A recent challenge for hospitals across Alabama, along with the rest of the nation, has been staffing. Dr. Don Williamson, with the Alabama Hospital Association explained in a recent interview that less health care professionals are working now than during the omicron and delta spikes.

“We might have substantially greater difficulty dealing with 1,500 people in the hospital now, compared to what we were dealing with earlier in the year,” he shared with Montgomery-Selma WSFA.

Dr. Williamson said at least 20% of healthcare professionals have left the workforce, while much of that staff has been replaced with traveling nurses, which has also been difficult to maintain.

“So what hospitals are trying to do now is, to the extent that they can, they’ve hired some of that staff,” he said.

In many cases, Dr. Williamson said hospital beds are being shut down to make do with the staff that is available.

On top of staffing shortages, Dr. Williamson said some health care workers that have previously been vaccinated or already had the disease are contracting COVID-19.

Looking more locally, hospitals such as Crestwood Medical Center (CMC) in Huntsville have faced staffing challenges as well. Lori Light, CMC’s Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications, shed some light on the topic for the Huntsville Business Journal.

“Like many hospitals across the country, Crestwood has had challenges with staffing. With the help of our team’s flexibility, we have maintained a safe environment so that we can continue providing the quality of care that people in this community deserve and expect,” stated Light.

“Crestwood is actively recruiting new team members to bring more healthcare to our hospital and community. We are investing in several recruitment and retention initiatives to attract new employees and retain existing employees,” continued Light.

These benefits for current and potential CMC employees include student loan support with benefits up to $20,000 in student loan repayments for eligible employees, enhanced education assistance and licensure benefits, sign-on bonuses, referral bonuses for key positions, and matching 401k contributions.

A recent partnership with Athens State University, which can also provide employees and family members discounted tuition, has also been instituted.

“According to the latest report by Emergency Care Research Institute, the typical clinical issues caused by device malfunction or medical error aren’t the leading threats to patient safety this year. Instead, staffing shortages and healthcare worker mental health top the list of concerns on a national level,” shared the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) in a recent article.

The report continued by stating that “ECRI researchers say the most significant concerns at present are caused by crises that have simmered, but COVID-19 exponentially worsened.”

Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, President, and CEO of ECRI, said in the report: “Shortages in the healthcare workforce and mental health challenges were broadly known and well-documented for years. Both physicians and nurses were at risk of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depression prior to 2020, but the pandemic made both issues significantly worse,” stated Dr. Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, President, and CEO of ECRI.

According to the authors, “ECRI researchers say inadequate staffing is actively jeopardizing patient safety. Due to staffing shortages, many patients are waiting longer for care, even in life-threatening emergencies, or simply being turned away.”

According to the ECRI report released March 14, the following are the top concerns:

Staffing shortages
COVID-19 effects on healthcare workers’ mental health
Bias and racism in addressing patient safety
Vaccine coverage gaps and errors
Cognitive biases and diagnostic error

“Across surveyed RNs, the most influential factors of whether to stay in role included safety, flexibility (such as work–life balance, work schedule), and environment (for example, a trusting/caring team, feeling valued by organization, doing meaningful work),” the authors wrote. “While adequate compensation remains important, it was not as influential as other factors among respondents.”

The survey also found that:

35% of RNs who were likely to leave their current roles indicated plans to stay in the workforce but in a role that doesn’t involve direct patient care
29% would stay in direct patient care
20% indicated plans to exit the workforce completely, such as through retirement, to pursue further education or to focus on family

With varying scales of this issue, from local to national levels, it can be agreed upon that this is a pressing matter. Not only for the well-being of workers, but for the safety of patients they are dedicating their time, efforts, and training to care for.

Hospitals and Healthcare systems that work to rectify these issues show an incredible and generous investment in their healthcare staff who have easily been realized as some of the nation’s greatest assets since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will hopefully continue to be recognized and rewarded as such.