Meagan Cline. Author
Healthcare Heroes
Every day, millions of people put on their scrubs and go to work in the healthcare industry. Dedicated healthcare workers spend their time helping patients and families through some of the most difficult situations imaginable. Unfortunately, healthcare heroes are often forgotten when it comes to policies, protocols, and even legislation.
On this page, National Injury Center will highlight stories from healthcare heroes on the inside. What healthcare workers go through, the environments they work in, and what the healthcare industry can do to improve conditions for everyone in the healthcare sector.
Healthcare Heroes Share Stories from the Inside
National Nursing Shortage Reportedly Due to Hospital Industry Failings
National Nurses United reports that the nursing shortage in the U.S. is not all that it seems. Rather than being an actual shortage, NNU reports that there is actually a shortage of nurses who are willing to compromise their ethics or licenses by working in unsafe conditions created by the hospital industry. NNU reports that hospitals are deliberately understaffing, which is resulting in a shortage of nurses qualified to care for their patients.
Nurses also report a lack of safety and health precautions for nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many nurses have stepped down to protect themselves. A report in the DailyNurse says,
“The hospital industry is crying false tears over the lack of nurses willing to stay in direct care when these untenable working conditions are entirely of their own making. For decades and even before Covid, the hospital industry has driven nurses away from direct nursing care in multiple ways.”
The report goes on to say that the problems in hospitals are of their own making. It says,
“Hospitals intentionally understaff every unit, every shift with fewer numbers of nurses than is actually required to safely and optimally care for the numbers of admitted patients and their severity of illness. Hospitals do this to maximize profits and excess revenue. Hospital administrators prefer to staff shifts with a bare-bones number of nurses, which often fails to account for deterioration in patient conditions; new admissions, transfers, and discharges; coordination of care with other departments; the need for nurses to safely take meal and rest breaks; and other complicating factors. Instead of scheduling greater numbers of nurses to ensure that each RN has a manageable workload and patients are safely and properly cared for, hospitals have historically routinely forced the nurses on duty to sacrifice their own health and safety and make morally distressing choices about how to allocate their available time for nursing care.”
The NNU believes that the way hospitals can rectify the shortage is by providing safe and optimal working conditions for all levels of nursing staff. Furthermore, ensuring proper training and infection control helps protect nurses, who are often the frontline of care for patients.
Source:
Physician Assistants Report High Levels of Burnout
A study in the Journal of the American Academy of PAs (JAAPA) says that over one-third of physician assistants (PAs) meet the criteria for burnout. This is alarming given that burnout can lead to depression and is a key contributor to medical errors. The study proves that PA burnout needs to be addressed internally in order to prevent medical errors and ensure a high quality of patient care.
According to the study, 34% of PAs responding met the criteria for burnout, including:
- 46% were exhausted
- 30% have interpersonal disengagement
- 13% have moderate to severe anxiety
- 6% have depression
- 80% of PAs report making at least one mistake during their career
Unfortunately, less is known about PA burnout than among physicians and other healthcare providers. Researchers note:
“Burnout and depression occur at high rates among physicians and other healthcare providers, with important implications for quality of care, patient safety, and retention of qualified professionals. But less is known about burnout and depression among PAs, who play an increasingly important role in providing patient care.”
More research is needed to truly understand PA burnout and address its impact on patient safety and care.
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COVID-19 Highlights Certain Data and Analytics Failures
Healthcare providers across the United States continue to report failings related to COVID-19. Data collection and analysis is one of the major failings that doctors report. Doctors report a lack of standardized data collection and analysis, which has led to frustration and inaccurate data reporting. Dr. Oscar Marroquin, Chief Healthcare Data and Analytics Officer at UPMC Pittsburgh says the following:
“The limited interoperability of healthcare data that we have in this country has proven to be an Achilles’ heel in our ability to track things systematically.”
Donna Roach, CIO of University of Utah Health agrees, saying:
“The main barrier we ran into was a lack of centralization when reporting to the various county health departments. In the future, a more centralized reporting repository is needed and the flow of data should be the same whether it’s coming from the hospital to the state or the state to the hospital — this will benefit the overall community.”
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Nurses Report Being Overwhelmed, Broken
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the nursing industry like nothing ever has. With hospitalization rates double or triple normal rates, nurses continue to report burnout, being overwhelmed, and feeling broken.
Shannon Hoffmeyer, ICU nurse at Capital Region in Jefferson City says:
“We are simply breaking under the pressure. I don’t know how many people have to continue to die from this for the public to realize we really really need their help. I’ve literally had families have to watch their loved one die on a phone call or standing at a doorway, like they’re some zoo display animal, and watch them suffocate. And we try to make them as comfortable as they can because they haven’t been there.”
In areas where nurses are already in short supply, the strain from the pandemic is causing many nurses to leave their jobs. This could have long term effects on the healthcare industry and availability in those areas.
Source:
- https://www.fox19.com/2021/08/15/we-are-simply-breaking-nurses-overwhelmed-covid-cases-trend-upward/
Meagan Cline is a professional legal researcher and writer. She lends her expertise to NIC and our websites, including Birth Injury Guide and MedMalFirm.com.