Becker's Hospital Review

97 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY 1 in 3 clinicians considering leaving role by 2024: study By Kelly Gooch T hirty-one percent of clinicians participating in a global study said they were considering leaving their current role by 2024, with nearly half of partici- pating U.S. clinicians reporting these plans, according to a report released March 15 by analytics firm Elsevier Health. The "Clinician of the Future" report, conducted in part- nership with market research company Ipsos, is based on a quantitative global survey, qualitative interviews and roundtable discussions with nearly 3,000 physicians and nurses worldwide. The research involved 60-minute qualitative interviews with 23 clinicians globally between Aug. 11, 2021,and Sept. 10, 2021; a 15-minute online global survey com- pleted by 2,838 clinicians globally run from Oct. 15, 2021 to Dec. 13, 2021; and virtual roundtables, with the U.S. roundtable occurring in January. Overall, 446 U.S. clini- cians participated in the three phases. Three more findings: 1. Seventy-one percent of physicians and 68 percent of nurses said their jobs have changed considerably in the last decade, and many reported that their jobs have wors- ened. 2. Over the next 10 years, 74 percent of clinicians predict- ed there will be a shortage of nurses and 68 percent pre- dicted a shortage of physicians. 3. Of the 31 percent of clinicians who were considering leaving their current role by 2024, 33 percent plan to stay in a similar role but change to another healthcare setting. Twenty-one percent plan to retire and 13 percent plan to move to another job unrelated to healthcare. "While we know that many nurses are leaving the profes- sion due to burnout, we also know that the pandemic has inspired others to enter the field because of a strong de- sire for purposeful work," Marion Broome, PhD, RN, a pro- fessor of nursing at Duke University, said in a news release. "We must embrace this next wave of healthcare profes- sionals and ensure we set them up for success. Our future as a society depends on it." n Can anyone blame nurses for turning the tables? By Molly Gamble E xpensive reliance on travel nursing is a symptom of a lon- ger-running, self-inflicted disaster: hospitals' failure to hire and support enough nurses to weather crises, a March 14 op-ed contends in e Washington Post. "e undervaluing of nursing has deep roots. From the dawn of modern American hospitals in the 19th century, hospitals have treated nursing care like something they should get for free," Sarah DiGregorio, author of "Early: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What it Teaches Us About Being Human" and a forth- coming cultural history of nursing, wrote in her op-ed for the Post. She outlined numerous ways nurses are undervalued, from nurse educators being paid a fraction of what they could make working clinically — leading to a shortage of instructors that limits the nursing pipeline — to reimbursement models contributing to lean nurse-to-patient ratios. "Employing more nurses per patient is safer for patients, and it makes nurses less likely to burn-out and quit," Ms. DiGregorio wrote. "But hiring and supporting a large nursing staff is expen- sive, and many hospitals have been unwilling to do it. Travel nurses are expensive, too, but they are a short-term expense; they don't get benefits or job security." Travel nurses can command an average of about $3,500 per week — sometimes more. In late January, nearly 200 House members urged the White House to investigate costs charged by nurse staff- ing agencies. Shortly aer, the American Hospital Association and American Health Care Association/National Center for As- sisted Living followed suit, urging the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, to investigate staffing agencies. e groups carefully pointed out that staffing agency prices are not directly correlated with the income that individual travel nurses bring in. "Incredibly, given Congress' inability to come together to curb prescription drug costs or pass paid family leave, they have found common ground on one issue: cracking down on nurses' pay," Ms. DiGregorio wrote. "Meanwhile, rising hospital administrator pay has escaped political scrutiny — though there is no correlation between those salaries and hospital mortality or readmission rates. is is not only deeply unfair and shortsighted, it may make the problem worse." Ms. DiGregorio said the only way for hospitals and lawmakers to address the nurse staffing crisis is to address a "collective failure to value caring." "Can anyone blame nurses for turning the tables, for working within the system's own flawed, profit-driven logic, for charging what the market will bear? Can we really look at the state of our healthcare system and conclude that travel nurse salaries are the problem? Isn't it telling that the industry has only asked the government to step in now, when nurses are the ones wielding their market power?" n "We must embrace this next wave of healthcare professionals and ensure we set them up for success." Dr. Marion Broome, Duke University

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