Fifty percent of executives say staff shortages have moderately or significantly reduced capacity to serve patients, a Covista report found.
The healthcare infrastructure company polled 167 healthcare executives and 1,347 healthcare clinicians across disciplines and geographies between Nov. 4 and Nov. 21. Questions focused on the state of staff shortages and staffing issues across healthcare. All respondents at the time were working in a healthcare organization that provides patient care. Clinicians were included in the study sample only if they reported spending 50% or more of their time each week on direct patient care.
Here is the current state of staff shortages:
1. There are 8.4 million healthcare job postings each year. More than 702,000 healthcare job vacancies are posted per month, but only 306,000 unemployed workers exist nationwide to fill them.
2. Nearly twice as many rural and less urban hospital executives say they cannot find local talent compared to those in metropolitan areas with more than 1 million people.
3. Clinical staff report high employer satisfaction — ranging from 72% of primary care physicians to 89% of allied health providers who are extremely or somewhat satisfied.
4. Yet, a large portion of clinicians are at least somewhat likely to leave their role in the next 12 months. The highest flight risks are among primary care physicians at 17%, physician specialists at 15%, and registered nurses at 13%.
5. The top priorities clinicians say they want employers to address are adequate staffing (74%), stress reduction (61%), better scheduling (61%) and increased pay (59%).
6. Executives said the top barrier to finding new hires was competition for compensation at 69%, followed by geographic talent shortages (68%) and an overall shortage of qualified candidates (66%).
7. Executives also said 24% of new clinician graduates are not very prepared or not at all prepared for the care environment, compared to 10% whom they said are very prepared.
8. Nearly 70% of executives said talent partnerships are very or somewhat effective at meeting their workforce needs, but only 22% said their organization is investing in pipeline partnerships with educators.
9. Staff shortages are impacting quality care. About three-fourths of clinicians and executives said staffing gaps negatively impacted their ability to deliver high-quality care.
10. The most challenging roles to fill are physician specialists, primary care physicians and registered nurses.
11. Among allied health roles, the most challenging jobs to fill are radiology/imaging technicians, ultrasound technologists and laboratory technicians.
12. The median annual income for current healthcare workers is $58,000. Job vacancies are advertising a 46% higher median salary of $86,000, yet positions remain unfilled.
13. A majority of executives said they believe artificial intelligence is addressing staff shortage at least somewhat while 28% said they believe AI is completely addressing shortages.
The post The current state of staff shortages, per executives appeared first on Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
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