OR Manager April 2023 - 18

Staffing
Takeaways
* Perioperative staffing issues are likely to continue throughout 2023 because of rising case volumes and a lack of experienced
staff.
* Travelers are expected to remain a core part of staffing.
* Perioperative leaders are using multiple strategies to recruit and retain staff, including float pools for health systems that
have multiple hospitals.
Workforce, Saver
Continued from page 1
to staffing pressures.
Nearly all the leaders
OR Manager spoke with
are experiencing higher
case volumes that they
feel will continue in upcoming
months. In addition,
volumes are likely
to continue to rise for
several years, says
Rose O. Sherman, EDd,
RN, MEA-BC, FAAN, a
had turnover. " She has
received no applications
for a surgical technologist
(ST) position that
has been open since
early November 2022.
At the same time
that hospitals are facing
workforce pressures
and the need to
Rose O.
Sherman,
EDd, RN,
MEA-BC,
FAAN
leadership expert and professor emeritus
for Florida Atlantic University in Boca
Raton. " There will be significant growth
in the aging population over the next decade
or two, " says Sherman, who has
been running leadership training webinars
that include perioperative leaders.
Those leaders often share that patients
are older and sicker than the pre-pandemic
population.
As part of efforts to have sufficient
staff to meet growing volumes, all the
perioperative leaders interviewed for the
series have budgeted for higher workforce
costs so they can compete with
the local market and get closer to travel
nurse pay. This coincides with recent
reports of large raises for nurses as a
result of contract negotiations.
Organizational size does not matter
when it comes to staffing issues.
" Our bubble finally popped, " says Casey
Orth-Nebitt, BSN, RN, CNOR, director of
surgery for Buena Vista Regional Medical
Center, a 34-bed rural hospital in
Storm Lake, Iowa. " We'd been immune
to the staffing issues that plagued others
before and during the pandemic,
but starting in the past 4 months, I've
18
OR Manager | April 2023
Hospitals of different sizes and in
different locations report that finding
applicants is difficult. " We have had
two full-time RN positions open for over
a month and have had just one appliCasey
Orth-Nebitt,
BSN,
RN,
CNOR
increase pay, they are experiencing financial
shortages due to factors such
as higher supply costs and reimbursement
not keeping pace with inflation. In
addition, some governmental strategies
that provided support to hospitals during
the pandemic, such as changes in
Medicare and Medicaid coverage and
the Paycheck Protection Program, have
slowed, ended, or will end in May.
In search of applicants
Unfortunately, an increased
salary budget
does not always translate
into more staff, and
most OR leaders report
a decline in applicants
for open positions. Even
those willing to hire RNs
and STs without previous
experience are findMary
Anne
Douglas, MS,
RN, CNOR
ing it difficult to fill vacant positions.
" We're down about 50% in our openings
as compared to early 2022, which is
good, " says Mary Anne Douglas, MS,
RN, CNOR, nurse executive of surgical
operations for the Canyons Region of
Intermountain Health in Murray, Utah.
" Although we have decreased vacancies
as compared to a year ago, we are still
not staffed as we were in 2019. " Douglas
says the number of nurse and ST
openings doubled and tripled, respectively,
during the pandemic.
cant, " says Orth-Nebitt.
" We reached a crisis point as part
of the great resignation, " says Monica
Young, DNP, MBA, RN, FACHE, CNOR,
CASC, NEA-BC, vice president of perioperative
services for Thomas Jefferson
Hospital in Philadelphia. Before the pandemic,
the organization would have up
to 100 candidates for the AORN Periop
101: A Core Curriculum™ Course, but
that declined to between 10 and 12.
In some locations, such as where
Orth-Nebitt works, contributing factors
include a lack of nearby nursing and ST
schools, which narrows the pipeline. In
addition, " people who are graduating
are looking for surgery centers where
they don't have to take call and don't
have rotating weekends, " she says and
adds that one advantage of a rural setting
is that those who do join the team
tend to stay because of their ties to
the area. Young says that many nurses
do not want to take call, and they want
12-hour shifts, which organizations are
unable to offer to all staff.
Perioperative leaders of hospitals
in larger cities are battling a changing
mindset that has made finding staff difficult.
" The number of individuals wanting
to come to the city instead of working
in the suburbs is decreasing, " says
Sarah Germanovich, MSN, RN, CNOR,
TCRN, clinical practice leader for perioperative
services at Thomas Jefferson
Hospital. " We have to find out what will
make it more meaningful for new graduates
to come back to the city. "
Hospitals are using various tactics to
increase the pool. Orth-Nebitt and her
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OR Manager April 2023

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