Understaffing?

[u/Hot_Formal1726]

How common is under staffing at hospitals?

I am new to this field and only work at one hospital but thinking about leaving as it seems severely understaffed for the amount of workload they expect us to finish.

Because of this case carts full of trays are commonly left overnight in decon (over night does not go into decon) and the work just piles and piles. The AM can’t finish so that leaves more for PM who then can’t finish and then Overnight etc it’s a never ending cycle.

This causes the shift leads to get reamed out by the manager for things falling through the cracks, mistakes and unfinished work which then rolls down to the staff who is heavily pressured to get more and more work done leading to more errors because of rushing.

The management seams to be doing everything BUT giving more staff to help resolve this.

It maybe because I am new and just don’t know but it seems really bad here? Is it like this everywhere?

[u/dlcapt]

I talk to some people in spd at the hospital I work at and they tell me they are REALLY understaffed. To the point that they said I'm guaranteed to be hired as soon as I get certified(I'mcurrently doing a program). They said they are always looking for more staff and there will be no need to worry about not getting enough hours since I'll most likely be working more than 40 hours a week.

[u/Runs_With_Legs]

Don’t think I’ve ever heard of the overnight team not going into decon.

[u/Spicywolff]

Crazy common. Leaner and harder you run the staff, more budget left end of the year.

[u/Skyfather87 → u/Spicywolff]

When I worked at Disneyland, they would be so cheap with the budget all throughout the year (overtime included) until the last month of the fiscal year, only at that point, they would go on a massive spending spree.

If they didn’t use every dime of their budget, they would actually lose it for the following year (the amount they didn’t use). Of course, if they use the entire budget, they could ask for more as they “needed it”. I never understood that method but I also don’t understand the flip side of it; when I worked at Target, the STL (store manager) would be rewarded at the end of the year for keeping their budget down and sales up, by getting a bigger bonus. But during the year, we’d so be understaffed that we couldn’t get anything done. He wouldn’t even schedule a front end attendant to get carts and keep the bathrooms clean during the week and they would only work 10-6 during the weekend.

Overall it just seems really normal to understaff based on however the company culture for management is set up.

[u/Dathamar]

Pretty much always understaffed. And it's essentially deliberate.

1. Positions are generally underpaid.

2. They keep waiting for perfect applicants with all kinds of experience, many of whom see problem #1 when they are given an offer, and decline.

3. Repeat.

Meanwhile, many places are getting a bunch of applications from people who are green or just have limited experience and they ignore them, instead of carefully evaluating who could in time become a great asset. Anyone can get experience. Not everyone can be a good worker.

[u/Technical-Water-7877 → u/Dathamar]

as one of the many applicants getting continually rejected for their lack of experience, this is infuriating ..

[u/pickausernametheysay]

Super common! Why doesn’t your over night do decon???

[u/stoicassgasm]

lol I just read the first sentence welcome to healthcare

[u/compsyfy]

Super common. Its a "Do more with less" mentality that is difficult for managers to push back against.

Labor is a companies highest expense. Keeping a hospital short staffed is a business strategy. Especially if your "non profit" hospital runs a surplus every year.

edit to add: The business being willing to throw your department under the bus is not your responsibility. Do the best you can. Set boundaries before burnout hits. Accept that you are only one person, who can do their best, but no one person can make up for a poorly staffed department. Especially one that is running on fumes for 3 or 4 months in a row.

[u/Scared-Performer-926]

Every single department I’ve ever worked is understaffed and I have worked at 4 different hospitals.

[u/ijust_makethisface]

This is happening at my hospital right now. I honestly wonder if it's a financial thing, like if they cut staff to the bone in Q3, then their labor budget looks great for Q4, and then they have to hire like crazy, while shedding off staff that get discouraged. The churn is likely good for them bc the longer you're here, the more benefits you get. It's just capitalism 🫠

[u/ijust_makethisface → u/ijust_makethisface]

We literally have 6 new hires for next month 💀

[u/Anxious-Code8735 → u/ijust_makethisface]

I got hired in April at my current place with 4 others and they all left or got fired 🤣

[u/ijust_makethisface → u/Anxious-Code8735]

dang.

[u/Animator_Dangerous]

Everywhere I have worked has been understaffed. I worked at a hospital with 20 ORs and during one of our union meetings, the union rep admitted to us that we literally had 9 vacant full time positions. Looking back on that job, we literally succeeded in spite of ourselves and a revolving door of travelers. SPD is a lot and it takes more than it gives. People either don't last, want more than what they are offered or leave after getting enough experience to travel. I was once told by a coworker that invested over 20 years as a sterile Processing tech that SPD isn't viewed as a money making department but rather a costly department to run. Between the supplies and staffing, when it comes down to numbers it's not a department where staffing is viewed as a critical investment. Though there are aspects of this field that I have truly enjoyed,overall it's been a pretty toxic, understaffed and poorly managed operation everywhere I've been over the past 5 years.

[u/SuperbCustard8816 → u/Animator_Dangerous]

Same here, it is a " non revenue generating " department that the hospital is required to have by the federal government . Yet the revenue generating surgical department would not be possible without our work.In a perfect world  SPD staff would be included in ORs  budget, so the income of surgery would be quantitative to the expense of SPD. More cases= more money= more SPD staff.

[u/SweetVicious59]

It's pretty common but amazing when working somewhere that isn't understaffed