JEFFERSON CITY – A new report from the Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) shows turnover and vacancy rates among nurses are significantly higher than they were before the pandemic.
According to MHA’s 2023 Workforce Report, the turnover rate among nurses was nearly 20%. Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, the turnover rate was 19.8%.
Additionally, the report shows vacancy rates jumped from 9.5% in 2019 to 14.8% in 2022.
Dave Dillon, vice president of public and media relations for MHA, said the association has conducted this report for the past 15 years. Only last year’s numbers, which marked the peak of the pandemic for health care workers, were higher than any other report, according to Dillon.
During this time, vacancy rates reached 17%, while turnover rates reached 24.7%.
He said the report examines 28 professions in hospitals around the state. According to Dillon, turnover rates pose the biggest issue for hospitals in mid-Missouri, specifically among nurses.
Dillion said he believes nurses are essential in hospitals ability to provide care.
“It’s a huge operational challenge for hospital leaders because, you know you have to have skilled caregivers,” Dillion said. “You have to create an environment where doctors can do the magic that they do.”
There are several contributing factors to these numbers being up. Most notably, Dillon said COVID has posed once-in-a-generation problems for hospitals.
“They [hospitals] were kind of an epicenter for where care was delivered, where people that were most desperate went and our staff from top to bottom went through that challenge,” Dillion said. “There’s a lot of burnout in health care right now. There’s a lot of stress. There’s probably PTSD. All of these things are related to these numbers.”
On top of this fatigue, Dillon said inflation has also posed a challenge for the health care industry.
“Inflation has been tremendous, and it has raised higher than the health care wages that have not moved as quickly,” Dillion said.
According to Dillion, this problem is top of mind for most hospitals in the region. He worries if higher turnover rates continue, it could pose problems in the future, as baby boomers grow older and need more care.
“The aging population and aging workforce, all of this is going to drive individuals to need more care and it’s going to drive retirements within the health delivery community,” Dillion said.
Despite high turnover rates, Dillion said there are steps that can be taken to help with this problem. However, it won’t be a quick fix.
“We can’t just look at this through the lens of, ‘If we just produce more nurses quickly,’ because you can’t. It takes two to four years to produce a staff nurse for a hospital,” Dillion said.
He emphasized the importance of maximizing the value of an existing staff and getting them to stay. To do so, Dillion suggests hospitals emphasize being employee-focused and make sure employees feel properly heard and supported.
To make real change, Dillion said it will take the help of community partners, including the education community, workforce development organizations and the state government. He said everyone in the community is a stakeholder in this problem.
Although he said there is no “silver bullet” solution these groups can implement, they can help work toward ways to build incentives for health care workers and build satisfying, long-term careers that will make them want to stay in the profession.
“We’re all kind of one accident away from slipping off our ladder, or slipping on the way to their house from needing to have to go to the emergency department and you want to have the best people there,” Dillion said.