Adding More Staff
The clinic I work at is busy. Every available appointment is booked for the next week and a half. As patients call to schedule an evaluation and I realize the volume of patients that need to be seen for rehab, I start to wonder when the time is right to add more staffing. I found a few articles online discussing the business and staffing of PT clinics and many seem to have similar themes on making the decision to add another employee position.
1. The current staff must maintain a full caseload (40-50 visits per week) for approximately eight weeks.
2. The number of days a patient waits to be seen for an evaluation is greater than two to three days.
3. If possible to monitor, estimate how many patients that should be seen three times per week are actually being seen one or two times a week.
Each of those points makes sense to me. Patients who can't get in for an evaluation within a week will go somewhere else to receive their care. Compromising a patient's frequency for therapy will ultimately compromise his outcomes and results as well. I'm sure there are other indicators in addition to these three, but they seem to be the easiest to calculate and monitor.
The process of recruiting staff can take time. Posting a position, scanning over resumes, interviewing candidates, extending a job offer and waiting for the individual to start can take months. That's why it's so important to monitor your clinic's volume for any of the signs that staffing may be needed, because once you need another physical therapist to take on patients, you need that person now.
Are you responsible for monitoring volume and subsequent staffing needs at your clinic? What do you measure to support your decision to hire additional staff?