Health Care Industry Is Dependent On Adequate Staffing

The annual turnover rate among health care employees is startling. Some turnover is unavoidable: people get married, move away, go back to school or retire. However, other types of turnover are preventable. According to the Human Resource Management Association, 20.4 percent of health care employees (one in five) quit their jobs every year. The number easily exceeds the

The challenges associated with the HRM i.e. human resource management includes the distribution and composition of health care work force. In addition to this, the issues related to the training of the work force are also a challenge for the human resource management. The relocation of the health workers is also a great concern. Moreover, the degree of economic development is also a great challenge that negatively impacts the level of performance shown by a health care organization. These challenges must be addressed properly in order to have an effective health care delivery anywhere in the world.

The National Healthcare Employee Union (NHEU) asserts that the hospital 's retention and recruiting efforts concerning nurse staffing is deficient. This deficiency has led to diminished patient care and more nurses quitting because of the fatigue of being overworked due to staffing shortages.

The debate continues as to whether or not America is really experiencing a healthcare workforce shortage. This debate continues to rage as commercial areas experience an overflow of healthcare professionals with the option to offer per diem employment to job seekers in these areas. However, rural areas continue to suffer from a lack of professional healthcare workers; specifically, those who specialize in specialist areas. The Alliance for Healthcare Reform (2011) has highlighted the following points as the factors which will be deemed responsible for this shortage:

The American Nurses Association say the shortage is the product of several trends, including: a diminishing pipeline of new students to nursing, a decline in RN/CNA earnings in comparison to other career option, aging nursing workforce and an aging population that will require health care services (Writer, 2016). With the shortage of staff and the baby boomers turning sixty and many already in retirement, healthcare staff members are going to have to pick up more shifts and a tougher workload. Healthcare industries need to focus on recruiting and retaining staff because hiring more nursing staff is expensive in the short term. But having too few staff leads to being burned out. Having the right amount of CNAs and nurses is essential for manageable workload distribution. Facilities need to prevent and protect current employed nursing staff from being overworked and stressing out because good health care workers only quit when they are overwhelmed. Most are afraid that they are not providing the best care anymore and feel like they can not do what they love the most anymore (Cimiotti, 2017).

With over 2 million jobs, registered nurses represent the largest health care occupation (Windle, 2008, p. 209). Although nurses are the biggest health care occupation, there continues to be a shortage in the United States. The shortage has worsened because of rising healthcare costs and a focus on cost containment, which has negatively impacted nurse work environments (Keeler and Cramer, 2007, p. 350). With demand for healthcare expecting to continue to increase and financial pressures becoming more burdensome, these shortages will likely become even more critical in coming years if not adequately addressed (Love et al., 2006, p. 558). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 1.2 million nurses will be required to fill new and vacated nursing positions by the end of 2014 (Windle, 2008, p. 209).

America is one of the most affluent countries in the world, but is also a nation that has a healthcare industry that is in much turmoil. One of the more pivotal influences of this turmoil is nurse turnover rate. Nurse turnover does not have a universal meaning, consequently making it difficult to associate turnover rates in healthcare facilities and geographical areas. In all actuality, “"Nurse turnover" is an undesirable trend for healthcare employers. It 's expensive, it 's disruptive, and it threatens the quality of care and patient safety” (Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi, and Jun (2014). All throughout America healthcare organizations demand a steady, extremely trained and completely engaged nursing staff to provide efficient levels of patient care. However, a budding shortage of experienced nurses has led the United States healthcare industry to a continual increase in the turnover rate among registered nurses. As a matter of fact, “Hospitals are experiencing an estimated 16.5% turnover rate of registered nurses (RNs), increased from 14.7% in 2012” (Yarbrough, Martin, and Alfred, 2014). Turnover costs of these leaving nurses are as much as a universal problem throughout the healthcare industry, occurring at staggering prices. According to Yarbrough, Martin, and Alfred (2014) “Estimates of RN turnover costs range from US$44,380 to US$63,400 per nurse—an estimated US$4.21 to US$6.02 million financial loss per year for hospitals.” This ascending trend in turnover rates is a clear

The nursing shortage in healthcare has been a highlighted issue for many years. With the ever-growing health care system, hospitals and healthcare facilities often find themselves searching for ways to acquire new nurses and retain their very own. Throughout the years, the number one solution to this problem remains the same: decreasing nurse turnover, and increasing nurse retention. This paper discusses the causes of high nurse turnover rate, the negative effects on health care, and ways to improve the turnover rate.

A significant amount of individuals experience job insecurity and are not satisfied with the job markets. Jobs in healthcare have taken a turn and seems to be dramatically downsizing. In the early to the middle of the 1990s, the health care sector in several countries engaged in restructuring and downsizing efforts to contain costs. Currently, health care was is the largest budget item in almost all countries. It is projected to increase in size as the population ages. Hospitals have become targets for cost reductions. Health care restructuring and downsizing are associated with greater job insecurity, low job satisfaction, higher levels of burnout, greater psychological distress, heavier workloads, greater attrition among nursing staff, lower

Retaining a stable and sufficient supply of nurses is an important hospital and nationwide concern. Numerous factors affecting retention of registered nurses comprises of practice autonomy, managerial respect, workload, and inclusion in decision making, flexible schedules, education, and pay (“Recruitment”, 2013). Hospitals not capable of retaining qualified registered nurses may result in the loss of experienced and knowledgeable staff. Additionally this will lower hospital productivity during this transition. High turnover rates for registered nursing staff may also impact job fulfillment and nursing moral altogether. Retaining qualified registered nurses will enhance patient care quality and satisfaction.

The researchers surveyed 3186 nurses on staff at 56 hospitals; 52 academic hospitals and 4 non-academic hospitals. The researchers compared the results of the nurses’ surveys with information about the location of the hospital (rural or urban), the hospital environment (managerial support, good relationships among team members, the nurses’ involvement in decision-making), the nurses’ educational levels, and the staffing (nurse:patient ratio). The researchers also interviewed nurse managers and leaders to evaluate their input on nurse retention and nursing shortages in a qualitative portion of the study. In the article “Effective strategies for nurse retention in acute hospitals: A mixed method study”, the researchers state “the results show that nurse staffing and the quality of the nurse practice environment (i.e. managerial support of nursing care, good relations between doctors and nurses, nurse participation in decision-making and organizational priorities on quality of care) are significantly associated with intention-to-leave the hospital” (Van den Heede et al., 2013, p. 192). This association is related with increase nurse satisfaction with environment and staffing is related to decreased intention to leave the hospital, or an inverse relationship. These researchers also shed light on the fact that Magnet hospitals have far better nurse retention and nurse satisfaction. Thus, focusing on and achieving a Magnet status can be an effective

Financial burden is a major barrier for most healthcare organizations. There are many factors forcing administration to find cost-effective solutions through innovate and technological advances. One way to improve financial burden is proper staffing. An effective way to improve staffing issues is through a float pool system which is proven to help improve understaffing (Larson, Sendelbach, Missal, Fliss, & Gillard, 2012). Float pool is considered a flexible resource option and can improve unit staffing in a health care organization (Larson et al., 2012). Using these type of innovate staffing models can reduce the financial burden. I believe creating a culture that accepts the challenge of change is very important. This can

According to Paller (2012), the nursing shortage in different countries for example the United States tends not to be the only growing problem, but has also become a complex one. Nursing shortage and nurse's turnover has become the worsening predicament in the health care industry in the United

The employee turnover in health care industry is very high. In fact in some of the US states, it is double the national average of 15.6%. The statistics related to employee turnover rate are highly alarming and are growing even worse day by day. While on the one hands it would appear that the chief reason behind this phenomenon is the relatively short supply of talented individuals or workers(Jones, 2000). But over time research has identified another important factor behind this phenomenon which is the mismanagement of human resources in health care sector. Limited talent supply coupled with poor human resource management have led to compounding the problem. Due to poor health care workforce management the turnover rate in this sector has remained high. An aging talent pool which is not being replaced at the rate it is depleting has compounded the problems being faced by the health care industry.

A continuous concern that continues to present itself within the healthcare environment is adequate staffing on nursing units. Most hospital organizations try their very best to accommodate staffing needs, though many units remain understaffed for an unspecified amount of time. Inadequate staffing can negatively affect patient outcomes, lead to nurse burnout, and decrease patient satisfaction scores. Combating this issue will require a great deal of effort, as many geographical face nursing shortages when seeking new graduates and qualified candidates. Employees may begin to feel that they are unable to pursue personal goals within a healthcare organization, due to inability to transfer as a result of staffing shortages. This often results in nursing seeking employment or career advancement outside of the organization or geographical area, which further intensifies ramification associated with inadequate staffing.