Why Is There A Staffing Shortage In Healthcare?
The labor shortage that has plagued so many industrie has also taken its toll on the healthcare industry as well. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are faced with short-staffed shifts and unfortunately, experts predict there is no relief in sight. The shortage of healthcare professionals is fueled by several trends, such as:
- The healthcare workforce is aging. Over one third of our nurses could be at retirement age in the next 10-15 years.
- The population is aging, including a sharp increase of Americans over the age of 65. The need for health services for seniors places more demand on an already strained healthcare system.
- Nurse burnout and turnover are extremely high.
- Work-life balance, including conflicts between family and career.
Healthcare staffing shortages are the largest obstacle facing the industry, forcing employers to adjust by deploying a number of strategies to continue to provide adequate patient care.
What Are The Most Understaffed Medical Jobs?
Nurses and physicians are facing the greatest shortages. Due in part to the stringent qualifications required for those who practice medicine coupled with the plethora of specialized fields that physicians may enter, general internal medicine and primary care doctors are in the highest demand. Primary care physicians are the type of doctor with the largest patient loads.
Nurses are also in a similar scenario as physicians. The demand for nurses, especially those with advanced credentials, like those who hold a bachelor’s of science in nursing is expected to increase in the years to come. Nursing specialties, such as midwives, are also being greatly affected by the lack of qualified individuals. While the nation as a whole is experiencing a shortage of nurses, applications to nursing education programs are increasing, however, not in numbers high enough to keep up with the growing demand.
A significant factor in the growing healthcare staffing shortage is the lack of nursing faculty members at post-secondary educational institutions. Nursing educators are in the same critical demand as nurses themselves. Regardless of the program, whether at the associates, bachelors, or masters level, colleges and universities across the country are limiting the number of students in their healthcare programs due to the limited amount of the faculty available.
How Does Short Staffing Affect Healthcare?
Healthcare staffing shortages have created a significant crisis in the healthcare system. The stress of an already over-stretched healthcare staff has given rise to an alarming number of adverse events in the industry. Increased workloads and stress have made high standards of care and safety in healthcare facilities increasingly difficult to maintain. The quality of our healthcare system is under siege by prolonged delays and medical errors from such staffing shortages. From an increase in patient falls, medication errors, to patient dissatisfaction can all be attributed to short staffing.
How Can We Solve The Staffing Crisis In Healthcare?
As we are faced with healthcare staff shortages, there are a variety of strategies that we can deploy to help alleviate the pressures from our providers. First and foremost is taking a proactive approach to public health and providing resources for the public to improve their health and lessen the demand for health services. Also promoting and reinventing the industry itself is essential to help resolve the crisis. Several strategies retain and attract healthcare workers could include the following:
- Develop effective recruiting programs and incentives for the industry.
- Provide more flexibility healthcare educational opportunities such as a greater presence of online programs and on-the-job training.
- Streamline and create more efficiency in data entry and medical record keeping.
- Increase salaries and employee benefit packages.
- Provide greater flexibility in scheduling.
- Provide in-house childcare.
- Improve healthcare provider support.
A critical support system that can assist in eliminating some of the pressure on medical providers is an effective healthcare answering service.
What Can Anserve’s Healthcare Answering Services Do To Ease The Burden Of Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Anserve’s healthcare answering services can provide a critical benefit to the industry and help minimize the burden of healthcare staffing shortages. Anserve can provide effective patient communication by managing call volume to healthcare providers to eliminate some of the stresses on a short staffed office and also improves the patient’s experience and satisfaction. Healthcare answering services can handle overflow call volume, enable faster responses, and manage after-hour inquiries. In some cases, nurses are being asked to be available to triage after hours calls. Because nurses and medical employees are in such short supply, Anserve; healthcare answering services are especially critical, providing relief for overworked healthcare workers during office hours and overnight. Anserve’s answering services create efficiency, while delivering the personalized attention that is essential to exceptional healthcare facilities.
Anserve Provides HIPAA Compliant Healthcare Answering Services For All Kinds Of Medical Facilities
Answer’s healthcare answering services, with over 54 years of experience, is a key asset to maintaining first-rate patient care. Anserve’s healthcare answering services protect your patients’ confidentiality and are trained and exercise critical HIPAA compliance. Anserve maintains a cyber-breach insurance policy to further protect our clients. Anserve’s live agents are industry leaders and will represent your enterprise with the utmost professionalism 24 hours a day. Contact us and learn how Anserve’s healthcare answering service can provide your patients the attention they deserve, and ease the burden on overworked healthcare workers. .
