As yet another medical catastrophe threatens to engulf the American healthcare sector, experts are sounding the alarm on the fragile state of our medical landscape. As it stands, the healthcare sector cannot support another widespread crisis.
The “tridemic”—fueled by the simultaneous outbreak of a new COVID-19 subvariant, the flu, and RSV—has had a significant impact on the public. Nationwide, pediatric beds were 75% full, and facilities saw the highest rate of senior hospitalization with a flu or respiratory illness in a decade.
While many may be quick to write off this phenomenon as a “bad flu season,” the ramifications of this uptick in cases are serious. The healthcare sector is still wounded from the battle against COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, one in five healthcare workers have quit the field entirely. Widespread burnout, brutal hours, and the trauma of working in pandemic-era facilities are among the myriad reasons why one in three nurses have reported that they were “very likely” to leave their roles by the end of 2022.
With the onset of the tridemic, it appears that there is no respite for this depleted, under-resourced workforce. Professionals are now saying that to rehabilitate the workforce to handle the current crisis, American healthcare facilities must employ unique strategies. In a piece for RealClearHealth, Saul Anuzis, president of 60 Plus, comments on how hospitals should look to foreign-educated nurses to fill gaps in care resulting from the nursing shortage.
Anuzis writes that staffing agencies “act as the intermediary to these workers seeking employment in the U.S. and facilities in need of additional caregivers. These agencies are working each day to fill potentially fatal voids in America’s healthcare system.”
As it stands, current gaps in care will prove too wide to sustain Americans through another health crisis. Innovative staffing solutions can help to get us through yet another medical crisis. Read more from Saul Anuzis here.