Becker's Hospital Review

29 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Texas raising salaries, starting pay for state hospital workers By Alan Condon T he Texas Health and Human Services Commission is increasing salaries and starting pay at state hospitals and state- supported living centers to address staffing shortages, maintain competitive wages and bring hospital beds back online. More than 700 state hospital beds are offline due to workforce challenges, the commission said in a Jan. 24 news release. Increasing starting salaries at state hospitals will help recruit and retain healthcare workers, reduce vacancies and bring more beds back online. HHSC aims to fill about 1,805 vacancies in state hospitals and 2,137 in state-supported living centers by offering higher starting salaries. For example, a registered nurse with three years of experience would start as high as $90,000 a year, according to the commission. Depending on experience, psychiatric nursing assistants and direct support professionals would start at between $17.50 and $21 an hour. Food service workers start as high as $13.94 an hour. About 7,855 full-time positions at state hospitals and 11,794 at state- supported living centers will also receive salary boosts as part of a $148 million effort, effective March 1. HHSC also offers paid health and dental insurance, vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan, paid training and advancement opportunities. "Maintaining a highly skilled, well-trained healthcare workforce is critical to providing quality healthcare and increasing access for Texans across our state," Gov. Greg Abbott said in the release. "By increasing salaries and wages to be more competitive, HHSC is addressing critical staffing needs and bringing more hospital beds back online. Together, we are bolstering recruitment and retention of the best and brightest health professionals to serve Texans in our state hospitals and state supported living centers." n 48% of physicians are happy at work, survey finds By Mackenzie Bean P hysicians' happiness fell amid the pandemic and is not rebounding easily, according to Medscape's 2023 Physician Lifestyle and Happiness Report. The report is based on survey responses from 9,175 U.S.- based physicians in 29 specialties polled in 2022 between June 28 and Oct. 3. Four report findings: 1. Fifty-nine percent of physicians said they were "somewhat" or "very happy," down from 84 percent before the pandemic. These figures mirror percentages seen in Medscape's same report conducted in 2022. 2. The percentage of physicians who are happy at work, specifically, fell from 75 percent before the pandemic to 48 percent today. 3. Four in 10 physicians said they regularly look after their own health and wellness, up from 33 percent who said the same in Medscape's 2022 report. 4. Fifty-three percent said they would take a pay decrease in return for better work-life balance. n 25% of critical healthcare staff willing to quit over workplace violence By Kelly Gooch M ost healthcare workers in critical care settings experience on-the-job violence, with 25 percent saying they were willing to quit because of the issue, according to a global survey presented Jan. 21 at the Society of Critical Care Medicine's 2023 Critical Care Congress. The Violence Study of Healthcare Workers and Systems survey, conducted last June and July, is based on nearly 600 responses from 69 countries, mostly from India and the United States. Respondents included nurses, attending physicians, physician residents, physician assistants, registered nurse practitioners and others in the departments of anesthesiology, critical care medicine and emergency medicine. Overall, 73 percent of survey respondents said they have experienced violence in 2022. The most commonly reported violence was verbal abuse, such as threats (63 percent), and physical abuse, such as slapping or punching (39 percent). Patients and family members were the most common aggressors. On-the-job violence led 48 percent of survey respondents to feel less motivated/experience a decrease in job satisfaction; an additional 25 percent reported they were willing to leave their roles. n

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