Study Shows Turnover Rates for Health Care Workers Are Returning to Pre-Pandemic Levels
A study published in JAMA Health Forum on April 8 suggests that turnover rates are returning to pre-pandemic levels across most groups of health care workers.
Despite this finding, the recovery is uneven across the health care sector, and the report recommends the development of targeted solutions to ensure that an adequate health care workforce is available to meet patient demand.
To conduct the study, researchers Bianca Frogner, from the University of Washington, and Janette Dill, from the University of Minnesota, observed data collected from the Current Population Survey of nearly 126,000 health care workers in full-time jobs from 2019-2021.
The data analyses were then conducted from March 1, 2021 – Jan. 31, 2022.
The findings show that although turnover rates are returning to pre-pandemic levels, workers in long-term care facilities and physicians saw an upward trend in turnover rates.
Employees such as health aides and assistants, particularly women with young children, showed persistently high turnover rates and were slow in recovery.
“Given the high demand for long-term care workers, targeted attention is needed to recruit job-seeking health care workers and retain those currently in these jobs to lessen turnover,” write the researchers.
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