Sumo Medial Staffing

You undoubtedly know how easy it is for a hospital or medical facility to become set in its ways: routines become ingrained, processes go unquestioned and inefficiencies go unnoticed. 

Enter locum tenens professionals: they can revolutionize your facility’s operations with their unique perspectives from working in different medical settings. They’ve learned different approaches to and will see opportunities for improvement that your permanent team members might overlook. 

Here’s how to harness their experience to benefit your operations. 

Step 1: Create a structured feedback system

A systemic approach to collating, analyzing and acting on locums’ insights: 

1. Create a digital feedback form that covers all aspects of workflow norms, patient experience and communication between departments. 

2. Schedule short (15-minutes long), weekly check-ins with your locums, which can result in valuable observations while still fresh in the locums’ minds. 

3. Build a digital suggestion box for more candid feedback. (It should be anonymous for best results.  

4. Create a review committee made up of permanent staff to regularly look at and assess the feedback. 

5. Develop an action plan for turning their best ideas into reality/system improvements. 

Step 2: Conduct workshops with permanent staff

Take the best ideas of your locums and discuss them with staff. 

1. Schedule monthly or quarterly sessions. 

2. Prepare an agenda that covers key ideas. 

3. Use digital tools to make real-time idea sharing possible. 

4. Focus on creating solutions for those areas that could be improved. 

5. Assign permanent team members to document ideas and follow up on their implementation, as appropriate. 

For example, perhaps a locum tenens NP has shared how one of his previous locum assignments used color-coded systems for prioritizing lab results. Then a locum tenens lab tech discusses how one of her previous assignments used to automate this process. Together they can come up with a solution that has the potential to save hours of time each week. 

Remember: the goal isn’t to criticize or change everything. Instead, it’s about working on building a culture of continuous improvement, where fresh perspectives are opportunities to improve patient care/operations. 

Could you get started this week?

Why not design a simple feedback form and then distribute it/announce it. Then, perhaps in a month or so, once the locums have provided some ideas, schedule a comparative analysis workshop for next month. 

Consider committing to discussing/implementing one improvement idea within 30 days of your first workshop.  

Tapping into the collective knowledge of locum tenens pros in this way, you’re not just filling shifts, you’re possibly transforming your healthcare facility in important and positive ways. 

Looking for experience locum tenens professionals for your hospital or medical facility? Learn more about how SUMO Staffing can help you find top-notch professionals eager to work on assignments with you.