of became a place that we do what we needed to do every day . It ’ s calming down .”
Family Practice Associates in Benton celebrating Halloween , one of a number of things the clinic has done to add " fun " back into the workplace .
ics , too ,” she said . “ We started to realize that we were putting our patients ahead of our own employees , and we had to take some employee burden away . We ’ ve had some push-back from patients , but we ’ ve tried to explain to them that , like them , our staff have had families and ongoing challenges during the pandemic . They ’ re getting more understanding .”
For flu clinics this year , FPA partnered successfully with nearby Pulaski Technical College . From a unique idea that Salmon attributed to her clinical supervisor , FPA offered the flu clinics as a way for nursing program students to earn some clinical hours . It was a win-win situation , as flu shots reached the clinic at the height of staffing shortages . “ Pulaski Tech came in one day for five or six weeks ,” said Salmon . “ They sent an RN preceptor and six LPN students at a time , and we scheduled 100 or so flu shots for each of those dates .”
SAMA is adjusting , too . Team nurses are being reassigned to other areas when their team provider is out . “ It ’ s been stressful for the staff
“ When we began to see staff leave , it led to increased workload and burnout for those left behind .
Unfortunately , we saw a domino effect for a while .”
– Courtney Salmon , Family Practice Associates because they don ’ t get that half-day here and there to catch up ,” said Atkinson .
In addition , with the clinic being open seven days a week , Atkinson has turned to past employees to help fill the gaps . “ Four former employees offered to work the weekends for us ,” said Atkinson . “ A big help , that allows the staff that was
going to work the weekends to work during the week . I also have a couple of young moms who come in and work a day here and there .”
Both clinics have seen the staff shortages affect their physicians . For the most part , the doctors haven ’ t been able to see as many patients as they would have liked , without the other staff to support them . “ I now have some physicians that will call their own patients from the waiting room and room them themselves ,” said Salmon , who has also seen some of FPA ’ s doctors calling patients back with lab results , something that normally the nurses would handle . “ Also , because we ’ re so busy , some of my doctors , on their scheduled half-day , were taking a full day of patients just to help keep up with patient load . It got to where we couldn ’ t let them do that because we didn ’ t have the staff to support them .”
In keeping its focus on employee appreciation , FPA has implemented practices to return some joy to the workplace . “ We bought them all jackets , we provide treats here and there , and we ’ re all talking each other up ,” she said . “ Again , my goal now is retention . We ’ re doing ‘ secret sister ’ now , so everybody gets excited at getting little gifts . We ’ re trying to make it a fun place because [ during the pandemic ] it just kind
The Society thanks Courtney Salmon and Pete Atkinson for sharing their experiences . As 2022 gets underway , Arkansas clinics are sure to continue to deal with staffing concerns for some time . Fortunately , there is help available for physicians and practice managers looking for solutions in their own clinics . AMS Director of Practice and Health Policy Tereasa Holmes is available to members who may need assistance in finding ways to minimize daily operational duties and can offer suggestions for those who are short-staffed during the on-going COVID pandemic . You can reach out to Tereasa at tholmes @ arkmed . org or call 501-224-8967 .
Several of the things mentioned by Atkinson and Salmon – reducing walk-ins , adjusting hours , and increasing compensation and appreciation for employees – were among the “ Eight strategies for managing practice staffing shortages ” shared in Harrop ’ s article . The article also recommends cross-training , reorganization of duties , and other workarounds . Find helpful details about how to approach these strategies in this and other related links below .
* The Medical Group Management Association ( MGMA ) is the nation ’ s largest association focused on the business of medical practice management and is the source of the following related sources :
Green C . “ Medical practices ’ improvement priorities centered on people heading into 2022 .” MGMA . Nov . 3 , 2021 . Available from : https :// mgma . com / data / data-stories / medicalpractices % E2 % 80 % 99-improvement-prioritiescentered .
Harrop C . “ Workarounds for worker shortages : 8 strategies for pandemic staffing issues in medical practices .” MGMA . Sept . 29 , 2021 . Available from : https :// mgma . com / data / data-stories / workarounds-for-worker-shortages-8-strategies-for .
MGMA . “ Staffing , uncertainty among top pandemic challenges for medical groups heading into 2022 .” Sept . 22 , 2021 . Available from : https :// mgma . com / data / data-stories / staffing , -uncertainty-among-top-pandemic-challenge .
https :// morningconsult . com / 2021 / 10 / 04 / health-care-workers-series-part-2-workforce /
154 • The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society www . ArkMed . org