Staff Scheduling In Long-Term Care Should Be More Like Fantasy Football

I love football. And not to brag, but I was unstoppable - just like this future star! As a youth, I had legitimate aspirations to throw a game winning touchdown that would propel my team to the Super Bowl. What I didn’t realize at 12 years old, was that EVERY neighborhood had a Joe Montana. So my dream of playing quickly faded … but my football fantasy lives on. 

I’m the general manager of a fantasy football team named “The Pettine Zoo” (after Cleveland Browns head coach, Mike Pettine).
As a fantasy football team manager, my main job every week is to fill holes in my roster and put the best team out there to win.

Luckily I can go online and easily manage my team. I know which of my players aren’t playing because they have a bye-week or if they're injured or sick. It projects which player should perform the best and alerts me to anything I might have missed. And in just 10 minutes my team is set and ready to roll. 

Without this website I’d be forced to go through stacks of local newspapers shipped in from around the country to get the latest on players, look up stats, get injury reports, cross reference matchups, etc. It would be brutal - time consuming, expensive, and I’d likely not always play the most optimal lineup.

Sound familiar? Schedulers are managing your “roster” every day – plugging holes, minimizing overtime, balancing employee requests, matching skill level with resident need, etc. And just like fantasy football if you manage staffing manually, you’re not giving your organization the best chance to compete and win.

This is why I’m so excited about OnShift’s new dashboard that features a task list for long-term care and senior living schedulers. Now when schedulers log-in they are alerted of the most critical scheduling tasks, so they can be resolved quickly. OnShift also provides built-in staffing best practices, like identifying "best fit" staff replacements, to help organizations optimally staff and meet their financial, operational and clinical goals.

So if you’re like me, competing against “Over the Dwayne Bowe” and “My Favorite Marshawn,” or are a long-term care organization competing against a community down the road, you’ll likely win if you have the information and tools needed to consistently put out the best lineup.

Image Source: Gary Scott, freeimages.com