At StaffReady, we often write about strategies for addressing coverage with a diminished workforce, and usually the problem is framed as a low pool of staff to schedule from. However, it isn’t always a scarcity of staff, but a scarcity of skills (or skill gaps) that makes constructing schedules and rotations challenging. In today’s piece, we want to look at the issue of skill gaps in your workforce and present some strategies and tools for addressing them.

Cross-training is not a new concept, but the importance organizations place on it varies. Skill gaps can occur for many reasons, including advances in technology, inadequate coverage, staffing turnover, and lack of continuing education throughout each department. Every part of your organization is affected when there are skill gaps, but it will manifest in different ways.

It’s important when examining this topic to not only look at the visible effects, but also the invisible causes as well. “Why does this matter?” is a perfectly valid question and one that may have a different answer depending on your specific situation. Let’s look at an overview of the facts first.

Internally, skill gaps affect which departments employees are qualified to work in and thus can constrict the number of people who are able and qualified to work a given shift or at a certain facility. This can place undue pressure on your entire staffing pool and affect coverage, morale, and patient safety.

Cross-training can be a positive boost for organizational morale as a constant infusion of new experiences, skills, and knowledge precludes stagnation and pushes staff to challenge themselves and broaden their skill base. It can become demoralizing for any staff member, especially one new to the profession, to be assigned only to a specific shift, time slot, or job without the opportunity to learn something new. Cross-training substantially mitigates the amount of mental attrition and promotes growth.

It can also promote greater empathy and understanding for the challenges faced in other departments and greater unit cohesion.

On the external side, we must focus on what cross-training can mean for patient safety and well-being. A lack of coverage can delay vital treatment or testing, which negatively impacts patients directly. The frustration felt from a lack of qualified personnel able to perform duties throughout their organization can reflect back on staff and administrators, which perpetuates the issue.

Some of the best ways to address skill gaps include:

1)      Conduct an internal assessment or inventory of skills: Quantifying the individual skills each of your staff possesses and mapping them against the areas where coverage is needed can help you quickly identify skill gaps and plan how best to address them. You can’t fully craft a solution if you don’t understand the full scope of the issue.

2)      Develop your plan for training, development, and rotations: Holistic training programs take time to develop and require knowledge about the staff to be truly optimized. Consider carefully with your staff how much time and budget you want to allocate for cross-training and continued education, then compare it against the availability and bandwidth of your staff. This step is important because additional training without input from your staff can increase burnout and the potential for greater turnover.

3)      Promote and encourage continuous education: This begins at a cultural level with an environment encouraging career and skill development and continues with acknowledgment and celebration of staff who go above and beyond. Staff need to know that their contributions are valued and that their organization will empower them to continue achieving. Staff deserve to have a sense of accomplishment to feel they are actively taking their career into their own hands.

If you’d like to learn more about how StaffReady can help empower you to solve these issues using our clinical workforce management tools, you can book a meeting with one of our experts here and accelerate your organization’s progress toward being ready for an inspection.