Patient Safety

Nurse burnout is extremely common. The American Nurses Association found that 62% of nurses experience burnout. The rate is even higher among younger nurses at 69%. With two-thirds of nurses experiencing burnout, what can we do?

Pennsylvania’s new nurse staffing, or ‘safe staffing,’ mandate went into effect on July 1, 2023—requiring a minimum number of care staff at nursing homes per shift, per resident. This is the first mandate of its kind in Pennsylvania, and it is the latest in a push to ensure patients are receiving adequate care and that nurses have sufficient staffing and resources to be successful at their job.

Healthcare organizations and facilities generally serve many different patients. These patients belong to different demographics, such as age or race, or have a range of complex diagnoses or health needs, such as food insecurity or homelessness.

Patient Safety Awareness Week is around the corner on March 12-18, 2023! This is a time to promote best practices in patient safety, educate all who contribute to patient safety, and reflect on internal policies to ensure healthcare organizations are providing the best possible care for patients.

Patient Safety Awareness Week was first observed in 2002 by the National Patient Safety Foundation, which merged with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in 2017.

Many healthcare organizations that have weathered the pandemic are now focusing on diversity as their next high priority. As human resources and other healthcare leaders seek to implement specific strategies, here are three key elements you must keep in mind.

1. Create SMART Goals

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in healthcare can look different across communities and facilities. This can make success more challenging to define. However, that does not mean that diversity strategies have to be nebulous.

Workplace violence is an all-too-common occurrence in healthcare. In addition to threats of violence from coworkers that exist in each workplace, healthcare workers are often the targets of violent behavior from patients and visiting family or friends.

An entire healthcare organization can benefit when medical staff services and HR align.

A medical staff services office comprises medical staff professionals (MSPs) and credentialing specialists. They are responsible for credentialing and privileging medical staff members, keeping up with medical staff bylaws, and more.

In contrast, HR managers and employees are often responsible for promoting employee hiring and retention initiatives, managing financial matters such as payroll, and making sure healthcare regulations are followed.

The last two years introduced more changes and challenges to healthcare organizations than ever before. The pandemic tested healthcare employees, who worked to the point of burnout to save lives, and highlighted severe inequities in the quality of and access to care for historically disadvantaged groups. Add to that the explosive growth of telehealth, which is reinventing healthcare delivery.

Staff burnout in 2021 has reached crisis levels, threatening the health of organizations, providers, and patients across the country. Since the start of the pandemic, between 60 percent and 75 percent of clinicians have reported conditions that include exhaustion, depression, sleep disorders, and anxiety, according to Dr. Victor Dzau, President of the National Academy of Medicine, at a November webinar hosted by U.S. News & World Report.

The use of telehealth peaked in 2020 during the shutdown. It has since settled down but remains a popular option, as research demonstrates that telehealth usage today is 38 times higher than it was before the pandemic. That could have a big impact on the future of healthcare.