Summer's here, which means more time-off requests from staff. Fortunately, these requests tend to be more staggered than those around Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's. Here are four ways to make sure summer vacations don't leave you short-staffed.

1. Schedule yourself for a patient-care role
Be it the OR or the front desk, there are benefits to the manager's filling in. It offers flexibility for the center to meet core-staffing requirements. You can schedule yourself for short shifts during peak times, then drop out of the rotation to assume regular managerial chores. If you need to fill a coding and billing slot, you can cover the front desk, letting a cross-trained receptionist or scheduler help the business office.

You also boost employee morale by showing staff the manager is willing to go the extra mile to honor time-off requests (time off is more important to some staff than salary). You set an example of teamwork for everyone, and filling in for a vacationing em-ployee is a tangible way to show management is listening to workers.

In addition, taking a shift in a patient-care role helps you interact differently than usual with your employees. View it as a challenge that helps you brush up on your own patient-care skills and keeps you "tuned in" to what goes on at the facility in a way walking the floors cannot.

2. Cross-train your employees
A cross-trained staff can provide seamless coverage when one area of the facility is caught short due to vacations. If you've properly cross-trained your employees, you haven't waited until a dire need presses their skills into action; they already rotate regularly into two areas of the practice and are assigned to a third regularly to maintain competency.

Cross-trained staffers are comfortable with rotating into other areas at busy times to keep the workload manageable. No one is on totally unfamiliar turf. They know that you don't expect expertise, but you do rely on their professional competence. Just as importantly, cross-trained employees will already know the skills of their coworkers, who will be expected to pick up a little extra slack, too.

3. Create and use a PRN pool
Even if you can cover vacations internally, it is still a good idea to develop a pool of per diem nurses for most of the clinical areas. Hire only PRNs who agree to work during peak time off. PRNs should also be willing to work shortened shifts, on short notice and on any shift. The ideal PRN doesn't have to work but wants to maintain skills and help the community. Such candidates are out there if you search.

Of course, you also have to give good PRNs a reason to come to your facility. Some centers pay their PRNs more per hour than regular staff to compensate for the inconvenience and lack of benefits. Others allow accrual of paid time off based on hours worked.

You can also shift part-timers to cover vacations. For example, ask an RN who works three days a week to work five during a week with lots of time-off requests. If you can slot in another part-timer or two to take on an extra day or two, you shouldn't have a problem. And let your part-timers know the time swaps will be used to cover time off they would like.

4. Plan ahead for physician time off
Consider your physicians' vacation schedules as early as possible. Christmas or Indepen-dence Day weekend may be peak requests time for employees, but how many of your physicians will be off at that time? For example, if no MDs are working the day after Thanksgiving, you may just want to close the facility for the day to reduce overhead.

Also ask if you can arrange the surgical schedule to consolidate work. Schedule surgeons' cases vertically, filling days to allow for long weekends the staff would like to have off. Before or after prime vacation weeks, fill up block times or let them work beyond their blocks. During the peak week, you can then free up their block and reduce staffing needs.

Most physicians are willing to consider this once in a while, especially if they have a good rapport with management and the staff. Remember, you never know until you ask.