Recently, around 300 healthcare HR professionals from across the nation gathered in Fort Worth, Texas, for the American Society for Health Care Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) Annual Conference and Exposition to learn about the latest trends impacting the HR function in the healthcare work environment.
In addition to sharing how our solutions modernize workforce compliance, our Propelus team attended sessions and connected with customers, partners and leaders across the healthcare industry. Across a variety of learning sessions and conversations, the following three key takeaways emerged.
1. Workforce shortages continue to be the biggest HR challenge for healthcare organizations
As evidenced by news headlines, the U.S. healthcare industry has been grappling with a severe workforce shortage that is expected to worsen over the next few years. In fact, a recent study projected that more than 6.5 million U.S. healthcare professionals will permanently leave their positions by 2026, while only 1.9 million will step in to replace them.
This topic was front and center at ASHHRA 24 and speakers talked about a variety of ways to combat the challenge, including developing innovative internship programs to expand the talent pool, leveraging AI for recruiting, helping delay retirement for career extenders by addressing their unique needs, and how psychological capital (internal resources that can help employees manage through tough situations) plays a role in nurse retention and helps avoid burnout.
2. Creating a positive employee experience takes a multifaceted approach
Providing a positive employee experience is more important than ever as healthcare organizations work to nurture a sustainable, healthy workforce – especially as they face workforce shortages.
However, given that organizations are also implementing cost-saving measures, ASHHRA speakers emphasized the importance of positioning employee experience initiatives as cost/retention savers versus budget strains.
These speakers also covered a variety of ways to provide a positive employee experience, including creating a positive culture focused on kindness, developing workforce safety programs that leverage de-escalation training, using marketing techniques to increase employee engagement, optimizing and harmonizing benefits (especially in merger and acquisition scenarios), streamlining the onboarding process, and taking innovative approaches to employee wellbeing and employee health.
Although there weren’t learning sessions focused on recognition, our Propelus team found that many HR leaders are driving recognition through programs like those from The DAISY Foundation, the international leader in meaningful nursing recognition. Propelus is a proud partner of The DAISY Foundation and at our booth, we asked visitors to complete DAISY cards that were tied to a donation for the foundation. As part of this activity, many HR leaders shared how their organizations participate in DAISY Award programs.
3. Support of patient care extends beyond the care team
While clinicians are the face of the healthcare organization to the patient, the content shared at ASHHRA 24 made it clear that HR leaders play an essential role in equipping their organizations to provide the best care possible.
Every day, healthcare HR leaders are working to equip their healthcare professionals with the resources they need to perform at their highest level – from providing education and training to ensuring they’re compliant, safe and healthy to work.
Propelus is here to help healthcare professionals reach their full potential. Through our EverCheck, Immuware and CE Broker solutions, we’re powering professionals by giving them the best tools to achieve professional compliance and ultimately, provide safer healthcare with better outcomes.