When Christine Costello, regional administrator at Harbor Heights Surgery Center and Potomac View Surgery Center, started facing labor shortages, she needed a solution to fill shifts quickly and eliminate the lengthy, manual processes that led to inconsistent coverage. Through Medely, Christine was able to create an efficient process for finding contingent labor within minutes.
We sat down with Christine to learn more about how booking pre-vetted nurses and health professionals with Medely has allowed her to avoid canceled procedures and wavering coverage.
Staffing needs at Harbor Heights Surgery Center and Potomac View Surgery Center
Due to staff turnover and increased callouts, Christine was worried about the increasing potential for canceled procedures, so she set out to find an effective solution to maintain coverage and keep procedures running with little to no interruptions. Both Harbor Heights Surgery Center and Potomac View Surgery Center are part of the nationwide United Surgical Partners International network. Because of the high standards upheld by the organization, Christine needed to ensure that contingent nurses and health professionals would be able to integrate seamlessly with her highly-skilled full-time staff. After booking her first shift with Medely, she had no doubts that Medely was going to become a long-term solution for her staffing problems. She shares that she knew Medely was working well for her “Pretty much from the time I started using it. I just love the ease of going online and using the scheduler there. It’s very easy. I don’t have to think about it much.”
The day we spoke to Christine she shared she had experienced a callout early that morning about an hour before the shift was supposed to start. With such an early morning callout and a rapid turnaround time, Christine should have been nervous about getting it filled. Because of her trust in Medely, she didn’t have to worry. “Today I had a late call out. It was about 6:00 in the morning when I found out, and I needed a nurse at 7:00. And somebody picked it up right away. That’s pretty much the norm for us,” Christine shared.
With an all-time average fill time of 64 minutes between both facilities, Christine has been able to rely on Medely for any last-minute staffing needs. While Christine still contacts her internal staff when a shift opens up, Medely offers her a buffer in case they can’t take the shift or need a break. Having multiple avenues to fill shifts allows Christine to optimize cost-savings and cut back on contacting extra people outside of her own internal float pool or full-time staff. “It’s a huge time saver,” Christine shared. “This morning, I went ahead and posted the shift on Medely while I was still reaching out to other staff members to see if anybody could get it covered. I didn’t have any luck, so it was perfect to just get to Medely and have that as a backup.”
For facilities who want to utilize their internal staff as well as Medely’s Talent Marketplace, our new Talent Fusion product combines quick posting with the ability to book the most cost-effective staffing option. When a shift needs to be filled, administrators will go through the typical process of posting a shift to the Medely platform, but instead of only being sent to the Talent Marketplace, it will also be sent out to all other staffing options, including an internal float pool and any external vendors. This system allows administrators to find the most cost-effective staffing option, creating a blended workforce that allows for more consistent adherence to staffing budgets while also eliminating the need to use multiple modes of communication to simply get a shift filled.
Dependable coverage for fluctuating staffing needs
Through Medely’s convenient Favorites Feature, Christine has built up a steady group of trusted nurses and health professionals at both surgery centers. Instead of going through the tedious process of onboarding new professionals every single shift, she can book one a favorite that she knows will seamlessly blend into her facility and perform to her expectations. “When we find somebody we like, we like to have them keep coming back so they know the center and they’re familiar with it. And we don’t have to spend time orienting them.”
With 94 professionals favorited in the past five years, Christine continues to be impressed by the quality care they’re able to provide. “If I’m able to find someone that I really like, I’m able to favorite them and offer them the shifts first. So that’s perfect for us. We like to have continuous care, so we like to have the same people coming back,” Christine shared. Continuity of care is critical for busy surgery centers like Harbor Heights Surgery Center and Potomac View Surgery Center. As they perform a wide variety of surgery cases throughout the day, consistency is crucial to achieving better patient outcomes and an increased reputation amongst the community.
Book reliable staff with Medely
Finding a reliable, flexible staffing solution doesn’t have to be complicated. Start your free account with Medely and be on your way to fill staffing gaps efficiently and effectively.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
