At Jogan Health, we help nurses, physicians, and healthcare workers the nation over with job placement, transportation, lodging, and insurance because we believe that they are what keeps the healthcare system running. As we’ve said before, we are fond of the idea that people are the true power behind any organization, and so we strive to elevate our employees and response teams every chance we get. However, we would be remiss not to mention some of the more worrying effects of prolonged healthcare work, including anxiety, depression, and general burnout.
Considering the demanding hours and stressful environment nurses and healthcare providers were subjected to during the COVID pandemic, it’s not strange that burnout has been affecting healthcare employees at even higher rates than regular workers. It’s a factor that has the potential to determine the future of American healthcare at large.
In December, a study by influential consulting firm WittKieffer found that 75% of surveyed healthcare professionals were feeling burned out during the end of 2022. This is a big shift when we compare it to a mere four years earlier. In 2018, what now seems a measly 60% reported burnout symptoms.
Why The Shift?
The obvious answer is COVID, but it’s a reductive one. It doesn’t make room for the burden the healthcare system was feeling prior to the pandemic.
For example, as early as 2020 — when the pandemic was just starting — data already showed a looming physician shortage in the United States. This is a compounding issue that is expected to continue well into the 2030’s.
A nursing shortage has been apparent since the 40’s and 50’s, due to the aging out of boomer professionals. And while this might have been accelerated by the intensive hours this workforce was subjected to during the pandemic, it was a problem the healthcare community would have to deal with at one point or another.
It is possible that the reason for this acceleration is the burnout we mentioned previously. What we do know is that depression and anxiety — two of the symptoms of burnout — are also two of the main contributors to mental health deterioration and missed working days. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety globally, at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost revenue.
Furthermore, career guidance service JobSage polled over 2000 working Americans and found that 28 percent claimed they’d left a job in the last two years because of its impact on their mental health. If these numbers reflect real population trends, it could mean that nearly two in five Americans have considered quitting for this reason. This drives home what a profound effect factors like burnout and poor mental health could have on the healthcare community at large.
What Can Hospitals and Medical Facilities Do About Burnout?
If you’re an administrator or a physician, you might feel at a loss. After all, these trends seem to progress despite what individuals do about them. Jogan Health can offer you and your organization a range of solutions to help with these industry-wide issues.
We offer healthcare staffing services to medical partners, hospitals, and facilities the nation over, prioritizing both local and traveling positions. This might be the perfect solution to any burnout nurses and assistants might be experiencing at your facility, as traveling applicants visiting a new city will seek out fresh experiences to keep themselves engaged.
Traveling Applicants are the Answer to Burnout and Shortages
Being in a new place, complete with a different culture and perhaps even varying climate, can lead to a burgeoning social life full of fun tourist experiences. The excitement of this temporary home can provide relief for stressed employees who are often subject to overwhelming workloads. What’s more, we specialize in matching providers with the medical environments that work best with their specific skill sets.
Our job board is tailored with this applicability in mind! This all means one thing: Hiring traveling healthcare employees helps improve the chances that an applicant’s work and social life will remain both engaging and in balance with each other.
The Bottom Line
You’re not alone! Jogan Health’s team is on your side. We were founded on the principle of helping communities in need during healthcare staffing shortages. We delivered hospital surge staffing and public health services to medical facilities and communities all over the country. Contact us today!
