How To Manage Quality of Care During Turnover

Mar 10, 2022

When faced with high rates of provider turnover, most healthcare facilities know how it impacts the number of patients seen. But have you considered how it impacts the providers still working for you and the quality of the care they provide? One study found that primary care provider turnover is associated with a worse rating in the patient care experience. 

Three factors should be considered when trying to improve the patient experience. First, your providers may experience higher burnout during times of high turnover. Second, you need to equip your providers with the necessary tools to improve the quality of care. Lastly, find solutions to prevent gaps in your hospital staff.

Improving Provider Morale

The first step in conflict resolution is communication. During turnover, your providers will experience a higher workload. Checking in with your team can have a positive impact when done correctly. Instead of apologizing for the heavy workload, take a positive approach. Acknowledge and express gratitude for the extra effort your providers put forth. 

Next, open the conversation to your providers as a safe place to express their concerns. Once you understand the problems your providers face, you can create an action plan to solve those problems.

Another way to boost morale is by providing extra PTO as mental health days. This shows your team that you understand the extra effort they put in and want them to have rest days when needed. 

Improving Quality of Care

The quality of care provided at your facility lies in the hands of your providers. Thus, you need to train your team to always focus on the quality of care over quantity. When facing high turnover, your providers may be faced with a higher patient load. However, you need to clearly communicate to your team that quality of care still takes precedence. 

As the employer, you can encourage this by providing your team with ample time to spend with each patient. You may hesitate to do this because you’re concerned with the financial impact of seeing less patients. However, overwhelming your providers can result in even higher provider turnover. Low patient volume may mean less profit, but provider turnover will cost you much more.

AMA reports physician turnover costing anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million per physician. For a bedside RN, turnover can cost as much as $51,700 per nurse. 

Shorten Time-to-Hire During Turnover

Best case scenario, you can nurture your providers while also maintaining your patient volume. To accomplish this, you need to improve your recruiting strategy and shorten the amount of time it takes you to hire a new provider. The most effective way to do this is by building a pipeline of candidates. 

Your facility can build a pipeline of candidates by engaging in ongoing provider marketing. This “always-on” approach to recruiting keeps your facility top of mind with providers. You’ll build a list of pre-screened, qualified providers who may already have an interest in working with your facility. Though you may not have an opportunity for them yet, it gives you a jumpstart when you do have an opening. 

The Inline Group provides healthcare facilities nationwide with a streamlined process for hiring providers. Our team of recruiters spends every day building a pipeline of candidates for our clients. We can save your recruiting team time by screening providers for your facility. Then, when you’re ready to start hiring, your in-house recruiters take care of high-level tasks like interviewing and onboarding. Click here to learn more from a member of our team.

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