SHSMD would like to facilitate conversations, resources and strategies for its members as the field experiences transitions and a need for implementation of workforce solutions. Please visit the AHA workforce homepage for a host of resources that you can use and customize for your community.
New Workforce Resources:
- AHA Action Alert - Urge Congress to Support Hospitals as They Contend with Many Challenges to Ensure Access to Care in Communities
- AHA Resources
- CASE STUDY - Preventing Physician Suicide: Center for WorkLife Wellbeing
- PODCAST - Addressing Workforce Challenges in America's Health Care Systems (featuring Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of clinical affairs and workforce, AHA; Dr. Rebecca Schwartz, associate professor and chief of Social Behavioral Sciences, Northwell Health and Dr. Mayer Bellehsen, director of Behavioral Health, Northwell Health and Unified Behavioral Health Center for Military Veterans)
- PODCAST - The State of the Health Care Workforce. In this podcast, Ron Werft, president and CEO of Cottage Health in Santa Barbara, Cali., and chair of the AHA’s board-appointed workforce task force, speaks with Robyn Begley, the AHA’s chief nursing officer and CEO of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, about what the Task Force is tasked with, and how it’s helping lead the development of resources for the field.
- SHSMD Resources
Below is a roundup of current news stories on the topic of workforce:
1. How to Confront the Hospital Staffing Crisis-3 Insights
Many healthcare facilities are struggling with a shortage of bedside staff, which contributes to burnout, potential missed care, increased length of stay and potential failure to rescue. Insightful, real-time information can help providers better coordinate care across the continuum, which allows bedside staff to focus on care delivery and improving patient outcomes.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN BECKER'S HOSPITAL REVIEW.
2. How Digital Tools Can Help Prevent Health Care-Provider Burnout
Burnout is a syndrome that occurs due to considerable stress in the workplace, often including a shortage of workers leading to increased workload on existing staff. It can be recognized by signs of fatigue, exhaustion, cynical attitude and "a tendency to view people as objects rather than as human beings," according to Dr. Tait Shanafelt of the Mayo Clinic in his landmark 2015 study.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN ENTREPRENEUR.
3. The Great Resignation: 7 Ways Healthcare Organizations Are Working to Improve Provider Retention
Crushing burnout combined with a fiercely competitive labor market has led to a perfect storm for the healthcare industry. Since mid-February 2020, nearly one in five healthcare workers have walked away from their jobs. Meanwhile, Medscape reports that 20% of physicians have thought about leaving medicine to pursue nonclinical careers. According to Medscape, burnout is the top factor leading physicians to consider a career change.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN BECKER'S HOSPITAL REVIEW.
4. How Digitizing HR Operations Alleviates Burnout & Increases Retention in Healthcare
The healthcare sector has been among the hardest-hit industries by the Great Resignation due to the increased pressure and burnout among frontline workers that are facing almost three years of a global pandemic. The situation is even more dire among the post-acute and senior living care industries. According to recent research, the top concerns among leaders within post-acute and long-term senior care were staffing shortage, finding and hiring candidates, and employee turnover. The pressure is felt even more with the Biden Administration’s recent plans for nursing home reform, which may enact fines on organizations that don’t meet minimum staffing requirements.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN HIT CONSULTANT.
5. Is the Nurse Shortage Putting Patients at Risk?
As hospitals and health systems struggle with staffing shortages, industry experts warn that these shortages may be threatening patient safety and care. During the pandemic, many hospitals have also grown increasingly reliant on travel nurses, who often have a steep learning curve when they join new organizations. Because of increased workloads due to COVID-19 surges and delayed treatments, many travel nurses have been thrown immediately into bedside care instead of going through weeks-long training courses first.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN ADVISORY BOARD.
6. Training Future Nurses with Future Doctors Boosts Teamwork and Collaboration
Future nurses work with future doctors in clinical rotations for an entire school year as part of a new collaborative model for nursing education by NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. The program, based at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island, is an example of interprofessional education (IPE), designed to develop effective working relationships between different types of healthcare students and practitioners to support health outcomes.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN HEALTHLEADERS.
Share your stories and communication plans on MySHSMD or email shsmd@aha.org to help other members along this journey.