A majority of nurses, 63%, are considering quitting in the next five years, up from 43% last year, according to a survey released by Vivian Health. This comes despite 73.5% of survey respondents reporting that they earned more this year than last year, with average earnings of nearly $89,355. Reasons to quit included deteriorating mental health, trauma from the pandemic and burnout.
“We must do better to fix a hiring and employment environment that was broken long before Covid-19 hit,” said Parth Bhakta, Vivian Health co-founder and CEO. “Our survey showed that nurses are uniformly reporting reductions in morale, with staff shortages plaguing the industry and contributing to worsening mental health of providers.”
Bhakta continued, “Fortunately, they are also telling us what to fix about it. We have a roadmap from these caregivers on how to reduce the burden they face from working in short-staffed facilities. We must find a way to fix it.”
The top four factors when it comes to recruiting and retaining healthcare workers are:
- Compensation
- Mental wellbeing
- Staff-to-patient ratios
- Respect
“Innovative strategies to support and nurture nurses' mental health and well-being as they heal from the trauma of the pandemic will be critical to ensuring that health systems and hospitals can become more attractive environments for caregivers to work in,” Bhakta said.
Work must also be done to bring in additional tools, resources and support to clinicians, he added.
However, another finding in the report was that 55% of travel nurses said they would consider switching to a permanent role, suggesting that they are willing to trade money for stability with a strong employer.
Nurses, on average, stated a willingness to accept $65 an hour for a permanent staff position. This rate is higher than the average for a permanent nursing position but lower than the average billing rate for travel nurses.
The survey includes responses from more than 3,500 nurses and other healthcare workers; 77% of those surveyed were registered nurses.
