Hospital Strategies for Utilizing On-Demand Healthcare Workers for Christmas and New Year Shifts

The Christmas and New Year period presents significant operational challenges for hospitals. Many healthcare workers remain on leave, while patient volumes increase due to community mobility and seasonal cases. To maintain service quality, hospitals are increasingly relying on on-demand healthcare workers as a strategic solution.

One key strategy is proactive staffing needs planning. Hospitals typically analyze previous years' data to predict patient volumes, emergency department (ER) intensity, and demand for inpatient services. With this data, management can appropriately allocate additional staff for both day and night shifts. Platforms like HealthPro Indonesia enable hospitals to select competent staff relevant to department needs.

Another strategy is to create a special shift structure. Hospitals can add short shift slots to cover critical hours such as Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. On-demand staff are well-suited to this format because they are accustomed to working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.

Hospitals also utilize on-demand staff to bolster typically overcrowded areas, such as the emergency department, intensive care unit (ICU), neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and rapid observation services. With additional professional staff, the workload of the internal team can be reduced, thus maintaining consistent service quality.

Furthermore, the hospital implemented a centralized communication system to coordinate on-demand staff. Briefings, concise standard operating procedures (SOPs), and quick access to medical records are essential to ensuring the rapid adaptation of additional staff.

A final strategy is the use of home-care staff for patients who can be discharged early. With the support of home-visiting nurses, the hospital can reduce bed congestion while ensuring patients continue to receive safe monitoring from trained medical personnel.

With a systematic approach and the support of on-demand healthcare staff, the hospital can maintain service quality during the Christmas and New Year period without compromising the well-being of internal staff. This model is becoming a new best practice in modern healthcare resource management.