Dive Brief:
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Leaders for Today released a new report Wednesday that found “unprecedented turnover and attrition” all the way up to the C-Suite, and that hospitals are on a pace of needing to “replace virtually half of their staff every five years.”
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The survey of 852 healthcare job candidates found that hospitals have slow hiring processes, which is causing them to lose candidates who find other job opportunities more quickly.
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Retirement is also part of the staffing problem, with nearly half of respondents reporting they plan to stop working within the next 10 years and 22% expecting to retire within five years.
Dive Insight:
Even though there are some who argue that the nation's clinician shortage isn't real, there are many hospitals in certain areas across the U.S. that are undoubtedly struggling to meet the demand for care services. The country's aging population is expected to increase that demand but more physicians are planning on retiring early.
Early retirement will be the main contributor to a projected shortage ranging between 34,600 and 88,000 physicians by 2025, according to new estimates from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Hospitals are “losing critical employees faster than they can replace them” and that the “average hospital has hundreds of open positions at any one time,” Bill Haylon, CEO of Leaders for Today, said in a statement.
A big issue that many clinicians are dealing with on a daily basis is the large number of administrative tasks they are required to do, which has in turn caused more job burnout over the past few years.
There have also been a lot of layoffs at hospitals lately. More and more care delivery systems have been reporting substantial financial losses as it has been challenging to keep up with the fast-changing industry, partly due to major healthcare policy changes. Some have been laying off staff members and restructuring their workforce in attempts to improve quality during the industry's move toward value-based care. Turnover has been such a big issue at hospitals that nearly 43% of respondents said they have been at their current hospital for fewer than two years and 37% plan to leave their hospital within the next two years, the report states.
Some states are tackling shortages by lifting restrictions on nurses. Telemedicine is also being used to increase access to care. A new survey found telemedicine is becoming mainstream at many hospitals.
David Wilkins, chief marketing officer of talent at learning management software solutions firm HealthcareSource, recently offered three strategies for attracting, nurturing and retaining talent in healthcare.