In the U.S., the dreaded December-to-February flu season is approaching. This season will likely be a replay of others, with certain at-risk groups more vulnerable, and with clinicians urging patients to receive vaccines by the end of October.
This flu season may coincide with a mild spike in COVID-19 cases. In fact, manufacturers are currently preparing to distribute their FDA-approved COVID boosters early this fall. And we always have to worry about an increase in RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which is often more problematic for babies and toddlers. The CDC is already preparing for this “tripledemic.”
As a healthcare organization, how can you prepare for this chaotic time? How can you make sure your patients and staff are vaccinated and healthy?
You can rely on your staffing partner to help you vaccinate your entire community as quickly as possible.
Find the staff you need for a flu vaccine clinic with the help of a staffing partner.
When staffing a seasonal, short-term vaccine clinic, there are a couple of key considerations:
- Unless you use members of your full-time staff to run your clinic, which comes with its own drawbacks, you will need to find candidates seeking, or at least open to, temporary work spanning the holidays.
- With the nursing shortage peaking, you may need to target licensed practical nurses (LPNs)/licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and medical assistants (MAs) for your clinic.
For temporary positions like this, you will need to focus your recruiting efforts on local talent. Even though this is a short-term gig, it’s also an opportunity for you to build a potential permanent talent pipeline, because some new LPNs/LVNs and medical assistants may see it as a “foot-in-the-door” opportunity.
Of course, you can also rely on a healthcare staffing partner like Medix. An experienced agency should have no problem finding the right people to stand up your flu vaccine clinic. They should have a deep talent pool of LPNs/LVNs, medical assistants, administrative professionals, and potentially even recently graduated registered nurses who are looking for short-term work.
Keep your staff focused on their day-to-day priorities.
By staffing your flu vaccine clinic with temporary workers, you ensure your employees can remain focused on their day-to-day priorities, and prevent them from being distracted or burning out. This emphasizes the importance of ongoing patient care and vaccinations at the same time. And while hiring temporary workers to spare your employees is an additional cost, it is often offset by two things:
- Not having to pay your current employees overtime to run your vaccine clinic
- Reducing illness and, in turn, productivity lost, among your staff throughout flu season
Remove administrative burdens from your plate.
As a healthcare leader, you have other responsibilities. As critical as vaccines are, the last thing you need are administrative burdens related to setting up and managing a clinic. There’s a high opportunity cost for every hour you spend on it. It’s yet another reason to rely on your staffing partner and temporary talent to take care of the job. From recruiting staff experienced in administering vaccines, to hiring, to payroll, to offboarding, it’s largely hands-off for you and your staff.
“Here at Medix, we closely watch the approach to flu season, stay up-to-date on the CDC’s research and recommendations, and start to warm up our talent pool early,” said Chad Ruvalcava, Medix’s National Director of Allied & Nursing. “While we’re always prepared for the unexpected, like the recent spike in COVID cases, we’re also always prepared to help our clients find the staff they need to quickly set up their vaccine clinics. It’s something we’ve done for years for so many of our clients.”
Get ahead of the game. Whether you need a public-facing clinic for a few months or an employee-only clinic for a few days, lock in the temporary staff you need now, to ensure your patients and employees are vaccinated as early as possible. Contact us today.