
HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsHealthStream's EMS Program offers a comprehensive, CAPCE accredited EMS course library that meets National Registry annual recertification.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreThe changing landscape of work in the healthcare industry has had ripple effects that go far beyond the current shortage of workers. This goes beyond temporary burnout and dissatisfaction – lifelong career plans have taken a hit, with 38.6% of nurses in a 2021 NurseGrid survey indicating they planned to leave the profession by 2022.1 Of these, 24.6% said they would simply leave bedside care, while 9% said they would change careers altogether and only 5% accounted for retirees.2 These survey results are in line with hospital turnover numbers, which increased overall in 2021 by 1.7% to 19.5%. In particular, nursing turnover increased 2.8% to 18.7%.3
The numbers fail to reveal a more pressing problem in healthcare. Employee recruitment and retention have been always a concern, but the current-day urgency has clouded the issue and led to many stopgap measures that are expensive and not viable in the long term. For this reason, it is imperative to focus on solutions that address healthcare worker concerns about their career satisfaction, their physical and mental wellbeing, and of course their competency and confidence in delivering exceptional care, even when floating to a different area of practice.
We’ve already seen indicators that the workforce is ready for a change. In 2020, almost half of the 25 million courses completed on the HealthStream platform were self-enrolled, suggesting an increased interest in learning autonomy.4 Further, 65% of new graduate nurses with less than one year of experience indicated they would be interested in using a digital mentor to help with course recommendations.4 The tide is changing, and clinical workers are already embracing new tools and skills that will help them meet future challenges.
Leaders must break the cycle and come up with novel ways to support
staff and, ultimately, improve recruitment and retention. Here
are three issues that must be addressed to ensure a path to a competent,
resilient staff.
Healthcare organizations have always faced the struggle of having to do more with less, all while maintaining the quality of care. In 2021, there was an average nursing vacancy rate of 10%, which has a tremendous impact on quality of care and outcomes. This is an unsustainable situation, one that most organizations have sought to remedy with “quick fixes,” such as filling the gaps with high-dollar traveling nurses and offering signing bonuses.
It is likely healthcare is looking at a new normal, one where they will need reliable strategies to combat ongoing high levels of turnover. Instead, the goal should be to move beyond reactive strategies and shift focus and energy to factors like new hire time-to-productivity. Bridging the school-to-practice gap is a complex process, one that includes steps many organizations still perform manually, so the opportunity for optimization is great. But there are also opportunities to ensure that all employees, whether its new hires or those floating from other practice areas, receive rapid onboarding that addresses their individual need for training.
The goal should be to ensure that 100% of a nurse’s time learning is purposeful in order to improve the time to bedside, which will require a focus on the following:
Individualized learning paths
Providing targeted and individualized training has always been
a problem in healthcare. In most cases, nurses are provided the
same training path, whether they are novice or expert. In an onboarding
scenario, this prolongs the time to productivity and
often leaves the clinician frustrated and dissatisfied in the process.
Technology and automation can be utilized to create personalized
learning paths that address the individual’s learning
journey and lead to more confident and capable caregivers.
Technology and peer networks
A rapid onboarding process should immediately enable your
staff with a variety of tools to succeed. It’s crucial for new nurses
to be a part of a strong community that educates and empowers,
one that provides access to knowledge and experience.
It’s also crucial to utilize technology that will make it possible to
scale appropriately without sacrificing quality or competency.
This is particularly true if we want to direct staffing to areas of
need. The need to foster a safe, encouraging community for
new nurses has always been there, but this has become foundational
to achieving larger goals in the post-pandemic world.
Standardization
When turnover is high, standardization is vital to ensure safe
care is provided and risk is avoided. According to Trisha Coady,
Senior Vice President and General Manager of Workforce
Development Solutions at HealthStream, “Without standards,
there is no logical basis for decision making or taking action.”
In this way, it becomes your staff’s “superpower,” according to
Coady, for optimizing preparedness and safe care during a
shortage. Implementation is easier when technology is utilized
to digitize processes and get rid of burdensome paper trails.
The pandemic has created a level of change and uncertainty that is unprecedented in healthcare. High turnover – and the crisis management solutions that have been used to combat the issue – could lead to a risk tsunami that healthcare organizations will struggle to overcome for decades.
Fortunately, we know that success always follows informed decision making. Leaders who have data and insights necessary to make informed decisions will be able to navigate complex staffing problems while maintaining quality care and eliminating unnecessary risks.
Outcomes-based solutions
The need to improve outcomes is a constant. While the pandemic
has added a new level of urgency, it’s worth noting that
healthcare leaders have for many years elevated the problem
of improving outcomes for high-risk, low volume events like maternal
mortality or cardiac arrest. Providing educational opportunities
is of course essential, but the solution is tied back to improving
critical thinking skills. Nurses who cross-train to fill gaps
in other areas will feel more confident and experience better
outcomes if they know how to apply fundamental knowledge
and problem-solving skills to inform their decision making.
Transition-to-practice
Supporting new nurses during their transition from student to
practice improves not only the nurses’ confidence and competence,
but also the facility’s bottom line. Nurse satisfaction
is directly tied to turnover rates, so anything that can be done
to reinvent the transition-to-practice process to better support
new nurses is impactful. If your transition support unavoidably lagged during the pandemic, now is the time to address the
issue, because it can reduce risk long-term and increase your
brand reputation as an employer of choice in a highly competitive
market.
Flexible scheduling
Flexibility and self-sufficiency are a key focus to ensure job satisfaction.
A number of surveys have indicated that nurses want
more flexibility in their scheduling, which comes as little surprise,
but this goes beyond the benefits of work-life balance. Flexible
scheduling and shift swaps also give employers enormous flexibility
in filling open shifts to a much broader pool of employees.
Additionally, if you have sufficient capacity to cover each shift,
high patient-nurse ratios are far less likely. These ratios can significantly
increase risk – one study in the Annals of Intensive
Care found there was a 95% probability that survival to hospital
discharge was more likely to occur when the maximum workload-
to-nurse ratio was less than 40.
As the healthcare workforce expands and diversifies, the future of clinical development will require solutions targeted to individual employee needs and expanded levels of support. From graduation to retirement, clinicians require continuous yet unique training opportunities, yet it can be difficult to provide a proper level of support with limited resources. Of course, this is difficult in most healthcare environments in the U.S., where resources are stretched and the average manager has 40 or more direct reports. One of the key areas to focus on will be empowering staff with tools and resources that allow them to provide the best care possible, set their own learning path, and stay compliant. In fact, most clinicians desire autonomy – in a survey of over 25.6 million courses completed on the HealthStream platform, almost half were self-enrolled, and 65% of new graduate nurses indicated they would be interested in using a digital mentor system that facilitates learning recommendations.
Innovative learning approaches
The workforce is changing – it is becoming more diverse and
more generations are active in the healthcare space than ever
before. When it comes to innovative learning, employers who
consider the needs of the multi-generational workforce will
fare better than those who don’t. Building a culture of safety
and self-efficacy in this complex environment will require giving
employees more autonomy to build their individualized learning
paths, more engagement touch points, and more technology to
accommodate these needs.
Recognition and career development
Healthcare is unique from other industries. Most clinicians will
have the same role or job title for life – if they graduate as a respiratory
therapist, they will retire as a respiratory therapist. It’s
a situation that requires more creative engagement strategies,
recognizing excellence and promoting career advancement. A
clinician who is recognized for their achievements and motivated
to develop their career is poised for success. This is where
automation and novel programs can be deployed to ensure as
many of your high-achieving staff as possible are recognized
for their accomplishments and given opportunities for career
development that will keep them satisfied and retained.
Education and cross-training/upskilling
Although the healthcare workforce has a unique set of needs,
that doesn’t mean organizational leaders can’t leverage the
growing trend of cross-training and upskilling as successfully as
in other industries. The pandemic has created a situation where
many clinicians are being asked, perhaps for the first time in
their careers, to move into new roles. This is a great example of
necessity creating opportunity. If these stop-gap measures are
expanded in a way that affords the workforce opportunities for
growth and achievement they’ve never experienced previously,
leaders could build back a workforce that is even more agile
and competent than ever before.
The healthcare industry has been forever changed in the last two years. The pandemic has accelerated and intensified issues among the clinical workforce, particularly nursing, forcing many organizations to rethink how they develop and retain staff. The current workforce shortage will be unlike past shortages in many ways, with an ever-widening experience gap, requiring new approaches to learning, scheduling, and upskilling, among others. It has been a difficult time, but organizations are also facing an opportunity to enact change that will set their future workforce on the path towards success for years to come. It may not be easy, but with the right tools and support, we are confident many organizations will meet these challenges head on and become leading forces for change.
For additional resources or to contact HealthStream to learn more proven solutions that address these challenges, please visit Building Back the Workforce.
References
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsHealthStream's EMS Program offers a comprehensive, CAPCE accredited EMS course library that meets National Registry annual recertification.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's Provider Credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products