The healthcare system faces various challenges that prevent service delivery across the country. One of the major issues with this sector is the workforce shortage and discontent. Many healthcare facilities are facing this challenge with many workers complaining about huge workloads or poor working conditions. Those problems threaten the delivery of quality healthcare as many professionals are unable to work to the maximum standards. Various factors lead to the shortages and discontent experienced in many healthcare facilities. Those causes include poor leadership, low pay and lack of other benefits for workers, and lack of proper communication among various stakeholders. Workforce shortage and discontent affect three main healthcare pillars namely, quality, cost, and accessibility which are critical to service delivery. However, government bodies and hospital management take various measures like adopting servant leadership, promoting innovation among healthcare workers, and changing the scope of practice. Workforce shortage and discontent is a major healthcare issue requiring proper intervention and leadership skills to minimize its effect.
Purpose of Study
The study is aimed at analyzing shortages and discontent among healthcare workers and how they impact service delivery. Researchers state various factors as the likely cause of this problem. They include poor leadership skills among hospital managements, low graduation in medical schools, and the mismatch between workers’ demands and the existing wage rates. This analysis will help the reader understand the root of the problem before devising possible solutions. The report also aims at explaining the impact of servant leadership in tackling the workforce shortage and discontent in the healthcare sector. This information includes the qualities of a servant leader and how such an administrator can address workers’ concerns.
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Workforce Shortage and Discontent in Healthcare
Many healthcare facilities are struggling with employee shortages or the inability to keep the current workforce content. This situation has led to many hospitals unable to provide healthcare in the right quality and quantity. In terms of quality, lack of enough workers translates to each healthcare professional serving excess patients and thus experiencing burnout or stress. Those conditions will make the worker not give the patient enough attention leading to inadequate treatment. On the other hand, inadequate healthcare professionals make many patients unable to access services leading to many deaths. Various factors are contributing to workforce shortage and discontent. First, there are constant disagreements between healthcare workers and government bodies or administrations in various facilities (Plank, 2018) . Healthcare workers have complained that government bodies or the management of various hospitals are leaving them behind in formulating different policies that affect the former’s operations. The difference between the leadership in a healthcare facility and the workers’ demands will lead the latter to oppose many policies the former formulates. Secondly, the number of those graduating from medical schools is low as compared to the demand in the healthcare sector. With the rise in the cost of education for healthcare courses, many students are opting for other careers and thus denying the former the appropriate number. Better remuneration and career development in other sectors are also forcing many students to desert nursing courses. The third factor contributing to the shortage and discontent of healthcare workers is lower pay and poor working condition, especially in public facilities. Negotiation between those workers and the government has failed to bear fruits with the former demanding more than the latter could afford. Managers of various healthcare facilities may also possess wrong leadership styles like autocracy when approaching workers’ concerns. This mismatch is forcing many healthcare professionals to seek better terms in the private sector or relocating to other countries. Workforce shortage and discontent in the healthcare sector affect three major pillars namely, access, cost, and quality in service delivery.
Access
The United States is experiencing an increasing population due to the improved healthcare system and proper nutrition. This phenomenon has led to an increase in the number of people seeking health services across the country. However, the federal and state governments are experiencing the challenges of recruiting enough workers to serve the growing population. Many healthcare facilities are experiencing pressure in providing healthcare services as the number of patients to caregivers significantly exceeds the recommended ratio (Winter, 2020) . Therefore, many patients spend many hours while waiting for medical services and thus endangering their lives. The two levels of government are also lagging in terms of providing facilities, equipment, and medicine across the country and thus limiting the access to healthcare by the entire population. Low-income areas bear the brunt of this problem with many of their residents scrambling for the little resources their healthcare facilities offer. Lack of enough resources is also forcing professionals in this sector fail to offer the proper care to patients as people outnumber the amount available.
Cost
Remuneration is one of the major problems that is forcing the healthcare system to experience a shortage of the workforce. Many professionals are demanding an increase in pay, allowances, and other benefits with the government unable to meet many of those demands. This situation has led many workers to move to the private sector or other countries with better terms. Healthcare workers are also demanding proper working conditions that will allow them to deliver quality services to patients. To solve this problem, the government may result to increasing the cost of healthcare to cater for salaries, allowances, and other benefits to medical professionals. This action has left many low-income citizens unable to afford proper healthcare resulting in increased deaths.
Quality
`Lack of enough healthcare workers is lowering the quality of healthcare Americans receive. Those professionals demand better pay and good working condition which the government at both the federal and regional levels may be unable to meet. This situation forces many to see employment in the private sector or other countries with better remuneration. Those left in public facilities have to cope with the enormous number of patients and thus unable to provide the proper care. Healthcare professionals also may lack enough resources to provide quality services due to inadequate funding.
Innovative Strategies to Solving Workforce Shortage and Discontent
Proper Communication and Negotiation with Workers
There has been a lack of proper communication or good working relationship between the workforce and the management in many healthcare facilities. This situation has led to many professionals in this sector failing to pass their issues to relevant bodies and thus resulting in an increased turnover. The management in every healthcare facility needs to develop a simplified system where workers' concerns reach them on time. The Department of Health and Human Services and the management of various healthcare facilities also need to look into issues workers in this sector raise to increase retention while avoiding turnover (Winter, 2018) . Many administrators and government agencies may use confrontational methods while tackling issues some healthcare workers raise and thus leading to constant disagreements. Government bodies and the management in various hospitals need to change the autocratic leadership to the ones that allow the input of healthcare workers. Some of those leadership skills include servant or democratic leadership that is put more emphasis on the contributions of every stakeholder in policy-formulation. These types of leadership will ease the policy-formulation and provide proper working relation between the management and the workforce as the input of every stakeholder gets recognition.
Change in the Scope of Practice
Various laws prohibit non-physicians from performing primary care to patients. This leaves healthcare professionals with a huge workload which can result in burnout and finally the discontent. Every state has laws that regulate the roles each stakeholder has to play in the healthcare sector. However, there is a need to formulate policies that ensure redistribution of tasks to various workers in the healthcare system thus reducing the workload professionals has to bear. First, hospitals can train non-physicians on the basic concepts in healthcare services and how to undertake certain medical issues. Such workers can reduce the burden healthcare workers have to bear in serving many patients. Some of the tasks non-physicians can perform include lab preparation, client data entry and the provision of tools clinicians require in treatment.
Promoting Innovation among Healthcare Workers
The management in every healthcare facility needs to formulate policies that promote innovation and creativity among healthcare professionals as a way of reducing the workload on those workers. Many hospital administrations and government bodies have for long relied on a small group of professionals to formulate various modes of operation in the healthcare system. This situation limits the development of new ideas that could increase the efficiency of healthcare service delivery. Healthcare professionals with innovative ideas may lack the platform to explore them leading to many moving to other fields where such opportunities exist. Therefore, hospital management can involve healthcare workers in formulating proper treatment methods that simplify task performance and thus reducing discontent. Healthcare workers may also feel that the management recognizes their input leading to high retention.
Adoption of Modern Technology in Healthcare
One of the reasons for the workforce shortage and discontent is the increase in the workload each healthcare professional undertakes. This reliance on human resource increases the cost of healthcare as a significant percentage of the sector’s budget goes into the payment of salaries and other benefits. However, the Department of Health Services needs to acquire modern equipment that will ease the cost the government incurs. This strategy reduces the workload on healthcare professionals with many of the machines taking some of the complex tasks. Some of the modern inventions in healthcare include Artificial Intelligence in diagnosis and the use of drones in delivering medicine in remote areas.
Use of Servant Leadership in Addressing Workforce Shortage and Discontent
Servant leadership is a management style where a person focuses on serving those beneath him/her. A person practicing this style concentrates on other people’s concern before own needs. In addressing the workforce shortage and discontent, administrators can apply servant leadership to avoid employee turnover. There are various characteristics a person must have to demonstrate this type of leadership. First, an individual needs to show empathy to workers' concerns. A servant leader needs to create an avenue where junior workers can express some of the issues hindering their performance (Aij & Rapsaniotis, 2017) . Some of these challenges may include low pay or poor working condition. A servant leader will try to work on those issues by providing better pay and improving a person’s working environment. For instance, a manager with this type of leadership will assess the prevailing economic needs in determining the appropriate salaries for healthcare workers. Secondly, a servant should master the art of persuasion when dealing with junior staff. This strategy helps the management to prevent conflicts that might arise and thus reducing healthcare workers’ turnover. Persuasion will lead to a better understanding of each side’s position leading to an agreement on the standard pay or the general working condition. Lastly, a servant leader must listen to concerns junior workers raise and solve them before becoming uncontrollable. Healthcare professionals develop bad blood with the management when the latter uses autocratic leadership. This situation might lead to massive turnover leading to shortage or discontent resulting in poor healthcare services. However, there are other leadership styles that a manager can use to address workforce shortage and discontent.
Democratic Leadership
This type of leadership involves a manager making decisions depending on the contribution of each member. A person practicing this style of leadership will ensure that views of every stakeholder are heard before making the final deliberations. Healthcare workers in many facilities have complained about the high-handedness of managers and administrators when handling their issues. Another source of discontent in the healthcare workforce is the inaccessibility of some leaders. This situation makes many workers unable to reach the relevant body to raise their complaints leading to high turnover or resignation. The authority may formulate some policies like the maximum pay, benefits and resource allocation without involving healthcare workers. This phenomenon can lead to the latter refusing to accept the new terms leading to massive resignations or relocation to the private sector.
Conclusion
Workforce shortage and discontent is a major healthcare issue requiring proper intervention and leadership skills to minimize its effect. Government bodies and hospital managements need to investigate the major causes before formulating various interventions. Those factors may include poor leadership, low pay, poor working conditions, and disagreements between workers and the management. Therefore, government bodies can negotiate with workers on minimum wage rate and benefits, adopt modern technology in healthcare, and provide platforms for innovation among employees. Servant leadership also plays a significant role in minimizing workforce shortage and discontent. Through this style, the management recognizes workers’ input while addressing issues raised. Through those interventions, the management cultivates a stronger relationship with workers and thus the increased retention.
References
Aij, K., & Rapsaniotis, S. (2017). Leadership requirements for Lean versus servant leadership in health care: a systematic review of the literature. Journal Of Healthcare Leadership , Volume 9 , 1-14. https://doi.org/10.2147/jhl.s120166
Plank, L. (2018). Academic-Practice Partnerships to Reduce the Shortage of Operating Room Nurses. Nurse Educator , 43 (6), 326-329. https://doi.org/10.1097/nne.0000000000000496
Winter, G. (2020). Burnout across the healthcare workforce. British Journal Of Healthcare Management , 26 (1), 16-18. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjhc.2019.0113
Winter, G. (2018). Cultivating a compassionate healthcare workforce nationally. British Journal Of Healthcare Management , 24 (10), 474-475. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjhc.2018.24.10.474
