Where has all the staff gone? Strategies to recruit and retain quality staff.

Recruiting and retaining quality staff is a national issue for all healthcare organizations, and transplant programs are also affected by this crisis. Transplant administrators are faced with increased regulatory burdens, reduced reimbursement, increased competition for uniquely qualified staff, and rising healthcare costs. These factors negatively affect transplant programs that try to ensure the infrastructure exists to provide quality care. Human resources management is a key component to transplant administration. In today's environment, administrators need to adopt long-term strategic practices to recruit and retain quality staff. Maintaining adequate staffing levels means "thinking out of the box" and looking at human resources management at all levels of skill mix including physician extenders that can perform the transplant coordinator role. Investing in the future development of staff can attract quality professionals to the field of transplantation for years to come.