Healthcare Leaders’ Top Priority is Addressing Burnout, According to New Survey, But Workers Are Still In Crisis

• The US healthcare industry is in a burnout crisis: 79% of healthcare leaders and 77% of healthcare workers have been struggling with burnout this year
• 62% of healthcare workers and 52% of healthcare leaders want to leave their job. Some want to leave the healthcare industry entirely
• 72% of workers are “extremely interested” in technology that would cut down on time spent on administrative tasks (compared to 37% of leaders)
• 70% of healthcare leaders believe there is potential for ChatGPT and generative AI to improve care delivery

ALPHARETTA, Ga., June 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Released today, a new comprehensive survey by Holon Solutions, the leading human-centric healthcare technology company, offers a compelling look into the pressing issues faced by healthcare leaders and workers. A follow-up to an earlier study by Holon, this latest study surveying healthcare leadership sought to understand their perspectives on staff burnout in order to capture a holistic view of well-being in the industry.

Leaders and Workers Alike Stung by Burnout

The results reveal alarming levels of burnout – as a majority (79% of healthcare leaders and 77% of workers) have experienced burnout in the last year. In fact, 62% of healthcare workers and 52% of leaders have considered leaving their current positions or even the industry itself. The research emphasizes a clear need for strategies to combat burnout and improve employee retention in the aftermath of staffing shortages and a burnout crisis catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthcare Leaders’ Top Priority is Addressing Staff Burnout

In a bid to alleviate burnout, 49% of leaders have offered more benefits, 42% increased wages, and 41% have already hired more staff this year, with plans to continue staff hiring in the near future. While healthcare leaders are prioritizing efforts to address burnout, with 77% considering it a high or top priority, a significant proportion of healthcare workers (35%) feel that these efforts are inadequate. It’s important that leaders understand the changes workers actually want in order to better retain their talent and show up in the ways that matter.

Leaders Unclear on True Causes of Worker Burnout

There is a noteworthy disconnect between healthcare leaders and workers in identifying the primary cause of burnout. While leaders presume that insufficient time with patients is the primary stressor, workers pinpoint admin work as their principal cause of burnout. With 72% of healthcare workers expressing high interest in technology that can help reduce administrative tasks, there is a clear opportunity for technology to help address this issue.

Leaders See AI as Potential Future Solution

Additionally, the report illustrates that artificial intelligence (AI) is being widely accepted by healthcare leaders. Nearly half (47%) of leaders are already utilizing AI, while a similar percentage plans to adopt AI technologies within the next year. Interestingly, the majority of healthcare leaders (70%) see the potential of generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, in improving care delivery.

“Our survey data shows a complex landscape within healthcare that needs multi-faceted solutions now,” said Jon Zimmerman, CEO of Holon. “We hope these findings will drive a more empathetic and personalized approach to handling healthcare workers’ burnout through the strategic adoption of assistive technology in healthcare.”

Additional findings include:

Priorities and concerns for healthcare leadership

• In the next 1-2 years, healthcare leaders are most concerned by the following:
  • Hiring, staffing and retention issues (42%)
  • Keeping up with the latest policies, regulations and protocols (15%)
  • Dated, duplicative and/or complex technology systems (13%)
• Outside of relieving burnout for staff, healthcare leaders’ secondary priorities include improving the patient experience (23%) and increasing adoption of AI (14%).

Admin work gets in the way of work-life balance and patient care

• Healthcare workers and leaders agree – the top factor that keeps them from spending more time with patients is patient notes, summaries and charting (56% and 64%, respectively).
• Healthcare leaders believe that the most common causes of their team working overtime are patient care (47%) and admin work (40%). This tracks to what workers said, as well.

How leaders and workers feel about technology adoption

• Healthcare leaders’ biggest concern when it comes to adopting new technology at work is that technology training takes up valuable time (34%). Other concerns include that technology:
  • Makes work more complicated or complex (24%)
  • Does not provide value fast enough (23%)
  • Training is inadequate and/or unhelpful (19%)
• Healthcare leaders’ say that when it comes to adopting new technology at work, they find the most value in tools that cut down time to do administrative work (64%) and decreased duplicate work (52%). Healthcare workers’ biggest value add is in decreased duplicate work (50%), as well.
• Healthcare leaders who have adopted AI are using it for the following applications:
  • Data management or data infrastructure (57%)
  • Patient messaging (52%)
  • Automating administrative tasks (46%)
  • Billing/claims (46%)

Survey methodology:
The results in this report are from an online survey that was fielded from May 4 to 14, 2023. There were 106 respondents to the survey. The survey results were not weighted.

Demographics + Firmographics

• Organization: hospital / healthcare system (85%); social services (4%); other (11%)
• Headcount: 10,000+ employees (9%); 1,000-9,999 employees (57%); 100-999 employees (26%); 50-99 employees (8%)
• Title: director (74%); vice president (16%); CEO/owner/president (7%); chief officer (2%); board member (1%)
• Role: physician (19%); customer service (13%); executive leadership (13%); operations (10%); human resources (7%); information technology (8%); administration or other administrative (10%); nurse (5%); specialist (5%); finance/accounting (4%); marketing (4%); sales (1%); primary caregiver (1%)

About Holon Solutions:
Healthcare should feel human. Holon is the leading human-centric healthcare technology company that provides relief to healthcare teams. Our intelligent platform is a place where healthcare administration becomes effortless, with personalized tools that eliminate complexity. Using patented sensor technology, we deliver key information at the point of care to help save time, improve health outcomes, and increase revenue, with robust analytics that demonstrate value for enterprises. For more information, please visit holonsolutions.com.

CONTACT: Media Contact:
Sydney Sonneville
holon.solutions@highwirepr.com
815-307-6511