Overcoming IT Staffing Limitations in Healthcare
Published: December 5, 2022
It’s no secret that IT Staffing is an enduring challenge in healthcare. As the network expands, the need for more resources to manage it increases. This growth often introduces new levels of complexity as new and emerging technology integrates with legacy systems, many of which serve vital roles in patient care. Also, highly experienced technicians are retiring, or in some cases, moving on in their careers outside of healthcare. This growing demand mixed with shrinking supply means more pressure is placed on individuals who are new, lack sufficient training and have limited experience to perform at a high level. You must ask yourself the question, are your staff, and your network, strong enough assets?
Choose Plug-and-Play Technologies
One of the ways organizations are upleveling their greenhorn talent is by investing in technologies that simplify provisioning of software and devices on the network. Often a task that required more experienced engineers to complete, the dearth of resource availability means that staff still attempting to overcome learning curves must be depended on to complete and installation independently and successfully. In a recent webinar, Colin Summers, Director of Network Services, OSF HealthCare talked about their investment in helping less-skilled technicians take on these important roles.
Use the Intelligence in the Network
Moving the installation of software and devices to less experienced resources seems like a no-brainer, but configuration and provisioning is an important step that is usually left for high-skilled engineers. Yet this work often takes this high-value talent away from more important projects for hours or days. Rob Hale, Senior Manager of Technical Engineering, Novant Health explained how they are able to offload configurations to technicians by leveraging the intelligence present in the fabric architecture of their network. Through features like Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), engineers can stay focused on larger projects that have a significant impact on the organization.
Take an Extremely Simple Approach
It’s become harder and harder to find the level of experience necessary to operate and maintain the high availability networks healthcare organizations need to serve their patients and their communities. With cost pressures increasing in healthcare, Extreme understands that the best path forward is to build around simplicity. Doug McDonald, Director of Technology, Office of the CTO at Extreme Networks talks about the guiding principles that enable large healthcare systems to perform at a high level while cultivating a new generation of talent.
Discover More Healthcare IT Perspectives
Learn more about how large healthcare organizations are leveraging the network to improve patient care and employee safety in this webinar replay, “Network Health Check: Diagnosing the Keys to IT Security, Efficiency and Simplicity for Healthcare.” Learn more about Extreme Networks for Healthcare here: Extreme Healthcare
