Healthcare Staffing

Meet your healthcare staffing needs with help from medical staffing agencies
By Mary Beth Doyle Healthcare staffing services exist to help healthcare organizations with staffing needs for myriad positions and durations. They can assist with anything from short-term, even daily, nursing assignments, to week- or month-long physician staffing when a doctor takes a vacation or other extended leave. What’s more, healthcare staffing companies can help you fill permanent positions, often with prescreened, qualified professionals who are already in their database.
 

Before choosing a healthcare staffing agency, consider the following:

1. Look for healthcare staffing services that are flexible, with temporary, contract and permanent staffing options.

2. Research medical staffing companies that specialize in physician and nurse staffing.

3. Find healthcare staffing companies that focus on specialized areas such as long-term care or rehabilitation.

Find a healthcare staffing agency with temporary and permanent staffing options

It's impossible to predict just what your medical staffing needs will be in a given year. You may have a physician go on maternity leave and just need a temporary fill-in, or you may find yourself facing a nursing shortage and need to fill several permanent positions. Most medical staffing agencies offer contract, temporary, temporary-to-permanent and permanent positions.
Try: BrightStar Healthcare can provide healthcare staffing to suit your organization's needs, whether that’s contract, temporary or permanent help. It specializes in providing medical staffing for such positions as RNs, pharmacists, physicians assistants and case managers, among others. AMN Healthcare also offers temporary medical staffing as well as permanent placement of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals.

Choose healthcare staffing services for nurses and physicians

While nurse staffing agencies may be the most prevalent, including travel nurse staffing companies, there are plenty of agencies that focus on physician staffing too.
Try: Maxim Healthcare Services started in 1988 in response to the nursing shortage. Today, its offshoot Maxim Physician Services provides staffing services for all types of physicians, from anesthesiologists to orthopedic surgeons. Advantage Medical Staffing can provide both long-term and daily staffing assignments for healthcare organizations in need of nurses.

Research healthcare staffing agencies that focus on specialty areas

If your organization's staffing shortage extends beyond basic nursing or physician staffing needs, don't fret: There are plenty of healthcare staffing agencies that specialize in areas such as home care, healthcare administration and long-term care.
Try: Interim HealthCare focuses on staffing for nurses, therapists and other caregivers in home care services. Albion Healthcare Staffing Services can provide staffing for administrative healthcare positions, including patient billing and collections.

• Take the time to research several healthcare staffing firms before settling on one. Call the medical staffing agency's previous clients, and make sure you have a comfortable rapport with the people you'll be dealing directly with at the agency.