
Workforce challenges, including clinician burnout and staffing shortages, have surpassed financial pressures as the primary threat to healthcare organizations, according to a survey by symplr. Healthcare leaders ranked these challenges highest, reflecting the ongoing difficulties in maintaining a robust workforce in the post-pandemic era. The study also emphasized the need to consolidate healthcare operations solutions to enable clinicians to devote more time to patient care and highlighted technology’s role in addressing burnout and improving efficiency amid economic challenges in the healthcare industry.
“Despite ongoing financial pressures in healthcare, workforce challenges, including clinician burnout, have emerged as the foremost threat to health systems, as indicated by most healthcare IT leaders and clinicians. Clinician burnout, staffing difficulties, and nursing shortages are the primary organizational concerns for the upcoming year, according to a recent survey by symplr.
In symplr’s second annual ‘Compass Survey,’ CIOs, IT leaders, and clinicians have ranked workforce challenges as a higher concern than financial pressures and other organizational threats. In the previous year’s survey, financial pressure was the leading organizational threat, but it closely trailed behind this year, with 39 percent of respondents expressing concern about it, compared to 41 percent who cited challenges related to clinician and nursing burnout and shortages.
Only about 9 percent of respondents, mainly from prominent US health systems and predominantly members of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), expressed concerns about uncertainties surrounding payer dynamics in value-based care. Additionally, 5 percent mentioned cybersecurity and patient privacy as organizational threats. Lower-level concerns included regulatory compliance and penalties, as well as issues related to interoperability and data accuracy.
In the post-pandemic era, healthcare organizations are grappling with various organizational challenges. Nevertheless, the survey highlights the significant difficulties faced by even top-tier US health systems in maintaining a robust and sustainable workforce.
An overwhelming majority of survey respondents agreed that managing the repercussions of staff shortages (97 percent), recruiting external nurses (97 percent), and retaining nurses (96 percent) were major challenges for their organizations. Nurse informaticists who participated in the survey also largely identified challenges related to technology efficiency (75 percent), data management (72 percent), and interoperability (70 percent) in their roles.
The survey’s results underscore the need to consolidate healthcare operations solutions to allow clinicians more time to focus on patient care. Approximately 84 percent of all respondents believed that their organization’s clinicians could redirect at least 10 percent more time to clinical care each week if their healthcare operations software were integrated into a single platform. Clinical leaders displayed even greater confidence than their IT counterparts, with 15 percent identifying the potential to redirect 50 percent or more time to clinical care each week.
The survey found that, on average, clinicians could potentially gain back 20 percent of their time with patients through technology efficiencies. Health IT has been a significant source of clinician and nurse burnout, with technology-related factors contributing to high levels of burnout, as highlighted by a 2019 American Medical Association (AMA) study, which attributed physician burnout to extensive data entry and poor electronic health record (EHR) usability. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these workforce issues, leading to record levels of burnout among clinicians.
One way to improve the clinician’s experience and reduce burnout and turnover is by reducing the number of clicks required to perform clinical care tasks. Streamlined technology can significantly enhance the lives of clinicians.
Furthermore, reimagining the technology landscape for healthcare operations can enhance efficiency throughout the enterprise, which is a critical priority for healthcare organizations grappling with rising inflation, declining reimbursement rates, and increased labor costs, according to the survey’s findings.”