help: Encourage Staff to Take Time Off
Everyone benefits from time off. Whether it’s a vacation to a far-off dream destination or chilling with family for a few days, or even a couple of mental-health days at home free from work commitments, taking breaks can help providers rejuvenate their spirit and energy, and minimize the effects of burnout.
At the same time, your facility must meet staffing requirements. Incorporating locum tenens into your vacation coverage simultaneously sustains providers’ need to take personal time and covers clinical needs.
Locum tenens can help: Promote Professional and Personal Bonds
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend healthcare professionals not only participate in employer-supported mental wellness programs, but also communicate concerns with supportive colleagues. Locum tenens providers can serve as a fellow clinician who may have incurred similar experiences, but also as a new friend with shared interests. Many individuals practicing the career alternative say the professional and personal friendships they form on assignments last years. Strong social networks correlate with less stress and more happiness, among other positive outcomes.
Locum tenens can help: Re-energize Clinical Interests for Staff
Having a new face in the workplace can inject a fresh perspective for co-workers. For example, locum tenens professionals might introduce alternative approaches or experience with medications and/or technology that could initiate clinical conversations with colleagues. Perhaps it inspires an informal mentoring scenario. That professional exchange could be enough to spark the desire to reinvest in one’s profession.
Locum tenens can help: Encourage Self-Care Through Shared Interests
People who meet on the job and discover they enjoy the same activities outside of work can encourage one another to engage in those endeavors for better work-life balance. In fact, having a different companion can reignite one’s engagement in a hobby or sport that may have waned due to work commitments. And it’s been long noted that exercise and pursuing personal interests unrelated to one’s career help counter the effects of workplace burnout for greater over well-being.
To learn how else the locum tenens option can enhance your staffing strategies, as well as support your employees, call an All Star Healthcare Solutions consultant today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.
