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Challenge
Our client, a large University Hospital, was facing the prospect of defaulting on their bonds. They asked Romanyk Consulting to assist them in analyzing their current staffing needs and to suggest the appropriate staffing required throughout the hospital while balancing quality, patient satisfaction, and productivity. Our preliminary review of their initial staffing lead us to believe that there was in deed an opportunity to enhance patient care and quality in a cost effective manner while adjusting their staffing.
Solution
Our collaborative approach entailed several phases to discover and develop the healthcare staffing requirements that would best fit our client’s needs. We began by utilizing questionnaires to allow us to develop a thorough understanding of the services provided in each department. The questionnaires allowed us to establish valid comparisons and a detailed understanding of their staffing requirements.
Our next phase included researching similar departments and creating a comparative analysis of each department so that we could work with each area to develop unit specific staffing patterns. The unit specific staffing patterns created varied by personnel type, day of the week, as well as by shift. In our final phase we presented our findings and staffing recommendations, which had the "buy in" of both hospital staff and hospital administration.
Benefits/Outcome
Romanyk Consulting provided more than just a comprehensive report at the completion of the engagement. Our team assisted in the implementation of our staffing recommendations as well as a reporting system that lead to our client's financial turnaround, a turnaround from a negative $3 million bottom line the year prior to a positive $3 million bottom line. The reduction in labor cost accounted for approximately $3 million of the $6 million turnaround.
In addition, the labor reduction was done without a single layoff. The staffing analysis and labor reduction also led to a significant increase in patient satisfaction plus a reduction in patient issues such as errors and patient falls.
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