Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1504258
15 PATIENT & CAREGIVER EXPERIENCE Top 9 reasons healthcare workers quit By Laura Dyrda H ealthcare organizations must make sure employees feel valued and well- paid to retain them, according to Grant ornton's State of Work in America report. e firm surveyed 5,000 workers, including 500 healthcare workers, about their views on the workplace and outlook for the future. Just 15 percent of healthcare workers said they were staying with their current employer because they felt valued, and not feeling valued was the top reason workers said they would leave. Around 42 percent of healthcare workers reported they are actively looking for new jobs within their organizations. Here are the top nine reasons why healthcare workers, compared to workers overall, said they would exit their current organizations. 1. Not feeling valued Healthcare workers: 31 percent Overall: 22 percent 2. Wages not keeping up with inflation Healthcare workers: 27 percent Overall: 23 percent 3. Lack of support for my well-being Healthcare workers: 21 percent Overall: 18 percent 4. Benefits (including health, retirement, time off ) Healthcare workers: 17 percent Overall: 17 percent 5. Long work hours Healthcare workers: 17 percent Overall: 15 percent 6. Fear of being laid off Healthcare workers: 17 percent Overall: 19 percent 7. Lack of advancement opportunities Healthcare workers: 16 percent Overall: 20 percent 8. Work-life balance does not match my needs Healthcare workers: 16 percent Overall: 20 percent 9. Concern about job security Healthcare workers: 15 percent Overall: 19 percent n New York health system invites back employees fired over COVID vaccine mandate By Alexis Kayser Syracuse, N.Y.-based St. Joseph's Health is inviting back employees who were terminated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, WSTM reported May 31. That decision comes one week after the New York State Department of Health began repealing its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for workers in regulated healthcare facilities, originally implemented in August 2021. St. Joseph's Health eliminated 2.04 percent of its workforce who chose not to get the vaccine. Now the health system is reaching out to those workers and asking them to come back, its chief medical officer, Philip Falcone, MD, told the news station in a statement. "Colleagues and job applicants, including former colleagues who may have exited the organization when the vaccine mandate was implemented, are now eligible for an exemption," Dr. Falcone said. "Our Talent Acquisition team is actively contacting our former colleagues, encouraging them to consider returning to the organization." The health system is in a "different phase" of its COVID-19 response, according to Dr. Falcone. Absenteeism, hospitalizations and deaths from the virus are the lowest they have been since the pandemic began. "Although the requirement for a vaccine mandate has no longer been deemed necessary by regulating bodies at the federal and state level, vaccines remain strongly recommended as safe and effective at preventing serious illness or death from COVID-19," Dr. Falcone said. "Our colleagues will continue to use appropriate infection prevention and control measures, including hand hygiene and the use of required PPE." n 3rd physician leaves Kansas hospital amid CEO termination By Alexis Kayser A third physician has left Norton (Kan.) County Hospital amid the termination of former CEO Brian Kirk. Josh Gaede, MD, a family medicine physician, will resign effective June 30. Letters to notify patients are currently being sent out, according to a notice from the hospital obtained by Becker's. "Norton County Hospital/Medical Clinic and Dr. Josh Gaede have decided to end their current employment relationship," the notice says. "We would like to thank Dr. Gaede for his service to our organization these past three years and wish him well in all future endeavors." Further reasoning for his exit was not provided. Dr. Gaede's exit follows two other family medicine physicians who resigned in early May: Miranda McKellar, MD, and Theresia Neill, MD. On May 17, the hospital moved to fire Mr. Kirk, who had spent the first month of the year on administrative leave due to an internal investigation. He was reinstated for a period before being let go, and Kellen Jacobs, the hospital's rehabilitation manager, was named interim CEO. n