Recruiters in the healthcare world are really feeling the pressure because there just aren't enough people to hire. It's taking them longer and longer to find new employees, and sometimes they can't find anyone at all. 

This means that the people whose job it is to hire are having a pretty tough time right now. They're spending more time looking for potential hires and less time actually talking to and checking out the people they might hire. Most people who do this job agree that this is going to be the way things are for at least a little while.

Here's What's Going On:

Doctors

You know how the pandemic made doctors' lives a whole lot harder? Well, it did. A lot of them are feeling really tired and stressed out, and there aren't enough of them to go around. In fact, in a big survey, one out of every five doctors said they're planning to quit by 2023. About 30% of them said they're going to work less. And you know what? During the pandemic, 10% of doctors decided to retire, and 3% of them went to do something else entirely.

Nurses

Nurses are in the same boat. Around 25% of them are thinking about finding a new job, and in 2022, 27% of the ones who work in hospitals actually left their jobs. Some of them even thought about quitting during the pandemic, but most of them were already feeling really burned out even before COVID-19 showed up. The workload for nurses is getting heavier because there aren't enough of them, and they're being asked to do more than just nursing stuff. One study found that almost 40% of nurses are dealing with serious mental health problems like anxiety and depression.

Support Staff

Even the folks who work behind the scenes in healthcare, like the people who clean and do office work, are hard to find. In 2021, almost 5 million people in the U.S. quit their jobs, and some of them wanted jobs that let them have more time for their personal lives. Remote work is making it even harder for healthcare places to find the people they need. So, there's a big problem: not enough staff in all parts of healthcare.

Solutions

Here are some simple ways we can make things better:

Support for Professionals

Sometimes, doctors and nurses have problems at work, but nobody talks about them or tries to fix them. We could set up a group, like a "Professional Wellness Advisory Board," where people who work in healthcare talk about what's wrong and how to make it better. Maybe we can have different groups for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers.

Tech Help

We can ask the tech experts in our company to find new tools that can help doctors and nurses do their jobs better. We can also talk to companies that make these tools and see if they can help us. When we find problems or solutions, we need to act quickly to fix things.

Mental Health Support

It's important to make sure everyone on the team can get help with their mental health and stress. We can offer services to help with this, and we should tell everyone that it's okay to use them. People can even use these services from home to keep things private.

Looking for Workers in Different Places

For jobs that don't need special skills, like cleaning or serving food, we can try to find workers from the hotel and restaurant industry. During the pandemic, a lot of people lost their jobs in hotels and restaurants, and some of those jobs still haven't come back. Working in a hospital is a safer job, so we can tell people about the jobs we have.

We should put up job ads where people look for fast-food jobs and tell them we offer steady hours, shifts, and pay, plus other good things. We can even help them go to school to learn more for the future.

Let's talk about some smart ideas to make work better for everyone:

Less Work, Not Goodbye: 

Imagine if you have doctors or nurses who are tired and stressed because they work too much. Instead of losing them, you could let them work less for a while. This might help them feel better. Later on, they might want to go back to working full-time. Keeping skilled workers is a great idea.

Helping in Shortage: 

There's a problem where there aren't enough healthcare workers. If you're a healthcare boss, try to support your staff. This includes both skilled and unskilled workers. If you do, you'll be better at keeping your team and taking care of patients.

So, by making work more flexible and caring about your employees' well-being, you can have a happier team and provide better services in the long run.

Conclusion

The challenges faced by healthcare recruiters in the current staffing crisis are undeniable, but proactive solutions are on the horizon. TriOptus recognizes the pressing need for healthcare workers and acknowledges the strain on doctors, nurses, and support staff. To address this issue, we are actively exploring innovative strategies, such as student loan assistance, professional support networks, and the adoption of advanced technology. 

Prioritizing mental health support and reaching out to talent pools beyond the healthcare sector are also key steps toward resolving the shortage. By promoting flexibility and employee well-being, TriOptus aims to not only retain valuable healthcare professionals but also enhance the quality of patient care. Together, we can build a brighter future for healthcare staffing.