How to Face the Great Resignation in Healthcare Head On

Healthcare organizations across the country have been impacted by the Great Resignation—the profession’s version of a nationwide exodus of employees from many industries. Some sources estimate that 10 to 20 percent of the workforce are leaving their positions at a time when the industry can least afford to lose them—and another 20 to 50 percent are seriously considering quitting their jobs, or getting out of medicine altogether, in the next year.

Healthcare organizations across the country have been impacted by the Great Resignation—the profession’s version of a nationwide exodus of employees from many industries. Some sources estimate that 10 to 20 percent of the workforce are leaving their positions at a time when the industry can least afford to lose them—and another 20 to 50 percent are seriously considering quitting their jobs, or getting out of medicine altogether, in the next year.

Who will survive the Great Resignation?

Organizations that recognize physician well being as an urgent issue and implement changes to enhance well being are the ones that are going to do well through the Great Resignation. Physicians have been struggling with overwork, a perceived lack of respect and fairness, a decreased sense of community, the burden of electronic health records and other drivers of burnout for years—well before the pandemic. An organization that brings in resources to help physicians build resilience, reduce work overload and transform workplace culture can reverse this trend, becoming the employer of choice and growing their physician workforce.

What to do

To that end, it’s key to:

• Let physicians know it’s okay to be struggling and there’s no stigma attached to asking for help and receiving it. Let them know there are confidential resources and outlets to seek help, to avoid fear of retaliation and damaging one’s reputation.
• Redesign workflows to reduce record-keeping and other tasks physicians resent the most to free them for patient care—the reason they entered medicine in the first place.
• Create a management system that emphasizes respect, empowering physicians to make changes while aligning everyone around enterprise-wide success.
• And in other ways, create a culture of care for physicians as well as patients.

For more on how to confront the Great Resignation with well being focused solutions, read my article How to Face the Great Resignation in Healthcare here.