The U.S. health care industry is in the midst of an escalating workforce crisis, driven by unmanageable workloads, chronic staffing shortages, inadequate pay, lack of support, and limited career advancement opportunities.
This is according to the Indeed Pulse of Health care report, which surveyed 924 U.S. health care workers, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses, dental hygienists, therapists, imaging technologists and mental health practitioners. The report highlights that demand for health care workers now exceeds pre-pandemic levels and outpaces postings in other sectors.
“Even as overall labor market demand stabilizes, health care employers continue to struggle to attract and retain staff, intensifying the workforce crisis and putting added pressure on the system,” Indeed said.
Two in five health care workers describe their role as unsustainable, and 1 in 4 are considering leaving health care altogether, a shift from turnover to what the report calls “career loss.” While patient relationships remain the greatest source of fulfillment, this sense of purpose is fading. Only 1 in 5 health care workers felt strongly supported by their employer, yet those who do report higher overall job satisfaction.
Half of respondents reported feeling exhausted in their current role, while only one in three expressed job satisfaction. Existing wellbeing programs are largely ineffective, with 80% saying they fail to improve workplace conditions. Workers often lack the bandwidth to participate, leaving potentially effective initiatives with minimal impact. Staffing shortages were reported by 43% of survey respondents.
Health care workers identify several key solutions to improve their work environment, including acting on employee feedback, reducing staff overload through better staffing and technology, rewarding performance and loyalty with monetary incentives, and offering mental health days separate from PTO or sick leave.
AI is emerging as a potential solution to ease administrative burdens, cited as the top threat to wellbeing and affecting 40% of shifts. Health care organizations are increasingly using AI for clinical note-taking, automated charting, policy searches and patient education. Half of health care workers surveyed expect AI to reduce their workload, making it the single biggest benefit they associate with the technology.
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