Digital strategies to mitigate hospital staff shortages

Whether it pertains to medical careers or healthcare occupations: Hospitals are struggling with a shortage of qualified professionals. The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a major strain on healthcare systems and the public has taken notice. Yet even without pandemic surges, hospital jobs have an image problem. At the same time, employee demands have changed. Staff recruitment must keep up with the changing times and rise to the challenge.

Today's hospital workers face high workloads and job stress due to shift work on understaffed wards, combined with lots of responsibility but comparatively low pay. Given these working conditions, a career in healthcare might no longer seem as exciting and rewarding for those interested in working in this sector.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and shone a light on these existing weaknesses: back in the spring of 2020, hospital workers were celebrated and honored by politicians and the public for their hard work and dedication. Social media was abuzz with stories of essential frontline workers as the true heroes in the fight against the pandemic. Today, the same healthcare workers are overworked and exhausted amid the ongoing fight against the pandemic. And in some cases, they receive far less gratitude, appreciation, and support than they did back in those early days.

To mitigate staffing shortages in the future, hospitals must become more attractive employers. The process starts in the analog world. As in many other industry sectors, the workforce of the future is no longer just focused on the compensation. Employees also want their work to be rewarding and purposeful. Today, workers seek employment that supports a better work-life balance, allowing time for family and leisure. Concerns about climate change also increase expectations of employers to foster sustainable business practices.

If these actions create an attractive employer brand, effective marketing can then showcase the business for the digital space. However, hospitals that are still driven by mostly analog processes must first restructure and embrace digital transformation. "This includes consistency in digital marketing, which goes hand in hand with digital employee recruitment. It also fosters a perception of authenticity in terms of the mission statement," says Prof. Konrad Obermann from the University Faculty of Medicine in Mannheim in a MEDICA-tradefair.com interview.

However, "many healthcare facilities are not yet ready for digital recruiting. Human resources managers and upper management know they should use digital channels – but they struggle with consistent implementation," Obermann sums up one of the biggest issues. This is partly owing to differences in age and mindset between those in leadership positions and young professionals. Only when these obstacles have been overcome can the core values of a hospital reach potential job candidates on the channels they use. The latter are primarily social networking sites and no longer the traditional job advertising models. That being said, the possibilities to digitize the recruitment process do not just end with the job application process.

Hospital workforce planning also directly affects the quality of patient care: If you have enough staff in wards, it is less likely that the welfare of patients is compromised. The "KI-PEPS" project was completed in December 2021 and has researched the issue: It studies how artificial intelligence can support healthcare workforce planning. This strategy can help ease the burden on staff and promote more effective deployment, but it also implies a hospital continues its digitization efforts and moves toward becoming a smart hospital.

When the coronavirus pandemic will end, the current situation could come back to haunt us if exhausted, overworked, and frustrated hospital employees turn their backs on the healthcare system in response to a lack of support. What's more, over the next few years, many older employees will retire and leave the sector altogether. No matter what strategy human resources management departments pursue when it comes to personnel recruitment or how quickly they embrace digitization across departments and wards, hospitals must take the necessary steps now to avoid facing a skilled worker shortage in the future.