By HFT Staff

The worker burnout crisis and resulting staffing shortage that healthcare facilities are facing these days is critical, and it’s only likely to get worse. More workers plan to quit in 2022, and the causes of shortages go well beyond the most visible challenges created by COVID-19. 

To address the crisis, facility managers are taking several short- and long-range steps. They include innovating their recruiting efforts and even rethinking their facilities’ interior design decisions. 

The staffing situation has intensified to the point that the federal government is taking steps to help healthcare systems address the issue. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the health worker burnout crisis. Workers in all areas of healthcare facilities faced systemic challenges even before the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to crisis levels of burnout. The pandemic further exacerbated burnout for health workers, with many risking and sacrificing their own lives in the service of others while responding to the crisis. 

The Surgeon General’s Advisory Addressing Health Worker Burnout lays out recommendations for healthcare organizations, health insurers, health technology companies and communities to address worker burnout and ensure their well-being. Among the recommendations are these: 

• Transform workplace culture to empower health workers and be responsive to their voices and needs. Listen to workers and seek their involvement to improve processes, workflows and culture. 
• Protect the health, safety, and well-being of all health workers. Provide living wages, paid sick and family leave, rest breaks, evaluation of workloads and working hours, educational debt support, and family-friendly policies, including childcare and care for older adults for all health workers.  
• Ensure adequate staffing, including surge capacity for public health emergencies, that is representative of the communities they serve. This is critical to protect and sustain health workers and communities.  
• Organizations, communities, and policies must prioritize protecting health workers from workplace violence and ensure they have sufficient personal protective equipment.  In a recent national survey among health workers in mid-2021, eight out of ten experienced at least one type of workplace violence during the pandemic, with two-thirds having been verbally threatened, and one-third of nurses reporting an increase in violence compared to the previous year.