How Financial Wellness Benefits can Tackle Staffing Shortages in Healthcare

When companies are short-staffed, employees are often overwhelmed and overworked. This burden on employees may lead to critical errors in performing day-to-day responsibilities and decreased productivity. Few industries have higher stakes than healthcare, where errors can result in poor patient care and potentially life-threatening situations for patients. 

As healthcare employers deal with long-standing staffing shortages made worse by COVID-19, they should consider how to better support employees.  

A Look at Staffing Shortages in Healthcare 

Healthcare employers have struggled with staffing shortages for some time, but the challenge has grown exponentially throughout the pandemic as healthcare workers have been overworked and overwhelmed. A poll conducted by Morning Consult in September 2021 of 1000 healthcare workers indicated that of those represented, nearly one in five healthcare workers left their jobs during the pandemic.¹

Staffing shortage issues don’t seem likely to go away any time soon, either. According to a 2021 study conducted by Mercer, healthcare staffing shortages will likely continue for the next five to 10 years.²

According to ECRI, the nation’s largest nonprofit patient safety organization, insufficient staffing levels put a strain on healthcare employees, impact patient care and pose a threat to patient safety. ³ These strains on a short-staffed medical team can lead to medical errors and higher patient mortality rates.⁴

In a 2022 release on patient safety concerns, ECRI reported healthcare staffing shortages as a top threat to patient safety, stating that patients are waiting longer for care—even in life-threatening emergencies—and sometimes even being turned away.⁵