The 2020 pandemic wreaked havoc on the health care industry. The effects of volume fluctuations, cancellation of revenue generating elective surgeries and supply chain challenges are still being felt years after the peak of the pandemic ended. These and many other factors have affected the healthcare workforce, specifically staffing. Although hospitals stayed open to their communities, many organizations hemorrhaged millions of dollars in lost revenue and operating costs.
During the pandemic, we as healthcare professionals saw death as a daily companion, our morgues were full, there appeared to be no end in sight and exhaustion set in. Many nurses stated that this was not what they signed up to do. Many were burned out due to the high workload and nurse-to-patient ratios. Others had family obligations that forced them to re-evaluate their work life balance decisions. After the pandemic, our aging nurses opted to take early retirement and left the profession all together, creating an experience gap.
The patient population that we care for has become more complex. Patients are living longer and with chronic diseases. The loss of experienced nurses and the complexity required to deliver care has created an experience-complexity gap. Nursing schools across the nation are experiencing significant faculty shortages, which adds to the burden of not having a sufficient pipeline of new nurses to fill in the gaps. Some hospital-based educators also left the profession because of a lack of incentives, and/ or feeling appreciated for the job they do to support nurses as they transition to a new role. This shortage of experienced nurses, not enough educators, and increased cost of living is not going to be resolved in a year or two, but in the interim, we have to consider various options to rectify the staffing gap that is affecting patient outcomes and staff satisfaction. There is a lot of work ahead, but with a collaborative approach between hospital organizations, local and national government agencies, improvements can be made.
How do we solve some of these issues? What do we need? For starters, hospitals need to work with local schools and colleges to implement programs that supports a robust workforce. we need to support the new graduates coming out of nursing school and get them the help they need to provide safe care. Hospitals must commit to a long-term strategy of recruiting the nursing staff, investing in recruitment, retention, education, and training of their workforce. Support employee mental health and wellbeing, so they feel secure. Provide ongoing mentorship including support from nurse educators or a formalized mentorship program for new and experienced nurses. Evaluating wage disparities that might exist, especially with competing health systems in your geographic region, to ensure equitable compensation. This might help to minimize nursing staff leaving for other hospitals or travel assignments. Prioritizing and standardizing the pay for specialty nurses should also be considered.
Finally, one legislative opportunity for hospitals to consider is the Future Advancement of Academic Nursing (FAAN) Act. The FAAN Act, supported by the AHA would provide resources to boost student and faculty populations, support educational programming and partnerships with nursing schools. Like change, staffing challenges are inevitable, but if organizations are intentional in taking a multifaceted approach to listen to the needs of the workforce, adapt to those needs within reason and keep solvency, there is hope that the extent to which we are currently impacted, will be minimized.
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