We chatted with Ryan Wilhelmsen, Operating Room Director at Arizona Spine and Joint Hospital in Mesa, Arizona, a “physician owned and operated” orthopedic specialty hospital that covers surgeries of all things orthopedic – from spine to total joints to hands and feet.
Over the past five years that Ryan has worked at Arizona Spine and Joint Hospital, he’s seen a lot of improvements. There has been less turnover, they’ve been able to streamline their processes, and they can do things faster. According to Ryan, these improvements have made surgeons love it there, and they bring their best cases, which means their hospital needs full coverage and the best, most qualified staff. That’s why Ryan turned to Medely.
Recently, Ryan says they’ve had difficulty securing scrub techs, but Medely helped Ryan and his team find and book nurses and the right allied health professionals to fill their open roles.
They lost two of their go-to scrub techs right before their busy season, a.k.a October-December when patients have met their deductibles and schedule their surgeries before the end of the year.
“It was very difficult to find somebody,” says Ryan. “Medely helped us get through that, which was much needed and helped us tremendously. Scrub techs is where we needed the most help, and I think it’s because of Medely that we were able to get through that busy time.”
“It’s so easy,” Ryan says about using Medely. “I just have to go online, fill out some things, and then the techs and the nurses will schedule themselves.”
He said that his facility used to rely on agencies in the past, but they could never secure the health professionals they needed.
“What I love about Medely is that you fill out whatever you need, and then, the professionals decide what they want to do and where they want to schedule.
“We put it out there and the professionals choose here,” Ryan adds. “We never have problems with getting people to come here and be able to fill those positions. And, for the most part all the staff have been excellent and easy to work with.”
Ryan says Medely has even made an impact on the quality of patient care their facility is able to provide.
“With the local staffing agencies that we would use for staffing needs, we only had a handful of people that we could really choose from. Now, using Medely, we get all kinds of people that are interested, and most of them have tons of experience and know exactly what they’re doing. All we have to do is tell them where they are for the day for that shift, and they just go ahead and do it.”
We asked Ryan if there was anything that surprised him about using Medely.
“It was surprising to me how easy it was,” he says. “And, so much better than local staffing agencies that have been difficult to work with, and there’s sometimes no way of getting somebody.”
When it comes to Medely, he thought, “Why didn’t somebody think of this before?”
Ryan told us a story about a time when Medely helped his facility in a pinch.
“We were in need of a tech the next day, and I checked the website, and we didn’t have anybody so I just kind of gave up on somebody being there. Then the next day, I came in and somebody showed up, and I said, ‘Wow, I didn’t think someone was going to take the shift.’”
He explained that this professional said she got word that she wasn’t going to be working at her usual location. So, she checked Medely.
“We had an availability so she took it,” Ryan says. “And, that was at 3 o’clock in the morning or something when she decided to take it. I was shocked. I was like, ‘Yes!’”
“It’s nice that you don’t have to use that middle person to find somebody,” Ryan adds. “It just puts it up on the website and professionals can take a shift at any time.”
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
You can see how Medely has helped Ryan and his facility get the professionals they needed when they needed them. Interested in more stories from our customers? Meet Stacia, an RN Administrator at an ambulatory surgical center. She says Medely fills her open shifts quickly with people who are very capable and knowledgeable. Medely gives her peace of mind knowing that her patients are taken care of with a high-quality staff.
To learn more about our talent marketplace and how Medely can help you with your staffing needs, contact us or set up your free account to get started today.