How Can Companies Keep Up with the Healthcare Worker Shortage?

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Have you noticed a shortage of healthcare workers in the last few years? Well, it’s not your imagination. For approximately ten years, many organizations have pointed out their concern about how challenging it’s become to attract and retain healthcare professionals to meet the persistent demand. 

Though there’s no magic formula to close the talent gap, some health institutions have implemented tech tools and strategies to find quality candidates and reduce hiring times. So keep reading if you want to learn more about the talent worker shortage and its possible solutions. 

What’s the healthcare worker shortage status? 

Healthcare is one of the industries with projected over-the-medium growth for the rest of the decade. Currently, one of every five job openings in the US is related to the Healthcare industry, and yet, an increase of about 2 million jobs is expected by 2031, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So why are there so many companies and hiring managers worrying about a healthcare labor shortage crisis? 

As of now, there’s still a divided opinion on whether the healthcare worker shortage crisis is ongoing or still to come; truth be told, the talent management in this industry is falling short of meeting the demand currently and for the coming years. According to the Health Resources & Services Administration, the US healthcare industry needs approximately 17,200 primary care practitioners, 12,200 dental health practitioners, and 8,200 health practitioners. Hard to deny the Labor Shortage, right? 

What are the reasons for the shortage of healthcare workers? 

Although the healthcare labor crisis has been lurking for a while, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the shortfall among the healthcare workforce. Back in 2009, the National Academy of Sciences forecasted a shortage of physicians, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals. 

The aging population is one reason this issue raises more concerns. As generational groups such as Baby Boomers grow older, they require more medical care, especially from physician specialists and nurses. On this account, medical advancements also aggravate the issue since these have allowed people to live longer, ultimately leading to the need for more healthcare specialists to treat the chronic conditions of those who retire. 

This bleak scenario meets another alarming issue: many working physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals will also be reaching retirement age along with the population mentioned above. This means the healthcare worker shortage faces two relevant issues: increasing demand and decreasing supply. 

What’s the true impact of the healthcare labor shortage? 

It’s well said that there’s more than the eye can meet. At first sight, the main consequence of the healthcare worker shortage crisis is the limited amount and quality of healthcare services. But what about the current healthcare workforce? The existing staff will most likely be overworked since they would need to take on more responsibilities and work longer hours. 

Imagine a nurse, physician, or any other healthcare specialist under pressure, even though they’re experts in their field, burnout increases the risks of errors or delays in interventions and medications. Remember that work conditions like these have led to trends like quiet quitting and the Great Resignation, in which employees have taken actions to improve their situation and regardless of whether or not their actions will affect their companies or industries. 

Because of this scenario, companies now have to deal with two main challenges in order to solve the talent shortage in the healthcare industry; on the one hand and to produce more professionals, health institutions must improve education and training times without compromising the quality of the professionals, while companies should focus their efforts on finding new ways to source, attract, and retain candidates easier and faster.

Improving talent management to solve the worker shortage in healthcare

Another angle in which companies and institutions should tackle this issue is by evaluating healthcare talent management. Finding better ways to get to know your workforce and talent pool is crucial. Healthcare roles have some of the most defining shifts and conditions in the whole job market; therefore, aside from offering top-of-the-line corporate perks, hiring managers need to think about how to connect with candidates about new roles, especially if they want them to be interested in those positions. 

Implementing HR tech landscapes whose primary purpose is to unify the data across areas and systems will improve the flow of information; as well as losing the fear of automating processes and the possible application of AI tools like ChatGPT in the recruitment industry will also allow companies to stay in contact with job-seekers regardless of the time or any office schedule. 

Speaking about the workforce currently working for a company, hiring managers can retain employees and even improve their employer branding by setting up internal mobility programs that encourage workers to grow within the company and reduce the risk of leaving, whether for professional development or undue burden. 

How to tackle the healthcare talent shortage? 

As mentioned before, the best way to solve this worker shortage crisis is to approach it from different angles. Here are some specific actions companies and hiring managers should take to address the healthcare worker shortage and increase this industry’s workforce. 

• Attract more healthcare professionals to primary care roles: Primary care positions covered by nurses can ease the physician shortage crisis. In brief, it’s about using nurses for chronic conditions and general health cases requiring less medical attention. 
• Improve healthcare training and education: Although becoming a health professional requires years of education, it’s a fact that the lack of accessible schools or courses discourages many people from following this path. Therefore, online healthcare degrees will allow people to complete their medical studies easier so they can focus on their clinical training afterward. 
• Implement career development initiatives: Career growth and ongoing education are another two reasons for the healthcare worker shortage. People seeking a healthcare career will be more motivated to enter the industry if companies offer clearer lateral and upward mobility schemes and on-the-job training programs.
• Unify reliable labor market healthcare data: In talent acquisition terms, having more data will lead to better decisions and more streamlined hiring processes. HR managers can improve the outcome of their hiring by collecting info about the labor market and making data-driven decisions.
• Empower workers to demand more in-line legislation: A workforce with a strong voice will make the most reasonable decisions to improve the work conditions and ultimately attract more people to the labor market. Therefore, institutions and companies should consider the insight they receive from their workers to make changes and improve the legislation. 

In addition, institutions should also focus on promoting public health and preventive measures that will ultimately lead to a population with fewer afflictions and health problems. The outlook is somewhat encouraging; there are still actions that can turn around the healthcare labor shortage. Still, the workforce, companies, and institutions must stop ignoring the issue and start working together. 

Contributed by Luis Arellano