A Tebra survey conducted in spring 2023, involving over 500 healthcare workers, reveals that one-third are planning to leave their positions, with 14 percent considering exiting the healthcare industry entirely within a year. Persistent staffing shortages, exacerbated by COVID-19 and administrative burdens, have created challenging work conditions. Healthcare workers express feelings of being underpaid and undervalued, and a majority believe a healthcare crisis is looming due to understaffing and burnout. Nursing professionals are particularly affected, with declining job satisfaction and increased turnover rates reported.
New data from Tebra indicates that a significant one-third of healthcare workers surveyed are planning to depart from their jobs within the next year. The survey, conducted online in spring 2023, garnered responses from over 500 healthcare professionals.
Among the respondents, 14 percent expressed intentions to exit the healthcare industry entirely in the coming year, adding to the concerns about workforce shortages faced by healthcare organizations. The persisting staffing challenges, compounded by the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic and administrative burdens, have created less-than-ideal working conditions for many in the healthcare field.
The survey unveiled that a staggering 60 percent of healthcare workers currently experience understaffing issues. This shortage not only impacts patient access to care but also takes a toll on the mental and physical health of medical professionals. Nearly 80 percent of respondents believe that a healthcare crisis is imminent within the next year, primarily due to the effects of understaffing and burnout.
The pandemic has reshaped the expectations of healthcare workers in their workplace environments. A notable 73 percent of respondents feel they are underpaid, while 59 percent report feeling undervalued at work.
Given the opportunity to enact changes in their workplaces, the respondents voiced their desire to increase workers’ pay and benefits (73 percent), bolster staffing levels to alleviate workload and stress (68 percent), and offer more flexible scheduling to promote work-life balance (58 percent).
The emotional well-being of healthcare workers has been severely impacted by the pandemic, with 55 percent admitting to experiencing anxiety and 35 percent acknowledging frequent feelings of depression. Additionally, exhaustion is taking a toll, with 35 percent of respondents witnessing their co-workers falling asleep during shifts.
The consequences of sleep deprivation are significant, with 82 percent of healthcare workers noting that patient care suffers when staff members are sleep-deprived, and 80 percent citing safety concerns. Shockingly, more than one-third of respondents confessed to making mistakes at work due to lack of sleep, ranging from failing to document crucial patient information to administering incorrect medications or dosages.
The nursing workforce has borne the brunt of staffing shortages and burnout, as a survey by AMN Healthcare revealed that only 61 percent of nurses plan to continue working for their current employer a year from now, down by five percentage points from 2021. Furthermore, job satisfaction among nurses has decreased in 2023, with only 64 percent expressing satisfaction with their current positions, compared to 67 percent in 2021.
It is worth noting that healthcare staffing issues were a concern even before the pandemic, as a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicated a 43 percent increase in the annual physician turnover rate between 2010 and 2018, rising from 5.3 percent to 7.6 percent.
