Pillar Page – Rapid Response

Before diving into the many benefits of Rapid Response Recruitment, it is helpful to understand some of the key situations that call for this type of solution. Many of these scenarios relate to sudden, unplanned staffing deficiencies or an unplanned widespread health emergency that overwhelms existing staff. Here is a look at some of the situations that warrant VISTA’s Rapid Response Recruitment:

        → Physician burnout intensifies: When physicians are overworked or continually faced with stressors they cannot control, burnout can develop. Symptoms of burnout are varied and may include fatigue, irritability, poor sleep, headaches, and gastrointestinal distress. Over 40 percent of physicians reported feeling burned out in 2020, with women reporting higher rates than men.

        → A pandemic or widespread emergency unfolds: The COVID-19 Pandemic illustrates how a healthcare crisis can quickly deplete a healthcare system of its human resources. When COVID-19 emerged, many healthcare organizations grappled with clinician shortages – especially those with experience treating respiratory distress and other COVID-19 issues.

        → Many physicians take a temporary leave simultaneously: Multiple unexpected vacancies at the same time can leave hospital executives scrambling to fill several positions at once. This tends to happen during vacation season but may also occur without warning throughout the year.

        → A mass exodus of employees occurs: Physicians retire or decide to change employers regularly. While most healthcare systems are moderately prepared to handle periodic departures, the typical healthcare organization is not equipped to handle a mass exodus of employees. This may happen when the symptoms of burnout become too much to bear or multiple physicians decide to sign an enticing contract with a surgery center. A mass exodus may also occur when healthcare systems decide to bring staffing management in-house.

VISTA’s Rapid Response Recruitment can bridge the gaps that develop as a result of these circumstances. The strategy is a lifesaver to strained healthcare systems in need of immediate clinical support to ensure continuity of care for patients.

“There’s already a ready-made vaccine distribution system that can be tapped into to accelerate the rollout, some experts say: primary care doctors. Primary care doctors provide nearly half of all vaccines in the U.S. and their role may help assure successful delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines to communities across the nation, including rural and remote communities.” – Heather Landi, Fierce Healthcare

Swift vaccine deployment is essential to overcoming a pandemic like COVID-19, but there is much room for improvement in the vaccine distribution arena. Opportunities to support deployment exist across the country, and VISTA is committed to developing recruitment platforms that incorporate innovative strategies.

One of the most pronounced opportunities for improvement relates to the type of clinicians and providers who manage the vaccination process. Initially, intensivists in COVID-19 wings were often among the leaders in the vaccination process. As the distribution of the vaccine continues across the United States, a growing number of healthcare specialists recognize the need to shift this responsibility from intensivists to general practitioners and family doctors. Benefits of this strategy include the following:

        → Reduced burnout among overburdened intensivists

        → Improved vaccination rates among citizens who trust their primary care providers

VISTA’s Rapid Response solution is multi-faceted and facilitates vaccine deployment. VISTA’s alignment with key vaccine distributors enables healthcare systems to respond faster to vaccine demands. At the same time, VISTA can work with organizations to map out a staffing plan to boost utilization and revenue after COVID subsides. At the heart of VISTA’s Rapid Response platform is a focus on speed and efficiency to address problems before they intensify.

Yes. VISTA’s Rapid Response solution is designed to promote continuous quality improvement before, during, and after a pandemic or healthcare emergency strikes. Rapid Response has been beneficial as a tool to help revenue-strapped hospitals readjust to “normal” operations as the pandemic winds down. Here is a look at how the solution works:

        → The problem: Cash flow is down due to fewer elective surgeries and quality of life procedures that typically generate a lot of revenue.

        → The impact: Budget limitations preclude hospitals from recruiting physicians to meet the rising demand for elective procedures.

        → The common response: Healthcare systems put off addressing physician shortages and are then forced to use costly hiring techniques.

        → The solution: By partnering with VISTA, physician deployment can occur quickly when the need arises, eliminating costly hiring techniques.

VISTA enables hospitals to save money and reduce the stress associated with reactionary physician recruitment. But the key to enjoying the cost savings and improved work environment is to avoid procrastination. Establishing a partnership with VISTA is a simple, straightforward process that requires little in the way of time. The solution can help hospitals retain physicians and function more efficiently.

“Burnout is a common factor behind job dissatisfaction along with a lack of work-life balance and ongoing stress levels… For these reasons and many others, physicians may consider leaving the ranks of daily medical practice to start a new adventure. Some doctors may move into consulting or join a tech firm, while others seek careers on the periphery of the healthcare sphere.” – Julie Knudson, Physicians Practice

Physician burnout can have a devastating impact on the lives of medical doctors and the patients they treat. Unfortunately, many healthcare systems wait until after burnout takes a toll on their operations before taking steps to address it. This reactive approach to burnout can negatively impact a hospital’s quality of care, employee retention, and, ultimately, the organization’s industry reputation.

To effectively prevent burnout, healthcare organizations must adjust this reactive approach and make burnout prevention a top priority. This process begins with awareness of the many harmful consequences of burnout, which tend to fall into one of three categories:

        → Compromised quality of patient care: Research indicates that physician burnout is linked to poorer quality of care, a rise in patient safety incidents, and lower levels of patient satisfaction. These pitfalls are especially likely to impact physicians who are relatively new to their careers in medicine.

        → Declining physical and mental health: Burnout is linked to various physical and mental health problems such as high blood pressure, insomnia, heart disease, substance abuse, and depression. Physicians who suffer from burnout are also at an increased risk of suicide.

        → An increased desire to leave the system: When job stress, dissatisfaction, and burnout become too overwhelming, some physicians decide to resign, retire, or change careers entirely. This is a blow to the organization and our healthcare system at large.

VISTA treats physician burnout as a problem that can be prevented with a proactive staffing strategy. The VISTA team recognizes that healthcare organizations often fail to bring in contingent staff to help ease overworked physicians until burnout has become widespread. VISTA helps healthcare systems develop a proactive plan to anticipate burnout before the problem escalates and devastates the organization.

Simultaneously, VISTA’s Rapid Response solution enables hospitals to save time and money by avoiding the frantic, costly last-minute staffing expenditures that may arise without a strategic staffing plan. The ultimate goals of VISTA’s solution are to promote physician well-being and boost retention rates by proactively addressing burnout.

Responding quickly to the healthcare crisis requires a strategic approach to staffing and fast access to talented clinicians. The single best thing you can do to shift your recruitment process from reactive to proactive is to introduce VISTA’s Rapid Response Recruitment solution. By partnering with VISTA, your organization can prevent emerging staffing issues from physician well-being and patient care.

With VISTA’s Rapid Response Recruitment, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing your staffing needs are covered if a crisis unfolds. To learn why healthcare systems across America turn to us for affordable staffing support, we invite you to contact a VISTA expert.  We look forward to helping your healthcare organization become a model of staffing excellence!