Sheila Thompson, RN, serves as practice administrator at Edina, Minn.-based Twin Cities Pain Clinic and Surgery Center. Ms. Thompson will serve on the panel "The New Work-Life Balance: Best Ideas to Meet Staff and Physician Needs" at Becker's 19th Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference.
As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place in Chicago from June 16-18.
To learn more and register, click here.
Question: What issues are you spending most of your time on today?
Sheila Thomspon: The biggest issue I am spending most of my time on is staffing. We are short RNs and nursing assistants. It is extremely hard to run a busy ASC being short on nurses. Our current team works so hard, but they cannot maintain this pace over the long term.
Q: What are your top challenges and how will they change over the next 12 months?
ST: Again, it is staffing. I hope this improves in the next six to 12 months. We also have an increase of COVID-positive staff with symptoms, which had been better and [I] hope that this too resolves over the next six to 12 months.
Q: How are you thinking about investments and growth in the next two years?
ST: For the first time in two years, we are focusing on growth with the addition of one to two additional physicians to the practice. This will drive increased ASC utilization at our two surgery centers.
Q: What are you most excited about right now?
ST: Definitely growth, as I feel we had been stagnant over the past two years. We used those years to improve processes. We look forward to growth in the pain management specialty as well. This is a very exciting space to be in currently with so many options to help our patients.