The healthcare staffing industry continues to be one of the fastest growing industries. According to the iCIMS Insights February 2025 Workforce Report, the application volume for healthcare roles increased by 24% month over month in January and is 9% higher than in January 2024. Healthcare job openings rose by 25% from last month and inched up 5% higher than January 2024. 

The iCIMS report also showed that 2024 saw the lowest average time to fill in the last 5 years with healthcare jobs taking 37 days to fill. While this is a record, often in healthcare staffing, especially per diem, you need to fill high volume open shifts fast and much sooner than 37 days. 

What’s great is that healthcare staffing agencies now have access to tools to help automate the process of filling open shifts quickly and efficiently. Staffing Industry Analysts recently published an article about the AI-driven revolution in healthcare staffing and the importance of the self-service experience with minimal human mediation.  It even talked about how AI can be used for prediction, such as predicting candidate no-show risk and forecasting potential shift demand. 

Overall, the healthcare industry will continue to grow and with today’s technology we have the tools at our fingertips to automate traditional recruiting tasks and even predict future demand. In this article though, we are going to focus on the top 3 healthcare staffing software tools for staffing high volume open shifts, including AI and self-service driven tools.  

AI-Powered Shift Invitations

One of today’s top tools is the ability for candidates to “self-assign” themselves to shifts. Imagine a world where you set certain criteria for a shift and automatic invites go out to healthcare professionals to accept the shift on the spot. This technology is now available to help automate the filling of high volume open shifts. So, how does it work?

Recruiters can set up criteria in their ATS for candidates to receive automatic shift invitations. For example, they can set criteria for candidates based on their status, skills, positions, and more. You will also set up certain job criteria so when a shift in your ATS meets the criteria, the shift information will be sent out to candidates to accept. Most likely you can also set up specific days  and times you want the invitation to go out, so the invitation isn’t going out at bad times, such as in the middle of the night! 

Once the invitation is sent to the candidate, the candidate can accept it either in a mobile app or they may receive the invitation within a text, which would allow them to click a link to accept. Both the shift status and the candidate status should both update in the ATS as well, offering the ultimate workflow powered by automation.  

The mechanics of how AI-Powered Shift Invitations work depends on how the healthcare staffing software has it setup. This technology is truly a game-changer in healthcare staffing as it eliminates manual recruiting tasks and the time it takes to fill high volume open shifts, especially when you need to fill shifts in a moment’s notice.   

Self-Service Tools for Scheduling Shifts

The second top healthcare staffing software tool for high volume shifts are self-service candidate and client portals. Self-service tools are critical in healthcare staffing, especially when needing to fill high volume shifts quickly. Candidates and hospitals/clinics can have the power of completing tasks on their own by accessing staffing tools at their fingertips. 

CANDIDATE AVAILABILITY 

From the candidate perspective, giving candidates access to a web portal or mobile app to enter availability will make it easy for recruiters when filling shifts. Whether recruiters are setting up an automatic job invitation or are searching for candidates on the spot, keeping candidate availability up to date will ensure only the candidates available to work will show up in the search. 

Self-service tools can also help improve the candidate experience by giving candidates the flexibility to update their availability at any time without needing to reach out to their staffing agency. Their experience will also be improved by only receiving invitations for shifts they are available for. 

CLIENT SHIFT SUBMITTALS AND APPROVING CANDIDATES

Hospitals and clinics can also benefit from having access to a web portal when requesting candidates for shifts and approving them. From a portal, hospitals and clinics can submit open shifts to their staffing agency. Additionally, recruiters can submit candidates for review and approval in the portal. Hospitals/clinics may even be able to rank the candidates from the portal. 

Giving hospitals and clinics access to self-service tools eliminates back and forth communication with the staffing agency. Shift submittals and candidate approvals can be done through minimal  human mediation. Hospitals and clinics work in a fast-paced environment, so the more convenient tools we can equip them with to find staff quickly, the better. 

A convenient staffing process equipped with self-service tools can also help retain healthcare staffing clients. If the staffing process is easy, why work with anyone else?

Emailing Shift Schedules 

The third top healthcare staffing software tool for staffing high volume shifts is the ability to email out shift schedules to both candidates and hospitals/clinics. When you are working in a fast-paced high volume shift environment, having a summary of upcoming shift schedules accessible at your fingertips is important. This helps everyone stay on top of upcoming shift schedules. It can also help decrease no show rates by reminding candidates of their upcoming shifts. 

From your healthcare staffing software, see if you can email out daily, weekly, and/or monthly schedules.  This provides facilities an overview of who is scheduled to work and provides candidates with a summary of their upcoming shifts.

The emailing of shift schedules is the cherry on top of successfully staffing high volume shifts. Keep everyone in the loop of upcoming schedules to avoid confusion and missed shifts. A quick email summary of shift schedules will ensure everyone is on the same page. 

High Volume Shift Scheduling Like Never Before

The healthcare staffing industry continues to grow and evolve. With today’s technology, healthcare staffing agencies can transform traditional hiring practices into a new, technologically efficient system. The power of AI shift invitations helps staffing companies find candidates for shifts quicker than ever before. This coupled with self service tools for candidates and facilities, gives them autonomy in the process that improves their overall staffing experience and eliminates those unnecessary bottlenecks in the process.  Lastly, emailing the shift schedules from your staffing software will always keep facilities and candidates on top of their schedules, ensuring shifts are staffed and completed smoothly. Change in processes can be scary, but by embracing technology and AI it can provide a huge enhancement to your healthcare staffing business. 

Questions about the Healthcare Staffing Software Features discussed in this article? Contact Us to learn more or schedule a demo of Ultra-Staff EDGE Healthcare Staffing Software to see a live demonstration of these tools! 

Read more from Jennifer Roeslmeier Mikels