Michigan Hospital Launch Campaign to Attract and Retain More Workers

A Michigan hospital is launching a new campaign to tackle the ongoing labor shortage in the state's healthcare workforce. 

The campaign, which begins on Monday and is financed by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, aims to retain, retrain, and attract more people to clinical and non-clinical healthcare settings throughout the state. There is growing concern about maintaining healthcare access, with around 27,000 open healthcare jobs and the loss of 1,700 hospital beds over the last few years due to staffing shortages. The campaign will showcase the benefits of working in the healthcare sector, such as pay, benefits, and making a difference in patients' lives.

The need for more healthcare workers is particularly critical as Michigan's population ages. Thirty-seven of the top 50 high-demand and highly-paid occupations require a four-year degree, 14 of which are in the healthcare sector. To fill the talent gap, the state's universities may have to turn to out-of-state students, international students, and adults who have attended some college but have no degree. 

Michigan hospitals offer maximum scheduling flexibility, transportation to and from work, child care support, and increased pay to attract and retain employees.

How Hospitals Can Keep Their Employees During the Great Resignation (Video)

The average hospital loses a percentage of its employees every year. That's a lot of money and time spent training new people! 

According to Addam Marcotte with FMG Leading, hospitals can keep their employees during the Great Resignation by not just offering them a retention bonus or pay increase but by becoming a great place to work and giving their employees a way to hone their skills, developing their career, and grow in leadership. 

Nursing Home Employees Must Take The Vaccine. Will Hospital Employees Be Next? (Video)

President Joe Biden has mandated that nursing homes require their employees to be vaccinated or risk losing their Medicare funding.

We'll discuss if this mandate will soon come to a hospital near you.

A Lot Can Change In a Year....

2020 - Essential Worker

2021 - Disposable Worker

What a difference a year makes

Lawsuit Filed Against Houston Hospital Dismissed (Video)

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by 117 employees against their hospital on Saturday, June 12, 2021. 

Jennifer Bridges, a nurse at Houston Methodist who is leading the lawsuit, has vowed to fight on and will take the case to the U.S. Supreme court if they have to.

Hospitals in Indiana, Washington D.C., Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania have recently announced a mandatory vaccination requirement for their employees, and they are getting pushback as well. 

Texas is an at-will state, meaning your employer can fire you for any reason - or no reason at all. And so are Indiana and Pennsylvania.

Hospital Burnout Before and After the Pandemic (Video)

Earlier this year, I made a video about why people were leaving the medical field. This article on Becker's Hospital Review basically reinforced what I was saying. Burnout did not start when the pandemic started; it was already there. 

Pre-pandemic healthcare had lowercase burnout and uppercase burnout. 

Uppercase burnout is the textbook term coined in 1974 by American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, Ph.D., for the stress and exhaustion felt by those in service professions that make it tough to cope. In 2017, CEOs of the nation's most prominent health systems categorized burnout among physicians as a public health crisis and outlined an 11-step response. In 2019, the World Health Organization finally included burnout in its International Classification of Diseases, describing it as "a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." Uppercase burnout is both a condition and a studied, well-known public health threat, like driving without a seatbelt. Read more here.