The impact of COVID-19 along with the existing understaffing issues in Ontario’s long-term homes has been more than overwhelming, especially for healthcare workers. We have seen in the past year till now, the relentless and tireless sacrifice of healthcare staff working around the clock to try to accommodate for this lack and save lives, but it’s not enough. On the contrary, the need keeps arising because of the effect of the virus and now the new variants. To say the effects of the virus has been great for healthcare staff – first responders to the virus – is an understatement. The effects have contributed continuously to the understaffing issues Ontario is still facing. Healthcare workers continue to face pressure daily because of the extra workload leading to exhaustion and reduced effectiveness of the staff. The uncertainty of these issues are enormous for all healthcare institutions and has led many long-term care homes to seriously consider emergency staffing measures.
Emergency Staffing
Emergency staffing like the name implies is the urgent and immediate need of staff in crucial peak periods. This is the current approach most healthcare institutions are taking as a contingency plan, all hands-on deck. This approach allows for institutions to get as many temp healthcare staff as possible, leading to more effectiveness by taking away some burden from their staff. Emergency Staffing can actually be very difficult, especially during a pandemic, because regardless of the dire need for staff, acquiring reliable and quality staff from a reputable staffing agency is what every healthcare institution is looking for to fill in crucial positions. The process of finding these staff is both time consuming, especially when the need is immediate. Directors of Care (DOC) are focused on caring for their residents and this is why healthcare institutions are turning more to healthcare staffing agencies as a solution.
Staffing agencies take away the burden of the process of finding staff and provide immediate solutions. But what about quality service, especially during the current time we are in? This then is the differentiator between agencies. Some of the key indicators may include transparency, reliability from reviews and how responsive and accessible they are to your facility’s immediate needs. Further, during this pandemic, it is especially important to consider the COVID-19 protocol they have in place for their staff.
HealthOPM
HealthOPM is a leading healthcare staffing agency in Ontario dedicated to providing a speedy response to staffing shortages. With a highly professional recruitment team with over 10 years-experience, we have the ability to deploy staff as soon as help is needed. We are transparent and are known by clients to be very reliable, trustworthy and dependable partner. To find out more, please visit our website HealthOPM or send an email to info@healthopm.com