Supporting a new normal for hospital staff: how AI-powered automation can optimize valuable personnel and improve the provider experience 

Healthcare’s shortage of providers, nurses and staff is no longer an acute crisis, but an ongoing reality. It is critical for healthcare leadership to support and optimize the valuable staffing resources who remain. To do so now, organizations must invest in long-term, sustainable AI-based solutions to relieve staff’s most pressing day-to-day burdens and help improve their satisfaction overall. 

Burnout as a critical factor in reduced staff populations, today and in the future 

Healthcare staff are overloaded with repetitive administrative tasks that detract from time with patients and the interpersonal aspect of their roles, leading to a loss of satisfaction and motivation. Qualtrics’ 2023 Healthcare Experience Trends Report found that healthcare ranked last in job satisfaction out of 27 industries, and that almost 40% of 3,000 healthcare employees surveyed were both at risk for burnout and considering moving on from their organizations. This reflects a greater pattern across the U.S., as burnt out hospital personnel seek career changes or early retirements.

Burnout has a longer-term impact than simply shrinking the current healthcare labor force. As experienced nurses or other staff and providers quit or retire, their potential successors lose the educators, mentors and practice opportunities they need to assume these roles. An April 2022 American College of Nursing study showed nursing school applications are actually rising and projected to continue doing so, but that schools are turning down these applications due to lack of educators and practical experience opportunities in hospitals. To sustain a new staff pipeline and ultimately address the shortage, existing staff must be willing and able to stay in their roles and help new staff develop and grow.  

To continue exploring the specific ways to support and empower hospital staffing through AI, visit Becker’s Hospital Review.