Becker's ASC Review

42 HEALTHCARE NEWS The healthcare story we still need to get right By Molly Gamble "H ealthcare workers are quitting in droves because they are burned out." at's the conve- nient story. But is it the right one? at's the question on my mind daily as the Becker's team covers the healthcare workforce on a local, state and national level. I speak with physicians who are dead tired and frustrated (usually to a degree that demands a new word besides "frustrated"). e next day, survey results based on 1,170 responses cross my desk, showing only 23 percent of healthcare workers anticipate leaving the field in the near future — and 80 percent report being somewhat or very satisfied with their jobs. is is just one example of personal experi- ences conflicting with data, which is hardly uncommon. A lot of rich, valuable stories are born from this disconnect, in fact. One side doesn't necessarily cancel the other out. But if the pandemic has taught me anything, it's that many people struggle to hold two or more things true at once. Without more extensive research and responsible reporting, one side of the story about what is happening to the healthcare workforce may dominate — and the opportunity to better understand and repair may be missed. We like to oversim- plify, to package things up neat and tidy, to think we've reached the bottom line. Our healthcare workers deserve more than that. Here are a few things that seem to be playing out at the same time: We have a lot to learn about patient safety throughout the pandemic, but early data does not look good. Few health- care workers are getting significant pay raises. ere are front-line workers who don't even know what hospital CEOs do. No medical spe- cialty is immune to burnout, with even a third of dermatologists reporting fatigue. Violence, threats and incivility are on the rise against healthcare workers, with systems taking out ads pleading for people to be kind and states working to elevate offenses to felony status. ere are more dynamics unfolding daily in many hospitals and health systems throughout the U.S. that may not make national headlines, but are worthy of exploration. Some institutions are taking action to better understand the root causes of healthcare's staffing fragility. is week, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work rolled out the city's largest survey of hospital workers conducted to learn why they are quitting. "Hospital workers are burned out, forced to care for increasingly sick patients with less support and fewer staff, while managing crisis aer crisis," Jeffrey Shook, associate professor of social work at the university, shared in a statement. "e survey will investigate the working conditions in Pitts- burgh hospitals and, we hope, provide the mayor, city leadership and the public with an understanding of what Pittsburgh's hospital workers face and what can be done about it." is is good news for Pittsburgh. Will we see more studies like this in more cities? Can governmental agencies, medical associations and higher education institutions look more closely in their own backyards to help? I hope so. We seem to be at a crossroads where market-level research is needed, and 1,170-re- spondent national surveys like the aforemen- tioned are too vague to drive change. Can we also use some rigor in how we talk about healthcare workers' experiences today? Burnout doesn't cut it anymore. e term, coined in 1974, surely served a purpose. But now it reminds me of a friend who once labeled every less-than-great emotion as that of feeling "tired." e acuity ranged from slightly dehydrated to severely depressed. Something similar is unfolding in healthcare, where we overuse the term "burnout" to convey a lot of different infor- mation, contributing to an apples-oranges effect that can stall the isolation of root causes and effective problem-solving. Every use of burnout should be followed with a request: "Tell me more about that." A motto in journalism is: "If your mother says she loves you, go check it out." Verify everything, especially the stories that seem too simple to be true. We need more to check out. We need stron- ger data, better surveying, greater curiosity and a larger challenge to the oversimplified assumption that "healthcare workers are quitting because they are so burned out." at idea got us from there to here. Now where do we go? How will we better under- stand the precise root causes of their fatigue in order to find solutions? Healthcare professionals devote their lives to diagnosing and solving problems. Let's do the same, this time for them, so they can continue their important work and feel seen, understood and validated. Something's unfolding in healthcare, and we still need to get the whole story right. n US unemployment claims sink to 52-year low By Kelly Gooch T he number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits declined last week, and the number of people collecting unemployment benefits hit the lowest level since 1970, the Labor Department reported Feb. 24. Initial unemployment benefits fell to 232,000 the week of Feb. 19. That's a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level of 249,000. The four-week average for initial claims also declined the week of Feb. 19, to 236,250 from the previous week's revised average of 243,500. Overall, the number of Americans collecting unemployment after an initial week of benefits was 1.48 million the week of Feb. 12, down about 112,000 from the previous week's revised level and the lowest level since March 14, 1970, the Labor Department said. "Unemployment claims dropped in the most recent week, as expected, as the recent rise was correlated with the omicron wave," said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, in a statement cited by The Hill. "As the wave recedes, so too have layoffs. We are on track to hitting the historical average in the next few weeks." n

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