Literature Review

Danger on the job: Workers suffer the most injuries in these 25 jobsNewsCenter1, by Colleen Kilday; 1/9/24Editor's Note: For HR leaders, 12 of the 25 are from healthcare jobs. How does this data compare with your employees' job-related injuries and illnesses?

2024 Hospice News outlook survey and reportHospice News; 1/9/24From rising industry challenges to the latest technology investments, participants of this year’s Hospice Outlook Survey shared their take on the industry’s obstacles and growth opportunities in the year ahead. Hospice News is pleased to share these survey results, revealing how providers are:

Sleep pods, coffee bars, and coworking spaces: Hospital staff lounges get a makeoverHealthcare Brew, by Shannon Young; 12/7/23Health systems are looking at how they can better attract, retain, and support staff with respite spaces. Picture this: a large coworking environment with collaboration areas, cappuccino bars, and programmable spaces. No, it’s not a Silicon Valley startup, a student union, or even a swanky airport lounge. It’s the next generation of hospital employee break rooms. After years of optimizing hospital spaces to focus on the patient experience, more health systems are looking at how they can better attract, retain, and support staff, Mike Pukszta, codirector of CannonDesign’s global health practice, told Healthcare Brew.Editor's Note: Consider implications for today's hospice staffing. Office-based leaders, have you ever spent a day with a team member making visit after visit? While you want staff out in the field, do they have a home base where they can easily collaborate, eat, communicate with each other? Seek feedback and consider adjustments that can make a big difference in employee satisfaction and well-being.

We’re college students with ideas of how to promote senior living careers to a younger generation

Hospice volunteer rule to return in ‘24 Requirement to resume in U.S., stateArkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)December 24, 2023On Jan. 1, 2024, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will reinstate rules that, among other things, require volunteers to provide at least 5% of care hours at hospices across the country, including in Arkansas. Those rules were lifted during the first years of the covid pandemic ...

10 Hospice Professionals Complete Innovative Professional ProgramEye on AnnapolisDecember 24, 2023Two social workers, three chaplains and five registered nurses are being celebrated for completing an innovative professional program pioneered by Hospice of the Chesapeake. The Clinical Ladder program, launched in early 2023, recognizes team members for their clinical expertise, professional and educational achievements, and contributions to the hospice team as well as the full organization. 

As new nursing program launches at WVSU, health care officials turn eye to retaining workersWest Virginia WatchDecember 21, 2023Amid ongoing staffing shortages in hospitals locally and nationwide, West Virginia State University will be launching a new nursing degree program next year. The licensed practical nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing pathway will be a hybrid degree program and will launch in the summer of 2024, according to a news release from WVSU. “The new [program] is designed as a pathway for working licensed practical nurses who desire to obtain a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree,” the press release reads. 

Hospice, Home Health Providers ‘Squeezing Turnips’ Competing for Clinical StaffHospice NewsDecember 20, 2023Hospice and home health care providers’ recruitment and retention strategies have narrowed their focus on workers’ key priorities, with organizational culture among the heaviest hitters on their lists. Amid workforce shortages, hospice and home health providers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with other health care organizations that can have greater financial resources, according to Bill English, president and CEO of Accurate Home Care. 

San Diego County’s first class of physician assistants graduates, seen as key to easing staffing shortagesSan Diego Union-TribuneDecember 18, 2023... Point Loma Nazarene University minted its first 28 physician assistants Friday, injecting a fresh set of trained troops into an ongoing battle to keep up with the increased demands for health care caused by an aging population and an exodus of burnt-out medical providers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first graduating class of the university’s new physician assistant program and the first crop of locally trained PAs for any institution in San Diego County. 

VITAS® Healthcare Wins Award for Best-in-Class Employee Experience Across Healthcare in North AmericaNews ReleaseDecember 18, 2023Miami, FL—VITAS Healthcare is once again setting the standard for employer excellence within the healthcare and hospice community. The nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care for 45 years achieved the Best-in-Class Award in the category of employee experience in healthcare for North America, presented at the 2023 HRO Today Association Conference on December 1, 2023. 

Berkshire VNA Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Reach Tentative Agreement on First MNA Contract to Stabilize Staffing and Improve Patient CarePRNewswireDecember 18, 2023Pittsfield, MA—The nurses and healthcare professionals of the Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, reached a tentative agreement on December 15 with Berkshire Health Systems, agreeing on contract terms that give BVNA clinicians a wage step scale and tackle some productivity issues to help with recruitment and retention and address patient care access problems. 

Greener nurses enter field as workforce demand continues to spikeMcKnight’s Home Care DailyDecember 15, 2023Job openings in healthcare and social services have risen sharply in the last several years, and healthcare providers are taking on less-experienced registered nurses to handle the pressure. At the beginning of 2018, the average nurse’s tenure was more than six years of experience, according to a recent workforce report by the ADP Research Institute. In the five years since, however, high turnover rates and a corresponding abundance of job opportunities deflated a nurse’s average tenure to about five years of experience. 

Boston VNA Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Cast a Unanimous Vote Authorizing a 14-day StrikePRNewswireDecember 13, 2023Boston, MA—In response to an increase in the complexity of care required for patients admitted for care at home, in conjunction with a lack of staff and resources to provide that level of care, the 60 registered nurses and healthcare professionals who work for the Visiting Nurses Association of Boston/VNA Care, cast a unanimous vote to authorize a 14-day strike in an effort to move their administration to provide the staffing and wage enhancements they need to provide the care their patients deserve.