In the fast-paced healthcare industry, mastering key staffing terms is essential for building a flexible and efficient team.
Defining "Per Diem"
“Per diem” is a Latin phrase that literally means “for each day.” In the world of staffing, it refers to professionals hired on a daily, as-needed basis. Think of them as on-call experts who can step in when a full-time employee calls out sick, goes on vacation, or when your facility experiences an unexpected surge in demand.
How per diem is commonly used
Healthcare facilities commonly rely on per diem professionals to cover shifts and maintain safe staffing levels during unexpected absences or seasonal rushes. It's a flexible way to ensure consistent patient care without the long-term commitment of hiring another full-time employee.
Why Per Diem Matters & Industry Context
Historical context
The concept isn't new; healthcare has always needed a way to manage unpredictable patient loads and staff availability. Historically, this involved frantic phone calls and messy spreadsheets, but modern workforce management platforms have transformed this reactive process into a streamlined, proactive strategy.
Relevance in healthcare settings
In an industry grappling with high turnover and unpredictable patient loads, maintaining optimal staffing levels is a constant challenge. Per diem staffing offers a vital solution, allowing facilities to adapt quickly without over-committing resources. This agility not only ensures consistent, high-quality patient care but also helps prevent burnout among your core team by providing much-needed support.
How Per Diem Works in Healthcare Staffing
The traditional process for filling a per diem shift was often a scramble of last-minute phone calls and texts. Managers would work down a list, hoping to find an available professional while the clock was ticking. This reactive approach was inefficient and left critical gaps in coverage.
Modern workforce management platforms have completely changed the game. Now, a manager can post an open shift, and an alert is instantly sent to a pool of qualified per diem staff. Professionals can view and claim the shift directly from their phones, filling the schedule in minutes instead of hours.
The benefits of a modern approach
This tech-driven model transforms per diem staffing from a chaotic, manual chore into a streamlined, automated workflow. It frees up managers from endless phone calls and gives per diem professionals the autonomy to build a schedule that works for them, creating a win-win for everyone involved.
Per Diem vs Full-Time and Travel Assignments
While full-time roles provide consistency and travel assignments support longer-term coverage needs, per diem staff add day-to-day flexibility to the workforce. Per diem clinicians are often credentialed with a facility and return for recurring shifts each month, rather than working a single shift in isolation. Their variable schedules allow facilities to adjust coverage as demand changes, helping manage short-term fluctuations while maintaining continuity through familiar, qualified clinicians. Used alongside full-time and travel staff, per diem workers help create a more responsive and sustainable staffing model.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Per Diem Shifts
Per diem staffing offers a powerful solution for agile workforce management, but it's essential to weigh the trade-offs. For healthcare facilities, this model brings both significant advantages and potential challenges. Understanding this balance is key to integrating per diem staff effectively.
- Savings: While hourly rates are higher, you eliminate costs associated with benefits, paid leave, and other full-time employee overhead.
- Consistency: Frequent use of different per diem staff can pose challenges to maintaining team dynamics and consistent patient care protocols.
- Agility: You gain the power to instantly scale your team to match patient volume, converting fixed labor costs into a variable expense.
- Uncertainty: Since staff can accept or decline shifts, there's always a risk that urgent needs may go unfilled, requiring a backup plan.
Managing Your Schedule and Income as a Per Diem Professional
This is how administrators can support per diem clinicians in managing their schedules and earnings.
- Enable upfront availability setting.
Workforce management platforms allow per diem clinicians to indicate their available days and times in advance. This gives administrators clearer visibility into staffing options and reduces the need for last-minute outreach. - Surface relevant open shifts.
By distributing open shifts in real time, administrators can ensure per diem clinicians see opportunities that align with their schedules, locations, and pay rates. This improves fill rates while giving clinicians flexibility in what they accept. - Simplify time tracking and recordkeeping.
Digital time tracking replaces paper timesheets, capturing hours worked accurately and reducing administrative overhead tied to manual reconciliation. - Provide visibility into earnings trends.
Offering clinicians access to earnings dashboards helps them understand income patterns over time, which can improve engagement and encourage repeat shifts with the same facility.
Tips for Finding and Securing Per Diem Healthcare Jobs
Landing consistent per diem work often depends on visibility and reliability across multiple staffing channels. Per diem clinicians who make it easy for facilities and staffing partners to find, verify, and schedule them are more likely to secure repeat shifts. Four common best practices include:
- Credentials: Maintain up-to-date licenses, certifications, and required documentation so facilities and staffing firms can verify eligibility quickly.
- Staffing firm relationships: Many per diem clinicians work regularly with one or more staffing firms that manage shift distribution, credentialing, and facility relationships. Staying engaged and responsive with these partners can lead to more consistent opportunities.
- Workforce platforms: Joining modern workforce management platforms allows clinicians to view and accept open shifts posted directly by facilities or distributed through staffing partners in real time.
- Availability: Clearly communicating availability and responding promptly to outreach helps staffing firms and facilities match clinicians to the right shifts faster.
Final Takeaways
Per diem staffing offers a flexible solution for healthcare facilities to manage unpredictable scheduling needs by hiring professionals on a daily, as-needed basis. While traditionally a manual scramble, modern workforce management platforms have transformed this process, allowing managers to post shifts and qualified staff to claim them instantly. This tech-driven approach gives organizations crucial agility and cost-efficiency, while empowering professionals with greater control over their schedules and income. Ultimately, integrating per diem staff effectively helps build a more resilient and responsive workforce ready for any challenge.
