Here’s to Nurses: May You Stay Healthy, Happy and on the Job

Dear Colleagues:

Providers are under stress. Kaufman Hall reports that through February, the average hospital operating margin had fallen 42.4% in the first two years of the pandemic, to a negative 3.5%. Widespread staff shortages – mainly but not exclusively nurses – and pandemic-related supply chain challenges drove expenses up 32% in the same two years. There are 3% fewer staff on hand, but those who remain cost far more.

More alarmingly, a survey by the American Nurses Foundation revealed that more than half of all RNs were considering leaving their organizations this year.

Last September, the CDC reported that because of these stresses, adverse events were on the rise. Infections, central-line and catheter-associated, as well as MRSA, increased exponentially. COVID made close observation of patients harder and delayed responses as RNs and techs needed to don PPE before entering the room. This is why more than 400 hospitals took us up on our offer of free software licenses for using AvaSure’s TeleSitter® solution to monitor COVID patients.

Social isolation and other stressors from the pandemic have also led to an explosion of behavioral health problems, including drug overdoses, suicidality, eating disorders and violence against caregivers.