Top Challenges Facing Healthcare Workers & Effective Ways To Confront!

No wonder, healthcare comes with the highest level of responsibility- patient’s lives! Despite this immense role of healthcare workers, they have to face more than a number of challenges. That makes it difficult for them to carry out their duties efficiently. 

It can be long work hours, burnout, mental health problems, financial pressure, or workplace violence. These are just a few challenges impacting the well-being and the performance of healthcare workers. 

Of course, mitigating these healthcare workers’ challenges is no simple feat. However, a clear understanding and fine-tuning approaches to solve the issues can lead to a more supportive work environment. So, let’s try to find it out comprehensively today.

Top 9 Challenges Healthcare Workers Face?

Healthcare workers face more than a number of challenges. You need to understand these issues first to create effective solutions. Below we will comprehensively discuss both- challenges and solutions!

Top 9 Challenges Healthcare Workers Face

1. Staffing Shortages And Long Working Hours 

In 2022, studies saw a roughly 4.5 times higher monthly growth in the healthcare sector than in 2021. But still, staffing shortages remain a major concern in the industry. 

Even the World Health Organization has shown concern that there can be a global 10 million health worker shortfall by 2030. 

Ultimately, it leads to the long working hours of the staff and fuels high turnover rates. Overnight shifts and twelve-hour workdays- these are the just common scheduling challenges healthcare workers face. 

Moreover, high turnover rates and burnout also challenge the staffing efforts of healthcare organizations. 

Different healthcare organizations implement different types of strategies to confront this challenge. However, a recent Becker’s Healthcare article recommends five strategies to reduce burnout due to staffing shortages. 

  • Offer ‘gig’ shifts to full-time and part-time healthcare workers. 
  • Promote open positions on billboards. 
  • Use effective recruiting and staffing apps to find out the top candidates that match the open positions. 
  • Hire high school students as support staff. 
  • Hire the former employees who have left their jobs during a pandemic. 

2. Burnout and Mental Health Issues

Actually, burnout is physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It is mainly caused by prolonged stress and long work hours. We’ve already touched on this point earlier. Let’s get to know more about the realities! 

A 2023 study found that almost half of the healthcare workers, about 46%, say feeling burnout in the workplace. And 44% of them want to leave their jobs for a new one as a result of mental stress. 

The healthcare workers, according to the study report, are likely to have few mental health issues if they get to work in a supportive environment. Like 

  • Participation in the decisions of the workplace
  • Mutual trust between the workers and the management 
  • Helpful supervisors who can promote psychological health and stress prevention. 

Other effective strategies that the organizations can follow to face the challenge are 

  • Implement workload management techniques 
  • Offer stress management programs 
  • Promote the initiative for work-life balance.

3. Financial Pressures

Financial pressure is also a major problem in the healthcare system that challenges the workers in this sector. 

BLS report shows that technical and healthcare practitioners like doctors, nurses, and dental hygienists have annual median salaries higher than the average. For about $80,820 in May 2023

However, healthcare support workers such as occupational therapy assistants, home health and personal care aides, and medical transcriptionists have lower earnings than the average. 

They had a median annual salary of $36,140 in May 2023. They are an essential workforce in healthcare but are underpaid! America compromises 7 million healthcare support workers engaged in low-paid health jobs. 

This financial pressure due to low salaries makes it difficult for healthcare workers to even afford their daily necessities. For instance, food, housing, transportation, and healthcare costs. They are overworked but underpaid! 

Quora responders suggest that a good place to start to confront this challenge is to hire more healthcare workers. So everyone can have time to do their job safely and take care of themselves. 

Moreover, you see many healthcare systems are underfunded. It results in poor patient outcomes and a lack of resources for providing quality care. 

In this case, the healthcare worker must find ways to offer quality care to their patients despite the financial crisis.

4. Workplace Violence

Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is another major concern in the healthcare industry. A  BLS report shows that healthcare workers experience five times more violence in the workplace than employees in any other sector. 

Concerns are even there that the actual incidents can be three times higher because some cases are underreporting. 

This violence in the workplace leads to severe psychological and physical effects on healthcare workers. Sometimes even beyond words!

So, the organization should take active measures to combat this violence in the workplace. Some steps can include-

i) Training programs 

The hospitals or healthcare employers should provide regular training to the staff on how to recognize, de-escalate, and respond to violent situations. It will empower the healthcare workers and ensure their security in the workplace. 

ii) Security measures 

Security personnel- hiring them is a good way to prevent trouble even before it happens. Moreover, surveillance systems can also help to enhance the monitoring to ensure a safe environment. The employer should provide emergency plans to provide quick help when needed. 

iii) Support system 

The management needs to fully support the safety initiatives in the workplace and everyone should be involved. They should clearly delegate the duties and responsibilities to ensure critical support is always available whenever required. Committees can also be set up to ensure full organization compliance.

5. Too much-limited patient-provider time

As mentioned in the survey data of Statista, about 33% of US physicians spend 17 to 20 minutes with their patients and the rest are even less than that

Indeed it is also for a number of reasons. For instance, 

  • High patient loads
  • Excess administrative duties
  • Time constraints set by healthcare organizations 

Moreover, they also have to spend their additional time on too many bureaucratic tasks. On one side it affects patient care, and on the other side, it also causes burnout among healthcare workers as they feel the burden of non-essential paperwork. 

Additionally, the doctors and the nurses have to balance the quality care of the patients with efficiency. It leads to shorter consultations and makes it further challenging for healthcare professionals to address the concerns of the patients thoroughly. 

Healthcare organizations need to implement system-wide changes to change the situation. However, there are some ways in which you can improve your administrative time. For instance, 

  • You can create templates for repeated information.
  • Provide brief but precise notes on the interaction with patients. 
  • You can have medical assistance to help with the documentation during the appointments with patients. 
  • You can also delegate administrative tasks to the staff members. Of course, they should have appropriate training to handle them.

6. Adapting to Rapidly Changing Health Demands

Adapting to Rapidly Changing Health Demands

That’s the fact that healthcare workers have to adapt to the rapidly changing demands in healthcare. Almost every day, new diseases and illnesses emerge. 

Here healthcare professionals must always be prepared to handle them efficiently. This highlights the need for rapid response, preparedness, and global collaboration. 

Healthcare workers have to take active measures to confront the challenge effectively. Such as. 

  • The first step is to assess your adaptability level. It can help you to find out the areas where you need improvement and set goals.
  • You should always seek learning opportunities. Continuous learning can help to enhance your knowledge and skills. 
  • Change is inevitable in the healthcare sector. So, you have to embrace this uncertainty and the positive aspects of your career as a healthcare professional. 
  • You should try to build a support network as it can help you to enhance your adaptability in this ever-changing sector. 
  • And finally, always celebrate your achievements and progress. 

7. Regulatory and Compliance Complexities

The healthcare industry is regulated heavily. Moreover, the sector has high regulatory requirements with nearly 630 different rules spanning nine domains. 

Furthermore, these regulations are constantly changing. That’s mainly because of the occurring changes as it needs and it is often for the routine survey results. You know there are more than 20 updates in the healthcare regulation within only over the last six months. 

So, the result? It becomes far more difficult for healthcare workers to maintain regulations. Moreover, it often leads to complexities in administrative tasks and provides a potential barrier to innovation. 

Well, there are some strategies that can help in this way. Such as 

  • Establish a dedicated compliance team. They can help you to keep track of the regulatory changes. 
  • You can also hire professionals who will create regulatory audit programs. 
  • Provide comprehensive training to the healthcare workers. 
  • You can also invest in analytics tools to ensure data-driven decision-making. 
  • And at last, encourages the collaboration between healthcare workers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers to create efficient regulations. 

8. Technology Roadblocks

Technology Roadblocks

In the healthcare industry, the workers have to face marked challenges due to outdated systems, and lack of proper training. Moreover, it can also not be easy for the healthcare worker to adapt to the rapidly changing technologies. Sometimes it may be because of compliance and regulatory challenges. 

Then again, new technologies can further increase the stress among healthcare workers. For example, Electronic Health Records or EHR. The system may not communicate well with the other platforms and it may likely force the worker to manually input data. 

In this case, the employer needs to ensure offering adequate training to its employees when they implement new software. The organization should invest in the technologies to reduce the burden of the administrative tasks. 

It will improve patient care and also ease the workloads of the healthcare employees. Ultimately, enhanced satisfaction! 

9. Access to Care and Health Disparities

Care and health disparities also challenge the healthcare worker. 

Many populations, especially marginalized communities face difficulties in accessing healthcare facilities. It is mainly due to the location or the poverty, socioeconomic status, and discrimination. 

This disparity can put extra pressure on the healthcare workers who must provide care with limited resources. They may experience high stress or burnout in trying to service underserved communities while still there are staffing shortages. 

The healthcare worker must find ways to provide adequate care to these underserved communities. And address the disparities. For instance, expand healthcare through telemedicine and mobile clinics. 

Moreover, they have to implement effective policies to reduce disparities and tackle social factors affecting health.

Final Words

Your duty of care is your legal responsibility and something you must abide by. You must enhance the health and well-being of the patients and protect them. 

It must be done in accordance with the regulations and following good practices. You should have continuous education and training and stay updated with the recent regulations. 

Just remember that you have to stay informed and diligent in your practice to ensure compliance and keep your patient safe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common risk to healthcare workers?

Exposure to bloodborne pathogens is the most common risk to healthcare workers. Occupational infections such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and HIV/AIDS can occur if proper precautions are not taken.

What is the most common injury to healthcare workers?

According to OSHA data, the most common injury reported by healthcare workers are sprains and strains, accounting for 54% of all injuries resulting in days away from work. These injuries typically affect the lower back and shoulder.

Which healthcare workers are at the highest risk for violence?

Healthcare workers globally are at a high risk for violence, with research showing that 8% to 38% of them experience violence in their careers. Nurses are particularly at risk, being five times more likely to face violence than the average private sector employee.

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January 20, 2025