While hospitals across the U.S. continue to develop and implement solutions for retention like nurse residency programs or other wellness initiatives, 48 percent of clinicians are "not at all" hopeful about the progress being made regarding staffing issues, respondents told Becker's via a September LinkedIn poll.
Clinicians commented that even though there are solutions aimed at improving retention and morale, many suggested that more leadership involvement, educational changes and shifts in scope of practice are necessary to move the needle.
"I think it's going to take some forward-thinking leaders to start to lead authentically," Todd Angelucci, BSN, RN, a healthcare leadership coach and nurse at Hartford HealthCare at Home commented. "Nursing schools also need to teach students differently to handle the demands of the job, self-care, how to authentically connect and communicate within the team. Burned out leaders are leading burned out teams."
Many pointed out that technology may aid with this, but fear that it isn't the cure and without support to teach it almost as fast as it is developed, the educational component falls behind.
"Technological revolution in medicine is so fast it feels like education/credentialing has not caught up," Salam Al-Omaishi, MD, a family medicine physician at Geisinger in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., commented. "It takes way too long and is way too expensive to be a provider in today's market while the demand for the service is exponentially higher."
John Jessop, the national director of HIPAA security, risk and compliance for a multinational healthcare organization, added that staffing has been an issue throughout his 41-year career in healthcare and pointed out that while "technology might help to patch some staffing issues, it isn't the cure."
Some healthcare leaders, however, are more hopeful. From the poll's 1,071 responses, 33 percent said they are somewhat hopeful about the progress being made to curb staffing issues nationally. Another 19 percent said they are either hopeful or very hopeful about change coming to healthcare staff.
"As someone with a 10k foot view on the work of healthcare executive leaders nationwide, I have confidence that their efforts and attention will begin to move the needle," said Jocelyn Clarke, a senior executive recruiter for healthcare leaders at Kirby Bates Associates. "So many bright minds [are] working on these issues, in both [the] short and long term."