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abaqis for Skilled Nursing

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Mitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.

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NEW TO THE STORE

The S.T.A.B.L.E. Program Online Course

Improve quality of care for well and sick infants. Learn how it can transform your ability to accurately monitor and care for infants, improving their quality of life.

AACN ECCO Essentials of Critical Care Orientation

Essentials of Critical Care Orientation (ECCO), from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), is an interactive, case-based course designed to orient nurses on critical care basics.

COVID-19 Support Courses

These courses are designed to educate staff on current guidelines for infection control across various care settings and precautions for airborne pathogens.

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< HealthStream Resources

Mobile Nurse Scheduling App Offers Potential to Boost Staffing Efficiency

April 1, 2021
April 1, 2021

Attracting and retaining the best nurses is an ongoing and increasingly challenging goal for any healthcare enterprise. One way to get there is by offering comprehensive benefits, which can include much more than a standard package that revolves around pay, insurance, and vacation. For instance, how about a way to handle scheduling that’s not labor intensive and invasive?

Better Scheduling as a Nurse Retention Strategy

That’s what NurseGrid offers, and it’s why this free, mobile app is now on the smartphones of more than 1.5 million nurses nationwide. Together with its supervisor element, NurseGrid Manager, the technology is making scheduling easier for everyone involved, says Zack Smith, RN, BSN, Strategic Advisor and Founding Member of NurseGrid.

“There are so many needs that hospital departments have, and trying to bottle that all into a really smooth user experience was really challenging,” Smith says. “In particular, we wanted nurses of all ages and in all ranges of familiarity with technology to feel comfortable using our mobile app. We feel confident that we did that. And then a lot of those nurses were finding such satisfaction in it that they took it to their managers and saying, ‘You should really check this out to see if we can begin using this on our unit or department,’ which led to NurseGrid Manager popping up all over the nation.

Better Engagement = Simplified and More Streamlined Staffing

“Connecting nurses and supervisors quickly and easily has enhanced both engagement and satisfaction for staff,” Smith says, a point echoed by Annalise Thomas, Clinical Solution Executive for NurseGrid.

“The way the two elements work within a facility are what makes them superior scheduling tools,” Thomas says. “We have the front end, which is our schedule creation, and then we have that back end of timekeeping,” she explains. “We're not trying to take over either of these but really elevate both of them. As we navigate new workflows, we have to figure out how to fill these gaps that are creating inefficiencies. We see that in the intersection between schedule creation and timekeeping, NurseGrid is able to give employees the transparency through real-time connectivity. Then it allows managers to put time towards other key areas that need to be taken care of while increasing their staff engagement.”

Better Technology Solves the Nurse Scheduling Conundrum

Using technology to increase both staff satisfaction as well as operational efficiencies has long been seen as a healthcare magic bullet. Amanda Brooks, Manager of Customer Success at NurseGrid, explains how NurseGrid and NurseGrid Manager makes this goal a reality.

“On the app, by tapping into my shift tomorrow, I have full insight into who I'm going to be working with, what that shift is going to look like,” Brooks explains. “Let’s say I'm working my day-RN shift within the NICU. If my manager included any notes, that information will be available to me in the app. Then if I tap another section, I get full insight into the schedule for that day. I have visibility into who I'm going to be doing handoffs with from the night shift, who's working at my exact shift, and then who I'm going to be handing off with for that upcoming night shift as well, in addition to who's unscheduled for that day.”

Users can also connect with their colleagues, and view schedules in order to swap shifts, get managerial approval for those, request time off and interact in many other ways. “One of our most popular newer features is to be able to compare schedules. This makes it incredibly easy to plan for shift trades and also make plans outside of work as well,” Brooks says. And on the managerial side, “When your hospital is connected to NurseGrid Manager, and you have multiple departments, they will be tied to a staffing pool so you can have insight across the facility,” she adds.

To learn more about NurseGrid, NurseGrid Manager, and how the platform works to improve nurse scheduling for everyone involved, click here.

HealthStream Focuses on Nurses and Clinical Development

At HealthStream we spend a lot of time focused on improving outcomes by supporting and developing the clinical workforce.  That’s why HealthStream and NurseGrid have joined forces to simplify scheduling and staffing management for your facility.