Becker's Hospital Review

39 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY KentuckyOne to Cancel Contracts With 25 Employed Physicians By Alyssa Rege L ouisville-based KentuckyOne Health will dissolve its employment contracts with approximately 25 physicians as ear- ly as July, according to the Courier-Journal. Officials said the cuts were the result of "chal- lenges" in the changing healthcare environ- ment and the recent decline in patient vol- umes in several areas, according to the report. In a statement to the Courier-Journal, officials said physicians impacted by the cuts "have all been notified and will continue with Ken- tuckyOne through the term of their contract. Individual physicians are making decisions on how they will continue practicing, caring for current and future patients and what level of staff support is needed. As a result, we anticipate minimal disruption in patient care as a result of this decision." e news follows the organization's decision in April to lay off nearly 150 employees, or 1 percent of its workforce, to reportedly im- prove operational efficiency and decrease costs. n Trump Appoints Nurse to Serve as Acting Surgeon General By Emily Rappleye R ear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, was installed as acting surgeon general April 21 after the Trump administration asked Vivek Murthy, MD, to resign, ac- cording to The New York Times. Dr. Trent-Adams is one of the first nurses to be appointed surgeon general and is the first non-physician to be ap- pointed. During the Bush administration, the surgeon gen- eral — Richard Carmona, MD — was both a physician and a nurse, according to the report. Dr. Murthy was asked to resign after assisting with the transition between the Obama and Trump administra- tions, an HHS spokeswoman told The New York Times in an emailed statement. However, Alice Chen, MD, Dr. Mur- thy's wife, told the newspaper he was asked to resign, re- fused and was fired. On Facebook, Dr. Murthy said, "Many have asked why I chose not to resign as Surgeon General when I was asked to do so. My reason was simple: be- cause I would never willfully abandon my commitment to my Commissioned Corps officers, to the American peo- ple, and to all who have stood with me to build a healthier and more compassionate America." Dr. Trent-Adams "is the right person to step into this role," he added. Dr. Trent-Adams was serving as Dr. Murthy's deputy prior to her appointment as acting surgeon general. "She has dedicated the past 30 years to our nation serving in the Army and in the U.S. Public Health Service. Her deep wealth of experience is matched only by the immense size of her heart," Dr. Murthy wrote on Facebook. Prior to her role as deputy surgeon general, Dr. Trent-Adams served as CNO of the U.S. Public Health Service Commis- sioned Corps, according to her profile on the HHS website. Before that, she was deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS bureau of the Health Resources and Services Ad- ministration. She served as a nurse officer in the U.S. Army and a research nurse at the University of Maryland in Balti- more, where she earned her PhD. n Survey: 70% of Nurses Report Burnout in Current Position By Brian Zimmerman W hile the number of nursing jobs increased by 6 percent from 2012 to 2016, and is poised to in- crease an additional 7 percent from 3.6 million positions in 2017 to 3.9 million positions in 2021, the nurs- ing skills gap is also growing, according to a market analy- sis conducted by CareerBuilder. In an analysis of job postings, CareerBuilder found 1.7 million registered nurse job postings in the first quarter of 2017. However, among these postings, only 178,586 were unique, meaning each unique posting was upload- ed an average of 10 times, which is indicative of a highly competitive job market. With employers struggling to fill nursing job vacancies with qualified candidates, the workload for staffed nurses has increased, which may contribute to burnout. A survey involving more than 3,000 private sector employ- ees, including 93 nurses, conducted by Harris Poll on be- half of CareerBuilder, found 7 in 10 respondents reported burnout in their current roles. Still, despite high levels of emotional stress, nurses are largely satisfied with their jobs overall. Seventy-six percent of nurse respondents report- ing job satisfaction and 33 percent reported dissatisfaction with their career progress. "Nurses, the backbone of U.S. healthcare, often handle life or death situations, so this high level of stress may come as no surprise," said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder. "However, high levels of stress sus- tained over a long period of time can be a major detriment to one's health. Employers must ensure their nurses are get- ting the support they need, such as flexible schedules, ex- panded headcount or tools to deal with stress." The American Nurses Association designated this year's National Nurses Week — held May 6 to May 12 — the "Year of the Healthy Nurse" with a theme of "the balance between mind and spirit" to place an emphasis the health and well-being of these essential frontline providers. n

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