Mid-Year 2024 Healthcare Staffing Challenges

Healthcare plays a fundamental role in every society, worldwide. The industry is powered by healthcare workers who provide care and services both patient-facing and administrative. Therefore, healthcare staffing shortages on the horizon foretell challenges for the industry.

If you are a healthcare executive concerned about the lifeblood of your organization, where should you begin understanding and addressing potential or current healthcare staffing shortages? Read below to learn more about the current healthcare staffing challenges, some causes, and ongoing solutions.

The Growing Demand for Healthcare Services

Even before the pandemic, the healthcare industry faced issues which led to shortages, including limited education, burnout, and an aging population. After the pandemic, however, many of these issues have been exacerbated.

According to the American Hospital Association, the next ten years may see a healthcare labor gap in the US by about 200,000 nurses and 124,000 physicians.¹ Worldwide, there is projected to be a shortage of 10 million healthcare professionals, with developing countries being the most affected.²

These shortages have major consequences. Many organizations may face the inability to grow as staffing struggles hold them back and issues remain. Of the healthcare workers who remain, many are burning out at a faster rate than usual.³

Many smaller healthcare organizations are being consolidated. For instance, Risant Health, a nonprofit subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente, recently acquired Geisinger, a Pennsylvania-based healthcare system.⁴ According to the Harvard Business Review, the increase in consolidations after the pandemic is likely driven by the desire to increase sufficiency and reduce costs, ultimately leading to a higher quality of care.⁵ Although the HBR is skeptical that increased consolidations will solve these issues, a writer from Forbes predicts that consolidations will increase.⁶

What Roles are Most Affected by Healthcare Staffing Shortages?

Physicians and nurses are facing the largest shortage. NCHWA projects an overall shortage of 139,940 physicians.

The NCHWA predicts through to 2036, there will be a shortage of 337,970 registered nurses (RNs) and 99,070 licensed practical nurses (LPNs). This equates to a projected shortage of 14% in nonmetropolitan areas and 8% in metropolitan areas.

Allied healthcare also faces shortages. NCHWA projects the following shortages in many allied health occupations:

• 46,630 dispensing opticians
• 6,710 respiratory therapists
• 6,510 physical therapists
• 4,980 pharmacists
• 4,400 podiatrists
• 4,080 chiropractors⁷

Because the educational timeline for healthcare professionals is long, especially for physicians and RNs, many healthcare experts believe it is best to begin mitigating these potential shortages now by expanding healthcare education programs.

Largest Reasons for Staffing Setbacks in the Healthcare Industry

The reason for current healthcare shortages is multi-pronged. Some of the biggest factors include healthcare professional burnout, an aging workforce, and insufficient educational pipelines.

Mental Health & Burnout

The aftermath of the pandemic has led to increased burnout among healthcare professionals. AMN Healthcare recently conducted a survey in Pennsylvania and found that 72% of nursing leaders said they sometimes or always experience burnout.⁸ This number is up from 50% of nursing leaders who experienced burnout in 2019.

The healthcare profession has come to be associated with long work hours and emotional stress surrounding high-impact decision making. Burnout may also be attributed to staffing shortages, meaning healthcare professionals are feeling the increased strain. This, in turn, leads to greater burnout, which exacerbates the problem.

Education

Studies show that many healthcare education colleges struggled to adapt to online learning when the COVD-19 pandemic hit.⁹ Therefore, many students were unable to go through the healthcare education system, as in-person clinical training was paused. This disruption may have contributed to a wide gap in healthcare professionals in 2024.

A lack of healthcare staffing has also led to a lack of healthcare instructors. A report by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) found that in 2022, 78,191 nursing school applications for bachelor’s to PhD nursing programs were denied among the pool of qualified students.¹⁰ This may make it harder to fill staffing shortages in the future.

Aging Population

In the U.S., people are living longer than before. The median age at the last census was 38.9.¹¹ That number is expected to go up. As people live longer and older, they require more healthcare, increasing the amount of healthcare workers needed to care for the population.

Technology

Many healthcare organizations are embracing emerging technologies to tackle healthcare challenges — especially machine learning and technology meant to assist in remote healthcare. However, veteran healthcare workers may find it difficult to adapt to changing technology. This has led to many healthcare workers opting to switch professions, rather than adapt to changes.

While there is no single reason why there is a current healthcare shortage, it’s clear the environment workers find themselves in is rife with obstacles which must be addressed.

Possible Solutions to Address the 2024 Healthcare Staffing Challenges

Encouragingly, the healthcare sector is aware of the current and upcoming healthcare worker shortage and is taking active steps to mitigate potential fallbacks. Already, the healthcare sector is quickly moving to address the shortages. March of 2024 alone saw 72,300 new healthcare positions filled, making it the fastest growing sector for that month.¹²

Some solutions to healthcare staffing shortages include:

Responsibility Delegation

One of the main drivers of healthcare worker burnout is a heavy workload. Oftentimes, overworked physicians find themselves delegating tasks to PAs or RNs, who in turn delegate tasks to NAs or other allied healthcare professionals. Many healthcare organizations are reevaluating their institution’s structure to understand what positions they’re missing. Hiring for these positions and adjusting responsibilities may help to curb worker burnout.

Remote Work

For many industries, allowing workers to perform certain tasks remotely has proven to significantly improve the mental health of those professionals. Studies have shown that remote work can have a positive impact on mental health, productivity, and work/life balance.¹³ The increased use of remote care may mean many healthcare professionals face less overwhelming burnout in their day-to-day.

New Technology

Many healthcare organizations are embracing new technology to combat healthcare shortages. AI is being incorporated into many healthcare tasks, both patient-facing and administrative. This technology may make tedious healthcare tasks easier, alleviating the workload of healthcare professionals and addressing burnout.

Diversity and Inclusion

More and more, healthcare organizations are embracing diversity and inclusion, making the healthcare sector a healthier work environment for those who work inside of it.

Additionally, many organizations are embracing immigrant healthcare workers, as immigrants and children of immigrants make up a huge portion of the healthcare workforce. Indeed, although children of immigrants make up 6% of the workforce, they make up 13% of physicians, surgeons, and healthcare professionals.¹⁴ These statistics have become part of the conversation surrounding immigrant policy making.

Education Initiatives

Many states are funding education initiatives to address the healthcare worker shortage. For instance, in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis has proposed $247 million bill that would fund various healthcare education programs.¹⁵ The state hopes these funds will address the overwhelming shortage of healthcare workers the state is currently experiencing.

Nationally, many healthcare education institutions are embracing their remote learning capabilities. With online learning, healthcare professionals can get training from wherever they are — even remote areas, where healthcare shortages are felt the most.

Endless Opportunities to Grow

While the U.S. is facing a shortage of healthcare workers, particularly among nurses, physicians, and allied healthcare professionals, many institutions are making steps to mitigate the shortage. These steps include evaluating responsibilities, caring for workers’ mental health, and funding education for new and current healthcare workers. These initiatives among organizations and governments have led to healthcare being the sector with the greatest number of new hires in March of 2024.

As new technology continues to mature, it’s possible new challenges may emerge. Leaders in healthcare are encouraged to stay vigilant to prepare to work through new challenges as they come. Despite the obstacles that may come from staffing shortages, these gap areas provide potential opportunities for the sector to grow and evolve.