Quick View
As part of its continued commitment to excellence, Randolph Health made the decision to move toward automated staff scheduling. Their previous Excel-based staffing model had created confusion internally and didn’t offer the needed flexibility and reporting.
Randolph upgraded to ShiftWizard as their workforce management system in early 2016. The system streamlined their staffing operations, saving time and overtime costs, while also improving staff satisfaction and ultimately patient care.
“ShiftWizard has enabled us to move around staff more fluidly, to quickly address potential staffing voids and to ensure patients get the care they deserve.” – Tremonteo Crawford, VP & Chief Nursing Officer
Hospital at a Glance
Randolph Health
Asheboro, North Carolina
145- bed hospital
Established in 1932
Based in Asheboro, NC
Making the Shift
As part of its continued commitment to excellence, this nonprofit hospital made the decision to move toward automated staff scheduling in early 2016. According to Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Tremonteo Crawford, the hospital’s reliance on Excel spreadsheets had created confusion for both staff and management when changes were mistakenly made and couldn’t be tracked. The spreadsheet also didn’t allow them to outline or enforce staffing guidelines the hospital had worked hard to establish. As Crawford explained, the hospital regularly experienced dramatic patient volume fluctuations, with no predictable pattern. “With patient volumes fluctuating daily, we needed a much more flexible scheduling solution,” she added.
As Crawford explained, the hospital regularly experienced dramatic patient volume fluctuations, with no predictable pattern. “With patient volumes fluctuating daily, we needed a much more flexible scheduling solution,” she added.
Crawford and her team wanted a solution that offered the following:
- Flexibility for different department staffing models.
- Access for staff anytime, from anywhere.
- Ease of use for management.
- Ability to provide productivity information.
- An easier way to connect with staff when they are away.
“With patient volumes fluctuating daily, we needed a much more flexible scheduling solution.”
Tremento Crawford, VP & Chief Nursing Officer
Implementation
After evaluating a few different solutions, the Randolph Health team chose ShiftWizard, primarily because it allowed them to easily incorporate their existing staffing guidelines into their scheduling models, with flexibility to customize those guidelines by department.
The team was also excited about the fact that ShiftWizard gives them the capability to track and reduce overtime in all departments, hospital-wide. Additional advantages that moved the group to implement ShiftWizard include the software’s easy set-up, user-friendly experience, integration capabilities and high-quality customer support.
Less than nine months after implementation, more than 350 staff members are using ShiftWizard. The implementation started with nursing but is currently being rolled out to respiratory and laboratory, with plans to include home health and radiology in the near future.
Optimizing the Workforce
The Randolph Health team is already taking advantage of the data ShiftWizard provides to better track labor utilization. “Our goal is to reduce overtime of in-house staff. Today, it runs as high as 4%. With help from ShiftWizard, we hope to get that down to 2.5%,” explained Crawford. The ability to integrate their existing staff guidelines into ShiftWizard has helped them not only enforce those
The ability to integrate their existing staff guidelines into ShiftWizard has helped them not only enforce those guidelines but has also helped them take a more proactive approach to labor utilization and overall productivity. They are currently working to integrate ShiftWizard with Kronos and Meditech to get an even more accurate measurement of true staff productivity, and to adjust staffing based on that insight. The ability to integrate with those other industry-leading technology solutions was another key factor in choosing ShiftWizard, recalls Crawford.
Increasing Staff Satisfaction
“ShiftWizard has definitely helped improve satisfaction both at a staff and management level,” stated Crawford. “The ability to incorporate our staffing guidelines directly into our scheduling model, combined with improved staff access, ensures that everyone is treated fairly and equal.”
Putting Patients First
As Crawford explained, her hospital regularly experiences dramatic fluctuations in patient volumes, with 40 patients one day and 70 the next. That fluctuation requires a lot of flexibility in staff scheduling.
“ShiftWizard has enabled us to move around staff more fluidly, to quickly address potential staffing voids and to ensure patients get the care they deserve,” said Crawford.
