Workforce Shortages in Health Care: Attractive Employee Alternatives

WORKFORCE SHORTAGES IN HEALTHCARE
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Introduction
The recent challenge to America’s healthcare system is not an epidemic or an uncontrollable pathogen; rather, the healthcare system faces a serious and increasing shortage of healthcare personnel. Across the United States, hospitals continue to struggle in their efforts to identify and attract qualified workforce in order to serve the ever-growing needs of their surrounding communities (Andreoli, 1992). Various unfilled slots in the healthcare system put pressure in overall care delivery. Such unfilled positions range from nursing slots to pharmacy as well as laboratory positions. Additionally, pressure on provision of emergency care is felt at emergency and surgical departments forcing most hospitals to reduce their outpatient and inpatient capacities (Clifford, 1988, p.141).
Reasons for Workforce Shortage
Attractive Employee Alternatives
The greatest and most widespread reason for workforce shortage in the United States is competition for qualified healthcare professionals. The competition for qualified professionals is due to the numerous healthcare institutions that are ever-increasing. Every facility has to get the best of available talent in the industry (Berens, 2000a). As a result, the institutions end up competing to identify and attract the best workforce. In particular, healthcare professionals find themselves having a broad range of employment options from which to choose; this is unlike the past where only a few vacancies would be available for a large number of professionals. The healthcare institutions that can afford to pay huge perks to these professionals always attracted the best.
Favorable Working Conditions
On the other hand, increased work pressures is causing higher workforce turnover than before. Most healthcare institutions are suffering from financial squeeze as a result of Medicare and Medicaid cuts as well as growing drug and supply costs. The burden placed on these institutions make it impossible for them to offer generous working conditions that can retain the healthcare professionals (Buerhaus, 2000b). As a result, many hospital employees will leave for other attractive employment options; the employees might even consider leaving for other low-paying, but less pressure jobs elsewhere.
Insufficient Numbers in the Pipeline
The shortage of the workforce is also aggravated by insufficient number of graduates from the healthcare education pipeline. Normally, a student today will become a healthcare professional tomorrow. However, the current graduate pipeline has significantly dropped to alarming levels indicating serious deficiencies in the healthcare education sector. For example, the number of nursing school graduates has been dropping since 1996. As at 2000, the number of nursing school graduates at the entry-level Baccalaureate programs in nursing stood at 19,326; this figure represents a 20% drop in the uptake rate (Cichowski, 2000). Partly, academic institutions are to blame due to resource strains. Some of the reasons academic institutions give for not meeting standard enrollment figures include: faculty shortages, insufficient clin...