Let’s be honest:
If you’ve worked in healthcare for more than five minutes, you already know summer can be staffing chaos. Vacations, unexpected sick days, travel nurse competition—throw in a census spike or two and suddenly your charge nurse is pulling double duty, again.
But while summer staffing challenges aren’t new, the way savvy facilities prepare for them is. Spoiler: the best plans don’t start in June.
They start now.
Why April is the New June for Staffing Strategy
We get it—April still feels like spring. There’s Easter candy in the breakroom and PTO calendars seem manageable. But here’s the reality:
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Travel nurses? By May, they’re booked.
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Onboarding? It takes time—background checks, credentialing, orientation… not exactly one-click ordering.
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Vacation approvals? Most clinicians submit summer PTO in March or April. The clock’s ticking.
📉 Wait too long and you’ll be left with fewer options, higher costs, and a frazzled staff wondering why they’re working three weekends in a row.
Common Summer Staffing Mistakes (That You Still Have Time to Avoid)
Let’s play a quick game of “Don’t Be That Facility.”
Here are the top pitfalls we see every year:
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❌ Banking on your core staff to cover everything. Burnout is not a staffing strategy.
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❌ Booking travelers at the last minute. You’ll overpay and under-match.
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❌ Assuming census will behave. (It won’t.)
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❌ Locking into rigid contracts. Flexibility isn’t just for yoga.
✔️ Pro Tip: Just because it worked last year doesn’t mean it will work this summer. Start fresh with a smarter strategy.
What High-Performing Facilities Are Doing Differently
Here’s what the top facilities (aka your future self) are doing right now to prep for summer:
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Holding summer staffing planning sessions in April.
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Layering their staffing models—mixing float pool, PRN, and travel staff to stay nimble.
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Getting contracts in place now while quality candidates are still available.
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Forecasting PTO trends to get ahead of big gaps.
💬 “Facilities that lock in their summer coverage by early May almost never need crisis help later,” says one of our veteran recruiters. “It’s like booking your flight before prices spike.”
Questions to Kick Off Your Summer Staffing Plan
Before June creeps up like your cat during a Zoom call, ask yourself:
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How many PTO days are already approved for summer?
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Do we have visibility on our highest-risk shifts?
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What’s our current time-to-fill for core roles?
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Do we have both local and travel resources lined up?
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What’s our plan B (and C) for back-to-back call-offs?
📝 Bonus: Create a simple staffing scenario map—best case, worst case, and likely case. Build a flexible plan around it.
Bottom Line: Future You Will Thank You
Summer’s coming. And while we can’t control vacation requests or census spikes, we can control how prepared we are for them.
The difference between a stressful summer and a manageable one? Planning.
So take a beat, look at your PTO calendar, chat with your department heads, and start locking in what you can now. Your team (and your blood pressure) will thank you.