Tag: Staffing

  • One Company’s Quest to Simplify Healthcare Staffing

    One Company’s Quest to Simplify Healthcare Staffing

    Hiring and job searching are difficult in many industries, but among the most challenging is healthcare.

    Healthcare jobs are specialized, and they generally tend to be highly competitive to get. Plus, salaries aren’t always listed, and some jobs posted may be fake. What’s more, most healthcare professionals are already working demanding roles so their time to search for a new job is limited.

    Sheldon Arora saw a need — and the potential — for a better way to connect healthcare job seekers with employers.

    That’s why Arora designed StaffDNAⓇ, a mobile app that helps facilitate filling healthcare roles, benefitting employers and job seekers alike. 

    StaffDNA is available to download for free on the Apple Store and Google Play.

    Meeting a need

    Sheldon Arora

    Founder and CEO, StaffDNA

    Arora, the CEO of StaffDNA, realized early in his career that hiring was an inefficient process. As a tech entrepreneur, he started companies that helped solve the most challenging aspects of matching employees with the right role at the right time. The industry he noticed had the most inefficient hiring process and could benefit the most from the right technology was healthcare.

    “We were looking for ways to make the hiring process in healthcare more efficient for a long time,” Arora said. “We saw that facilities needed on-demand access to healthcare professionals, and healthcare professionals needed more options and transparency in their job searches.”

    The resource combines a self-service app with a search platform for various needs for healthcare in all professions, specialties, job types, and settings.

    “We built a platform where job seekers and facility hiring managers could connect in real time, and we removed many layers and obstacles that stood in the way of connecting people looking to find the jobs they loved. We knew we wanted to improve the entire process, so we did just that,” said Arora, who launched the app about one month before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when healthcare jobs were needed most. Downloads skyrocketed.

    How it works

    “The StaffDNA marketplace is the only platform where all stakeholders in the hiring process, including hospitals, vendors, suppliers, and job seekers, can come together to address the healthcare staffing issue once and for all,” said Arora, adding that candidates can search, apply, and get hired all within the StaffDNA app. “We’re tying together all the participants in healthcare hiring and giving them the platform they need to efficiently get people hired in the right roles.”

    In the StaffDNA app, all jobs, specialties, and locations, as well as job descriptions and compensation, are shown up front. “Everything they need can be found directly in the app, from employment in their area to facility details, and even the color of scrubs they’ll need to wear,” Arora noted. “We also give candidates the ability to customize pay packages based on housing and benefit needs so they can have a better idea of what their take-home pay will be.”

    Helpful features

    Two new features of the StaffDNA app — DNAVault™ and DNAInsights™ — make the app even more beneficial for job seekers and hiring professionals.

    DNAVault allows anyone — job seekers, students, or professionals in any industry — to securely store sensitive documents, including licenses and credentials. The app makes it easy and convenient to keep these materials safely in one place, and applicants can send these items directly to their employer, school, or anyone through DNAVault’s secure online storage. DNAVault will also notify users when their documents are about to expire so they know when to renew them.

    “The inspiration for DNAVault came from my daughter, Madison, who is in medical school,” Arora said. “She was explaining how many documents and certifications she needed to keep track of and how they were required to access them from anywhere.”

    DNAInsights was created for healthcare facilities. It offers data on the number of job openings  within a given radius, along with competitive pay rates, which are critical resources for hospital hiring managers. StaffDNA is  the first company to provide healthcare facilities with real-time job data for all per-diem, travel, local, and staff positions  — for free.  “Until now, hiring managers in healthcare have had no tools to gauge pay rates in their markets,” Arora said. “So, we built the technology to support how hospitals and facilities determine pay rates when hiring.”

    Making a difference

    StaffDNA has been downloaded 2 million times and counting, and Arora has heard from users about its real-life impacts, including candidates taking dream vacations due to high-paying assignments or exploring the country through travel assignments they’ve picked up through the app.

    Arora shared that he was attending a healthcare industry conference in Las Vegas when a nurse told him she got a pay raise thanks to StaffDNA. “She said she was working at a hospital and saw a job opening in her profession, which paid more than what she was currently earning,” he said. “She used the data to request an hourly pay raise, and she got it. She thanked me for helping her earn a better income. It was exciting to hear her story.”

    Arora is hopeful the app has a broader impact, too — that is, not only on the people using the app but public health as a whole.

    “Through StaffDNA, healthcare professionals are empowered to find jobs they love, and hiring facilities can hire the right people for the right roles,” Arora said. “When these two things come together, we know ultimately patient care is improved and communities thrive.”

    Click here to download the StaffDNA app

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  • College campus counseling center usage and staffing

    College campus counseling center usage and staffing

    Counseling services are a key element of student retention in higher education due to elevated numbers of students reporting mental health conditions, but creating a sustainable practice that addresses students and staff needs remains a challenge, according to survey data from the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD).

    The association’s annual report, published Feb. 25, highlights a tapering off of the increased demand for mental health services from students, but continued pressure to support clinician and nonclinical staff members through challenging work conditions.

    Methodology

    The survey includes responses from 367 counseling center directors from the U.S. and its territories and 14 from other countries. The majority of respondents work at four-year institutions and urban campuses. The reporting period ranges from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

    Student engagement: While students continue to report high levels of mental health concerns, some counseling centers are seeing a decline in student demand.

    The majority of respondents at four-year institutions reported a decline or no change in the number of unique clients seen (68 percent) and the number of appointments provided (58 percent). Among two-year colleges, 33 percent reported a decrease in the number of unique clients seen and 43 percent reported a decrease in overall appointments provided.

    One in four counseling center directors (24 percent) indicated their centers did not have trouble meeting demand for services.

    Around 11 percent of students at four-year institutions accessed counseling services, and just under 5 percent of students at community colleges received counseling center support. “Centers at smaller schools served, on average, much larger proportions (8 to 19 percent) of their enrolled populations than centers at larger schools (7 to 8 percent),” according to the report.

    Student data indicated a correlation between student success and counseling center usage: 73 percent of clients reported that counseling services positively impacted their academic performance, and 71 percent said it helped them stay in school.

    Staffing: The four-year college had 9.2 full-time-equivalent clinical employees, while the average for community colleges was 4.5 employees. Around 2 percent of centers were staffed by only one person, but this was a decline compared to the year prior, when 3.5 percent of directors indicated they were a one-person center.

    Diversity of directors who completed the survey continues to rise, with 30 percent of respondents identifying as a person of color, up from 16 percent in the 2012–13 survey.

    Staff turnover remains a concern for college counseling centers, with 12 percent of all nontrainee clinical positions and 10 percent of all nontrainee positions turning over in the past fiscal year. The top reasons staff left their roles were low salary (48 percent) and work conditions (32 percent), though fewer staff cited leaving the field as a reason for departure this year, compared to prior surveys.

    Embedded counseling services remain limited, with around 30 percent of institutions utilizing counselors assigned to work within other departments. Athletics was the most frequently reported area where embedded clinicians work, followed by a specific school, student affairs office and residence life.

    Services: Most clinical sessions were delivered in person (81 percent), followed by video (15 percent) and phone (3 percent). This mirrors the Center for Collegiate Mental Health’s data, published earlier this year, which found 64 percent of clients received exclusively in-person counseling and 13 percent received video-only care.

    While a slight majority of centers do not have formal session limits (55 percent), 43 percent of institutions limit the number sessions a student can access by year, with some flexibility in the model. Only 0.6 percent of respondents indicated their campus has a hard session limit with no exceptions.

    Teletherapy continues to be a popular offering among institutions, with 53 percent of four-year institutions and 35 percent of community colleges employing a third-party vendor to provide services. Use by students varies widely, even among similarly sized institutions, but the average number of participating students was 453.

    “Overall, regardless of the type of service provided by a third-party vendor, the majority of directors reported utilization was less than hoped for or met their expectations,” according to the report.

    The number of unique students who attended a crisis appointment averaged across centers was 125, and the average number of crisis appointments was 166. A majority (65 percent) offered psychiatric services within the counseling center, elsewhere on campus or in both locations.

    In addition, a majority of respondents indicated their center provides formal or informal consultation services to the community.

    Looking ahead: While the report focuses on the previous fiscal year, there remains a need to continue to provide accessible and high-quality counseling services, says Cindy M. Bruns, survey coordinator for AUCCCD. “By fostering a supportive campus culture and ensuring that mental health resources are available, colleges can help students navigate political and social environments while promoting resilience and well-being.”

    Some counseling directors have noticed students are experiencing “elevated levels of anxiety, uncertainty, threats to their sense of safety and belonging on campus” due to federal action under the second Trump administration, Bruns says, which could prompt an increase in the number of students seeking services.

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  • Innovative K-12 staffing strategies are feeling the brunt of federal funding cuts

    Innovative K-12 staffing strategies are feeling the brunt of federal funding cuts

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    Many schools and higher education partnerships that support the teacher pipeline are starting to feel the brunt of a $600 million cut in “divisive” teacher training grants announced Feb. 17 by the U.S. Department of Education.

    The cost-cutting measures by the Education Department are part of a broader effort throughout the federal government initiated by the Trump administration. The initiative led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, reported this week that the Education Department is leading among other federal agencies for the most savings in total funding cuts. 

    Two of the most common federal grant programs impacted so far are the Teacher Quality Partnership Program and the Supporting Effective Educator Development Grant, said Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. AACTE has been surveying its members to gauge the grant slashing effort’s reach.

    Though the Education Department did not specify which teacher training grants programs were being cut, the agency said in its announcement that the reductions are targeting funds to institutions and nonprofits that were using training materials on topics such as critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion. The department added that “many of these grants included teacher and staff recruiting strategies implicitly and explicitly based on race.”

    At American University in Washington, D.C., for instance, a Teacher Quality Partnership Program grant allowed the university to help paraprofessionals at Friendship Charter Public Schools earn a master’s degree in early childhood or special education, “which there is a real need for,” said Holcomb-McCoy, who previously served as dean of American University’s School of Education. 

    The multiyear federal grant — which covered the private university’s tuition for about 15 teacher candidates to get credentialed, Holcomb-McCoy said — was written to benefit Friendship Charter Public Schools, as well as to address special educator shortages throughout the city.. That funding was “essentially cut.” 

    “We talk about teacher shortages of special education, teacher shortages in subjects such as science and math and technology,” Holcomb-McCoy said. “Cutting these grants essentially is cutting off the pipeline for many aspiring educators to get into the profession, and it’s not helping us. It’s hurting K-12 districts in many ways.”

    The grant also noted that it’s important to have a diverse representation of special education teachers trained in inclusive practices in Washington, D.C., schools, Holcomb-McCoy said. “The impact that that has on students with special needs is huge, and to stop that pipeline of people who aspire to work in that space is devastating to school districts and to communities and families.”

    AACTE estimates that about 31 Supporting Effective Educator Development grants and as many as 75 Teacher Quality Partnership Program grants were recently canceled nationwide. The association is providing support to its members and plans to help them first appeal their cases to the Education Department. 

    AACTE is also exploring potential litigation options, Holcomb-McCoy said.

    A hit to diversifying the teacher workforce

    Many of the applications for federal grants that were cut were written to align with priorities related to diversity set by former presidential administrations. As a result, Holcomb-McCoy said, a lot of those grant programs intentionally sought to address issues over diversity, equity and inclusion.

    Still, diversity in the teacher workforce has been a longstanding issue, she said. As the student population becomes more diverse, the hope has been to hire and keep teachers who are representative of their students. 

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  • Top 10 Challenges Faced by Principals: Staffing & Engagement

    Top 10 Challenges Faced by Principals: Staffing & Engagement

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    Principals are facing challenges each day toward improving student achievement on campus. Every principal face some of the biggest frustrations to control student behavior, recruiting teachers and staff, promoting personalized learning, improving teaching effectiveness, student retention, parent support, and more. 

     

    Technology integration translates into enhanced student achievement

    21st-century classrooms strengthen tech-savvy teachers with the most advanced cloud, mobile, and digital technologies to teach and interact with students using videos, chat, notifications, social media, and email messaging. Creating future-ready classrooms and higher education institutions with the use of cutting-edge augmented reality systems in the classroom can enrich the learning process and improve student achievement.

    Principals are faced with complex and difficult challenges to turn around the campus with academic underperformance. Here is a list of the top 10 challenges and successful strategies to promote student growth and success.   

     

    1.  Paperwork

    Paperwork and forms are one of the biggest frustrations of principals. Eliminate paperwork and automate data collection processes through online forms and applications for admission, course evaluations, and more to reach out to more students in a positive manner.

     

    2.  Decision-making

    Principals’ decisions and strategies are critically important to institutional performance. They are accountable for high levels of student achievement. In order to accomplish the high expectations, administrators have to analyze data through dashboards and reports to identify factors related to student enrollment, retention, and success. There is clear evidence through insightful reports that the attributes of the institution such as admission, enrollment, attendance, discipline, grades, fee collections, etc. determined those outcomes.     

     

    3.  Scheduling 

    Classroom teachers, staff, and students report scheduling problems with principals. Cognitive reframing of scheduling with an automated timetable system enables instructors to manage class schedules across multiple courses, faculty and rooms for different time periods. Innovative scheduling can help alleviate conflicts in manual scheduling and place substitutes for teachers in order to maintain continuity of instruction. 

     

    4.  Recruitment

    Recruiting competent teachers who are capable of teaching all student populations is at the core of the problem. In successful institutions creating an advanced student admission system with real-time application tracking, online assessments, and an automated ranking system always identified the talented and sensitive teachers who demonstrated competency, will, and commitment to implement innovative and high-quality education programs and deliver excellence for all learners.  

     

    5.  Faculty Evaluation

    Teachers are vulnerable individuals who are struggling to align instruction and assessments to the learning context of a diverse student population. Creating instructions in innovative ways and building flexibility in the curriculum will be easier for students to rest with the teacher. Using a faculty evaluation system, creating faculty peer evaluation reviews through online surveys will benchmark teaching effectiveness. Based on the evaluation feedback score, training and improvement action plan for the benefit of faculty can be chalked out to improve teaching performance and cohesiveness. 

     

    6.  Attendance & Discipline 

    Principals perceive student absenteeism and misconduct are a major concern. Educational institutions can improve class attendance and improve students’ poor academic records using RFID and Biometric based attendance tracking systems to monitor student movements in real-time. Maintaining order and discipline and controlling violence, vandalism, bullying, racism, etc. in the campus using sophisticated discipline trackers that will capture incidents from mobile devices and notify authorities in real-time and ensure student safety.     

     

    7.  Curriculum Design 

    Principals are faced with the critical task of teaching a curriculum that is comprehensive and more encompassing. Curriculum mapping software provides the technology tools for executing changes in the curriculum design and syllabus. Principals and teachers can create customized outcome-based education that will map competencies, graduate attributes, and standards to improve learning outcomes. Students can develop skills and competencies that is aligned with course outcomes. 

     

    8.  Student outcomes

    One of the biggest factors that stood out is related to student achievement. Principals want to promote learning and see better student outcomes. With cutting-edge academic planning tools, administrators can create a personalized learning plan with goals and tasks linked to lessons to meet the precise requirement of students, which can improve learning outcomes and ensure student success. Using online assessments including assignments, tests, quizzes, and surveys will be of great help to students and teachers alike. Using online and mobile devices, teachers can measure students’ progress in real-time and share the results with parents through instant notifications via email and SMS alerts.  

     

    9.  Parental Involvement

    One of the biggest frustration faced by principals is that parental involvement is lacking to support the institution’s effort toward improving student achievement. Parents also have to take joint responsibility for the poor grade of their children. Using real-time status notifications for events, meetings, grades, fee collection, attendance, and discipline via web and mobile devices can improve interactions between teachers and parents and close the achievement gap.

     

    10.  Communication & Collaboration

    Principals and staff spend so much energy on building relationships with students, teachers, and staff. Powerful communication tools like discussion forums, chat, messaging and social media will have a positive impact on the institute community and promote collaborative learning.

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