Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic irrevocably shaped the healthcare industry as we know it. As a result, healthcare providers face many challenges as society returns to a semblance of normalcy, especially when it comes to the workforce.

Here are the top three workforce challenges healthcare providers must address in our new normal:

This week is National Nurses Week, an annual event held May 6-12. In 1954, the first National Nurses Week was celebrated to mark the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s time in Crimea. Nightingale is widely recognized as the founder of modern nursing, after managing and training nurses during the Crimean War,

The pandemic may be slackening, but it’s having a long-lasting effect on the healthcare workforce. A little more than half (52%) of healthcare workers report feeling burnt out, according to a recent USA Today-Ipsos survey.

Organizations across industries are dealing with change and disruption, but the stressors in healthcare are at another level. Healthcare needs never stop—the work is ongoing and requires a high level of personal investment from the workforce. That creates additional strain on an already burnt-out population.

After more than two years spent in a global pandemic, healthcare employers have had to adapt how they attract, hire, screen, and onboard new talent.

Cisive, PreCheck’s parent company, conducted an industry benchmark study that asked human resources, talent acquisition, compliance, recruitment, and operations professionals in the healthcare industry how their policies and procedures changed as a result.

Human resource leaders in healthcare have already faced countless challenges over the past two years. But many of these challenges remain unsolved and will follow us throughout 2022.

Since the pandemic began, roles have been moved around within healthcare systems to fill urgent needs. Clinicians have been overworked and fatigued, and all of this disruption has affected patient safety outcomes. Preventable central-line associated bloodstream infections, for example, have risen 51% compared to pre-pandemic rates.

An inclusive leader can successfully lead a diverse group of people, while showing respect for each person’s unique perspective and contributions. Today, nowhere is this more important than in healthcare, where patients’ lives are on the line every day.

Inclusive leadership requires a certain combination of traits, including:

Dr. Christopher Duntsch, colloquially known as “Dr. Death,” botched operations on nearly three dozen people. These adverse events resulted in the deaths of two patients before criminal proceedings finally put an end to his power. With such poor outcomes, why was Duntsch allowed to operate on so many patients before intervention came?

Many health systems have improved their performance by focusing on what is called the “Triple Aim.” These include three dimensions: