Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1444560
44 CMO / CARE DELIVERY UPMC launches in-house travel staffing agency to address nursing shortage By Kelly Gooch U PMC is creating an in-house travel staffing agency to address the nationwide nursing short- age and to attract and retain highly skilled nurses and surgical technol- ogists, the Pittsburgh-based health system said Dec. 17, 2021. According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, UPMC will offer nurses and surgical technologists travel nurse opportunities and add employees to address shortages around the fully integrated, $23 billion global health system. "Building upon our strong global reputation as healthcare innovators and leaders, we believe that UPMC is the first health system in the country to launch our own staffing agency — initially for registered nurses and surgical technologists, with the potential to evolve to include additional job roles," the health system said in a statement shared with Becker's. Hospitals and health systems across the U.S. have seen nurses leave their full-time positions to take on temporary travel roles. And nurs- es who have le have cited higher-paying contracts as a significant factor. UPMC believes creating an in-house staffing agency offers a solution to assist in caring for its patients in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. e health system said the new in-house staffing agency will support front-line workers with flexible means to provide additional staffing support while enabling UPMC nurses and individuals who want to join the health system to travel to hospitals within its system. "e program will enable us to keep our own nurses, recruit new nurs- es to UPMC and bring back nurses who have le our system," UPMC said in its statement. e in-house staffing agency seeks to employ about 800 registered nurses and surgical technicians around UPMC, according to the Pitts- burgh Business Times. Registered nurses and surgical techs who qualify will earn $85 an hour and $63 an hour, respectively, in addition to a $2,880 stipend at the beginning of each six-week assignment. n 3 CNOs weigh in on nursing industry's biggest challenge in 2022 By Gabrielle Masson T he problems rooted in a nationwide nursing short- age, including its effect on patient care and safety, is the top concern of three nurse leaders. Becker's asked three chief nursing officers what the indus- try's one biggest challenge would be in 2022. Below are their answers. Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for brevity. Sara Kollman, DNP. CNO at Kaiser Permanente in Auro- ra, Colo.: The public health emergency of insufficient and unavailable nursing workforce (COVID-19 impact, the Great Resignation and other root causes). Again, this is an emerging public health emergency and requires an urgent national call to action. Scott Lethi, BSN, MHA. CNO at Cookeville (Tenn.) Region- al Medical Center: The largest challenges we will be facing in 2022 for nursing is staffing among higher patient acuities while maintaining excellence in care. The candidate pool has shrunk, especially among those with experience. Unless something is done about the extreme rates for contract la- bor, the cycle will continue to self-perpetuate vacancies and communities' brain drain: staff departing for higher com- pensation without dedication to a home community. The model is not sustainable, and difficult decisions around ca- pacity and services will need to be made for those organiza- tions that cannot continue or choose not to continue to sup- port the exceptional rates being charged for interim staff. This will, in turn, negatively impact emergency departments' and organizations' abilities to invest in items for patient care — especially those organizations that may have had to re- duce capacity for staffing and financial reasons. Rhonda Thompson, DNP. CNO and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services at Phoenix Children's Hospital: The nursing shortage affecting health systems nationwide will continue to be a challenge in 2022. This has a greater impact than just unfilled positions and scheduling suffi- cient nurses based on a high patient census. It also means our experienced staff nurses are investing a great deal of time onboarding and training newly licensed nurses, in ad- dition to their own daily bedside care responsibilities. To solve this, it will take collaboration and commitment from our health systems, staff and academic partners. I have the privilege of working for an organization committed to being part of the solution. Internally, our solutions include creative staffing models designed to prevent burnout and offer work/life balance. We believe setting nurses up for a good first year in the workforce actually starts at the aca- demic level, which is why, externally, we have strong part- nerships with our academic colleagues to grow and devel- op the next generation of nurses. n e in-house staffing agency seeks to employ about 800 registered nurses and surgical technicians around UPMC.