Staff Pooling in Healthcare Systems - Results from a Mixed-Methods Study

Journal article, 2024

This study examines how staff pooling—a theoretical strategy for capacity planning—can be used to create a higher service level at a predetermined total capacity in the healthcare sector. We develop new empirical knowledge through a systematic empirical study, using a mixed-methods approach, with a preliminary interview study followed by a principal quantitative survey study, with data from a multihospital healthcare system. This study’s purpose was to explore the perceived practical barriers for a staff pooling strategy in healthcare systems. A principal component analysis identified three primary barriers, namely recruitment difficulties, community view, and specialisation. Notably, significant differences in perceived height among these barriers were also found, and the barrier that was found to be more important was recruitment difficulties. In addition, department managers perceive the barriers as significantly lower than lower-level managers do. The results from this study have important managerial implications for healthcare systems when implementing a staff pooling approach. This study also contributes to the existing literature since, to the best of our knowledge, no previous research has been done where barriers to staff pools are systematically identified and analysed in healthcare settings using a holistic approach that includes all healthcare professions in a multihospital healthcare system.