Holon Solutions, a healthcare technology company, released new survey findings that provide insight into the current state of burnout and turnover in the healthcare industry, as well as how healthcare workers feel about rising administrative tasks and healthcare technologies.
According to the survey results, 77% of healthcare workers are experiencing burnout, with the top three reasons being not enough people to get the work done (70%), high demands from patients (48%) and too many patients (41%). Time constraints caused by time-consuming patient notes, summaries and charting (56%), as well as data entry (37%) are leading care teams to spend less time with patients. All this is contributing to a continued mass exodus from the field, with 62% of healthcare workers having considered leaving their role or the industry altogether.
The survey also found that healthcare workers are spending 34% of their time on administrative work, which is a major contributor to burnout, and 72% stated that they would be very or extremely interested in technology that cuts down the time of administrative work, including 75% of nurses surveyed.
The survey also asked healthcare professionals about their concerns for their role in the next one to two years. The top three concerns were increasing workload (65%), navigating new protocols (13%) and keeping up with innovations/new technologies (10%).
Amidst some of the largest nursing strikes the healthcare industry has ever seen because of increased workloads for not enough compensation, the survey found that the #1 reason healthcare workers, including 66% of nurses surveyed, stayed in their role was a competitive salary and benefits package.
51% say their jobs have become more difficult in the past year. Top causes of burnout are:
– – Not enough people to get the work done (70%)
– – High demands from patients (48%)
– – Too many patients (41%)
– – Unhappy with management (37%)
– – Too much administrative work (30%)
18% of healthcare workers left a job in the last year. The top 3 reasons people left jobs in healthcare in the last year are:
– – Unhappy with management (57%)
– – Not enough people to get the work done (46%)
– – Not enough time to focus on patients (36%)
How healthcare workers are spending their time:
– – For patient-facing healthcare workers, 50% of their time is spent on patient care, 32% on admin, 12% on education/training, and 5% on other tasks.
– – For all healthcare workers, 40% of their time is spent on patient care, 34% on admin, 15% on education/training, and 9% on other tasks.
– – 46% of healthcare workers say patient care is most responsible for making them work overtime, with administrative care as the secondary reason at 35%
Healthcare workers want technology that cuts down on admin work.
– – The biggest benefits healthcare workers value most in new technologies are decreasing duplicate work (50%), followed closely by simpler navigation through user interface/design (49%) and cutting down on administrative work (47%)
– – 72% of healthcare workers are very or extremely interested in new technology that would cut down time spent on administrative work (75% of nurses)
– – 59% of healthcare workers believe the industry is more focused on technology than humans
Admin work is taking precious time away from treating patients. The most cumbersome daily administrative tasks, ranked by healthcare workers are:
– – Charting, appointment notes and documentation
– – Scheduling/rescheduling appointments
– – Messaging with patients
The top pain points related to prior authorization are:
– – It’s a slow process (49%)
– – Human errors (41%) – – Time intensive paperwork (37%)
Is Gen-Z driving the staffing shortage in healthcare?
– – Gen-Z is the cohort most likely to have left a job in the last year (38% vs. 21% were millennials, 14% were Gen-X, 6% were Boomers)
– – 70% of Gen-Z healthcare workers who left a job in healthcare in the last year did so because they were unhappy with management
– – Gen-Z are thinking about leaving the healthcare industry more than other generations (44% of them have considered it vs. 31% of millennials, 30% of Gen-X and 31% of Boomers)