How Nurse Leaders are Creating Fair and Balanced Nursing Schedules

February 2, 2022

Inefficient staffing and scheduling processes contribute to poor workplace morale, burnout, and high turnover rates in nursing. A recent study revealed that 22% of nurses are reconsidering their chosen career path and consider leaving their jobs. More than half feel this is a more likely outcome since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are a variety of contributing factors, but the 2021 NSI National HealthCare Retention & RN Staffing Report found scheduling continues to be one of the top reasons why nurses are leaving hospitals.

Smiling male nurse manager creating a unit staff schedule on a computer.

The challenges presented to nurse schedulers are overwhelming. The healthcare industry is not immune to the current staff shortages felt across the country. The unique demands of healthcare make it exceptionally hard to eliminate gaps in coverage that require 24/7 skilled staffing. Nurses are extremely overwhelmed and working to the outer reaches of their licensure. They don’t have the support staff they need and they’re losing sight and feel of the passion they once had that brought them to this profession in the first place.

COVID-19 has highlighted the gaps in healthcare and created an increase in demand for bedside nurses. Not to mention, we entered this pandemic with a nursing shortage concern that has grown exponentially since it began. In the United States alone, it is projected that over one million nurses are needed to replace over 500,000 retiring nurses by 2022 to avoid a critical level of nursing shortages. That’s not counting all the nurses ready to throw in the towel and pursue another line of work entirely.

How Can Schedule360 Help?

Utilizing a scalable, configurable nurse scheduling software that speaks directly to common nurse scheduling pain points can bridge the tremendous gap between your current staff and the coverage needed to meet growing demands for high-quality 24/7 patient care. By leveraging a robust software tool designed specifically for healthcare staffing, you can streamline and optimize your resources and eliminate costly fall-out due to inefficient staff scheduling.

  • Avoid unhealthy shift patterns that can influence morale.
  • Decrease agency labor dependence.
  • Decrease OT costs.
  • Improve quality of patient care.
  • Increase nurse retention rates.
  • Easily forecast patient demand in real-time.
  • Automate redundant scheduling tasks with rules-based tools like rotation templates, self-scheduling, shift swaps, time off requests, holiday rotations, weekend rotations, and more.
  • Credential and license renewal alerts to avoid lapses.
  • Combat nursing shortage with optimized staff schedules for better work/life balance.

Nurse leaders will find value in a scheduling solution that’s web-based and transparent with one-click views of the big picture. A scalable and configurable scheduling software that provides 24/7 real-time access will give your nursing staff more control over their schedules with accountability and oversight to ensure department staffing needs are met.

If you’re still relying on outdated scheduling methods, you already know you’re spending way too much time on creating and managing schedules. Implementing Schedule360 nurse scheduling software provides a cost-effective solution for configurable scheduling automation. Using our cloud-based software, your nursing department can create and adjust schedules in real-time to proactively align staff with demand, control labor costs, increase productivity and maintain compliance.

Rules-Based Self-Scheduling

Self-scheduling options Improve employee morale by giving your nursing staff flexibility over their schedules with our rules-based self-scheduling feature. Flexible scheduling practices ensure maximum shift coverage. Management still defines the rules and guidelines. Your schedulers are most likely the MVPs in your unit, and although they have so much talent and knowledge to offer in terms of quality patient care, managing the schedule takes them off the floor. Automating key scheduling tasks will allow you to reallocate your valuable resources to where they’re needed most.

License and Credential Tracking

Our nurse scheduling software allows you to track employee credentials and licensure, ensuring only those staff with the proper credentials and qualifications are filling open shifts. Skills requiring recertification are tracked from the expiration date, allowing management to set automatic alerts to employees 60 days prior to any license or credential expiration. This information is linked back to the Credential page for real-time updating. Employees with missing or expired credentials won’t be able to fill shifts if they’ve allowed their licensing to lapse. This self-accountability is a hands-off way to keep everything streamlined and ensure balanced shifts for high-quality patient care.

Ease of Implementation

Our easy implementation process is designed to get you set up with a scheduling software solution that’s configured to meet your needs immediately. We understand the biggest hurdle you may be facing right now is knowing how valuable a configured software solution is but not knowing how you’ll be able to implement it during the unprecedented current demands of your unit. A dedicated Schedule360 representative will work closely with you to get an in-depth understanding of your unique scheduling needs, provide expert consultation, and coordinate your setup with our IT team, training department, and account administration. Our step-by-step guided implementation and training process is designed to be as seamless and stress-free as possible. With our data entry transfer, the heavy lifting of moving your data to a new system is done for you, and our customer support reaches far beyond set up and roll out.

Scheduling is Our Specialty

We know scheduling, and we understand how COVID-19 is contributing to the evolving needs in healthcare staffing right now. Creating and managing a fair and balanced nurse schedule during a pandemic creates a unique set of challenges. You don’t have to go it alone. We have the perfect blend of technology and features you need to simplify your scheduling process and optimize your workforce. We’re here to create efficiency in your current processes and provide tools that make it easy for you to streamline and optimize your staff. Lessen the burden of creating staff schedules in your unit with Schedule360. Contact us today to learn more.