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The old adage that’s often trotted out when someone quits their job, “No one is irreplaceable,” simply means that there’s always another to fill the vacated position. However, this thinking is not at all realistic when we’re talking about nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel. Finding qualified workers to replace those who are quitting is simply not feasible, especially when the healthcare industry is losing them by the thousands.
There’s a significant amount of health professionals to be found among the 47 million Americans who resigned from their jobs in 2021. In fact, since 2020, one in five healthcare workers have quit their jobs, and it’s estimated that up to another 47% plan on leaving by 2025. In addition to those who are making the concerted decision to quit, many physicians across several healthcare specialties are nearing retirement age, and that wave of retirement can be especially detrimental to the workers left behind. Predictably, the long-term effects on both physician and hospital performance, and the quality of patient care, will be nothing short of devastating.
To put these numbers in perspective, during the first quarter of 2021, more than 230,000 healthcare workers, including 53,000 nurse practitioners, left their profession, many citing the ongoing pandemic as one of the primary reasons. A good number of these caregivers had worked with the disabled and the elderly, two groups that were more susceptible to illness, which in turn caused their healthcare providers to feel more vulnerable to fears of infection, while navigating unsustainable hours, stress, and depression. The emotional toll of losing their patients and colleagues to the pandemic was just too much to deal with for thousands of health professionals.
As hospitals nationwide are rebuilding their medical teams, and attempting to return to some degree of normalcy, they have found ways to lessen the stress felt by their remaining staff, as well as the new hires. Implementing digital care programs such as Upgraid™ by mend results in hospitals and clinicians feeling less burdened with pre- and post-operative care. By mitigating the mental and physical exhaustion, Upgraid™ presents a viable solution to reduce the rate of burnout, thereby bringing down the number of workers who quit because of it. Once an enhanced digital care platform is implemented, qualified health workers who understand the benefits and implications of this innovative solution are more likely to return to, remain in, or join the healthcare industry, which in turn will improve the career longevity of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals.
The common challenges faced by hospitals due to staffing shortages include having to spend more on contract labor and feeling pressure to consolidate. Many of the rural communities in the U.S. are suffering greatly, but it’s important to acknowledge that nationwide patient safety is at risk because of labor shortages.
Factoring in increased life expectancy, there will be far more demand than supply of healthcare within the next few years, particularly among the aging U.S. population. Poor overall health of patients going into acute care and rising illness rates are creating the perfect storm for a multi-pronged crisis. It’s crucial to recognize this clarion call and identify technologies that can mitigate the negative impact of the acute staffing shortage – before the industry itself ends up on life support. Having lost an estimated $54 billion in net income nationwide during the pandemic, hospitals must make some strategic decisions about patient care moving forward.
A number of hospitals are making a proactive decision to implement an SMS-based and AI-enabled digital care platform, Upgraid™ by mend. This new, best-in-class perioperative patient optimization platform for total joint arthroplasty enables extended patient care beyond the hospital walls and allows further recovery in the home. Through the program, patients receive hands-on coaching, support, guidance, and health monitoring from certified professionals. The remote monitoring triages critical questions through a team of registered nurses, minimizing the number of patient calls to the hospital. The comprehensive Upgraid™ platform frees up limited staff and resources, allowing them to focus on their in-hospital service, which is very beneficial to healthcare workers and patients alike. Upgraid™ is currently expanding across the U.S. and is expected to be in more than 20 hospitals by the end of 2023.
