As the COVID-19 pandemic continues infecting thousands of people daily in the United States, healthcare facilities face staff shortages that threatens their ability to treat critical patients [1]. Decreases in the numbers of nurses and other essential staff, such as drivers with the ability to deliver oxygen to hospitals, stand to exacerbate this crisis [2]
This problem is especially pronounced in southern and southwestern states, where more than 20% of hospitals were experiencing critical staffing shortages of healthcare providers at the end of August, despite high COVID-19 rates [3]. Due to low vaccination rates in these regions, they also stand to be more adversely impacted by shortages [4]. In August, Alabama hospitals ran out of ICU beds to offer patients, while Oklahoma had to send patients to other states to handle an unmanageable influx of COVID-19 patients [3]. Since then, the infection rate has decreased in the country, but COVID-19-related hospitalizations continued to rise in Ohio, Montana, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Alaska [2]. The pandemic is far from over [2].
Mental and physical strain are some of the principal reasons explaining the loss of healthcare staff during the pandemic [2]. Over the last eighteen months, workers have become increasingly exhausted. On a given day, they may witness multiple patients die [1]. Quantitative studies confirm the widespread fatigue felt by the healthcare profession. A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post reported that 60% of healthcare workers have experienced burnout and 30% have considered quitting their jobs to work in another industry [4].
Accordingly, the US health system’s ability to deal with the pandemic could worsen in the coming months. The nurse shortage in particular demonstrates the direness of this situation. Before the pandemic, the country already faced a deficit of nurses [5]. Now, more than 1,200 nurses have died due to COVID-19, while others have stepped away from their positions [5]. The ability to replenish these lost workers is also limited. Because only 170,000 nurses can be trained each year, 80,000 qualified applicants are left without schooling because of inadequate numbers of teaching staff [5]. Given the aging baby-boomer population, the cracks that have started to show during the pandemic will widen unless drastic measures are taken to increase the nursing workforce [5].
With a decreased workforce of healthcare workers, emergency rooms and intensive care units become filled, hampering hospitals’ abilities to new admit patients [5]. In August, 20% of national ICUs were at 95% capacity [5]. This overflow of patients diminishes workers’ abilities to maintain adequate standards of care [5]. In Alaska, shortages have kept some patients from receiving the assistance needed to save their lives [2]. While hospital systems once feared that resource shortages would keep them from treating their patients, now, resources lie unused as hospitals scramble for staff.
To combat healthcare staff shortages, hospital systems have introduced some incentives to attract workers and support COVID-19 care [4]. In Texas, California, and New York, nurses have been offered hourly wages of up to $150, along with covered housing and transportation expenses, in exchange for their assistance [4]. Other systems have offered workers retention bonuses or further supplemented salaries [1]. Unfortunately, smaller hospitals lack the resources to incentivize workers in the same way, creating gaps between areas where the demand is high but the ability to satiate it is low and areas that may have had more resources to begin with [4].
The healthcare staff shortage is a crisis with no clear solution nor end in sight. For now, hospital and clinical systems can only hope that COVID-19 infections drop, affording healthcare workers the respite they require to continue providing their essential services to the country.
References
[1] The Associated Press, “Hospitals Face A Shortage Of Nurses As COVID Cases Soar,” NPR, Updated August 10, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026577164/hospitals-face-a-shortage-of-nurses-as-covid-cases-soar.
[2] J. Harte and S. Bernstein, “Some U.S. hospitals forced to ration care amid staffing shortages, COVID-19 surge,” Reuters, Updated September 17, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/some-us-hospitals-forced-ration-care-amid-staffing-shortages-covid-19-surge-2021-09-17/.
[3] M. Guenot, “Hospitals in states struggling with COVID-19 are facing severe staff shortages due to burnout, with 2 saying patient beds are going unused,” Business Insider, Updated August 18, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.businessinsider.com/hospitals-staff-shortages-pandemic-burnout-2021-8.
[4] L. Romero and J. Bhatt, “Pandemic has made shortage of health care workers even worse, say experts,” ABC News, Updated May 21, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://abcnews.go.com/US/pandemic-made-shortage-health-care-workers-worse-experts/story?id=77811713.
[5] A. Jacobs, “‘Nursing Is in Crisis’: Staff Shortages Put Patients at Risk,” The New York Times, Updated August 21, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/21/health/covid-nursing-shortage-delta.html.
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