The American Hospital Association released an episode of their podcast, “Advancing Health” entitled A National Staffing Emergency in Rural Health Care.
The conversation is led by Kevin Stansbury, CEO of Lincoln Health, Debra Rudquist, president of Amery Hospital and Karen Cheeseman, CEO of Mackinac Straits Health System. They discuss innovative methods of retaining their workforce and explore new ways of attracting future workers to the health care field.
The reasons for the work shortage are:
- Intense competition for healthcare professionals, with works opting for other location options outside of health care
- Rise in remote work making retention of rural healthcare professionals more challenging
- Increasing rate of retirement of healthcare workers, adding stress onto other employees
- Heightened stress facing employees due to COVID-19 and how COVID-19 changed the landscape of working in health care
Stansbury said, “This is a new economy that we’re operating in and there’s a lot more remote opportunities for people to live in rural and work really around the globe. So, we’re facing competition from employers around the world for the same employees that we used to be able to capture around being one of the larger employers.”
The podcast also details the specific areas in healthcare that are feeling the labor shortage the most such as certified medical assistants, LPNs, RNs, lab techs, and radiology techs. This is because these professions technical and professional degrees, noted Rudquist.
Measurements are being taken to address the shortage:
- Providing flexible work options and pipeline programs
- Launching scholarships and apprenticeships to earn the necessary degrees
- Investing in full-time recruitment outreach
- Adaptation of telemedicine, telehospitalists, and AI to enhance healthcare delivery
The key takeaway of the episode is that collaboration between employer and employee is crucial, and one must be willing to step outside their comfort zone to try new tactics.
To listen to the full episode, click here: A National Staffing Emergency in Rural Health Care.
