Horizons Fall/Winter 2019

Retention Woes Today, experienced physicians are beginning to leave the medical field earlier than expected or than what has been observed in the past. The reasons for leaving include burn out from a heavier workload, electronic health records (EHR) and early retirement options. Young Americans, primarily millennials, are choosing fields other than the healthcare industry for higher paying jobs, such as engineering. Main concerns are the rising costs of tuition across the United States, length of schooling and the lack of work-life balance once in the field. Nurses have seen an uptick in turnover over the past several years as well. Though not faced with exactly the same challenges as doctors, there is one similarity that is consistent – nurses are becoming burned out and stressed on the job with having to see more patients each shift. The recent increase in specialty and urgent care facilities has also increased the competition between healthcare facilities when it comes to recruiting efforts. As more healthcare facilities open up, there are more opportunities available for nurses to choose where they wish to work. Specialization of nursing degrees is further thinning out the talent pool as nurses are beginning to seek specialized degrees from colleges and universities across the U.S. These degrees make candidates more appealing to specialized healthcare facilities, which typically can offer better pay, more travel and a more flexible work schedule.

Recruiters within the industry are shifting the way they recruit to focus more on the needs and concerns of the candidate, rather than the goals of the organization.

Better Recruiting To combat the issues presented with the recruitment and retention of both physicians and nurses, healthcare providers are looking to improve and ramp up their recruiting efforts. Recruiters within the industry are shifting the way they recruit to focus more on the needs and concerns of the candidate, rather than the goals of the organization. To start, healthcare recruiters are beginning to offer more benefits. To help entice physicians to stay longer or nurses to not enter a specialized field, hospitals and physician offices are looking to start paying professionals more money, offer more benefits, such as vacation and traveling on the job and larger signing bonuses. Healthcare facilities are beginning to offer more tuition reimbursements, scholarships and offering to pay for school to help encourage younger Americans to join the healthcare workforce. New York University has supported this trend by offering free tuition for all current and future medical school students enrolled at the University.

Fall/Winter 2019

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