Worker shortage starting to ease in Minnesota hospitals

A slight reduction in job vacancies at the start of 2023 has Minnesota hospital leaders encouraged that they are moving beyond the burnout effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just over 17% of clinical jobs in Minnesota hospitals were vacant at the start of 2023, an improvement from 19% a year earlier but well above 6% in 2021, according to the Minnesota Hospital Association's annual workforce report.

While it's troubling to still have thousands of unfilled positions, the trend is a sign that retention and recruitment efforts are countering the pandemic's effects, said Dr. Rahul Koranne, the hospital association's chief executive.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is thankfully slowly receding and there is an impact of that being felt," he said.

Staffing concerns had been emerging before the pandemic, but it created an environment in which hospital workers were fearing the risks of on-the-job infections, fighting with families over COVID-19 treatments and grieving for patients who died.

The pressure culminated in a legislative standoff this year over whether Minnesota should regulate staffing levels to make sure hospitals provide enough nurses to maintain patient care and prevent worker burnout.

That idea was shelved amid last-minute negotiations, but lawmakers increased funding to forgive loans of students who pledged to work in health care in Minnesota.

The workforce report showed declines in the vacancy rates for physicians and other hospital caregivers such as respiratory therapists, but that the rate for nurses held steady at about 17%. The report was based on an employment snapshot on Dec. 31 at 105 hospitals, or about 80% of MHA's membership.

Hospitals reported more hiring in 2022 than the year before, including a 38% increase in the hiring of certified nursing assistants. The hiring was buoyed by a free training program that Minnesota launched in late 2021.

The hospital workforce is increasingly diverse but also younger, as Minnesota transitions from retiring baby boomers to a new generation of doctors and nurses. The average age of hospital workers has fallen from 42 to 41 since 2016, according to the association's data.

Recruitment and retention strategies include investments by North Shore Health in Grand Marais and Winona Health in high-tech patient simulators that allow workers to sharpen and maintain their skills on-site and local high school and college students to practice techniques in low-risk environments.

Gillette Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul refocused its recruitment in 2022 around an inspirational video that featured a local rock band and the Minnesota Orchestra, but also adjusted its retention efforts to match shifting priorities of workers toward job flexibility.

"It just feels like post-pandemic people have a different outlook on work and life," said Paula Montgomery, Gillette's executive vice president of administrative affairs. "Whereas compensation may have previously been the most important component of a benefits package, I'm not sure that's true anymore."

HealthPartners set a one-year record in hiring 6,390 workers in 2022, but part of the challenge for health systems is that more workers are choosing part-time hours — which can leave shifts uncovered. The state workforce report estimated that 57% of nurses now work part-time hours or occasional shifts, up from 50% five years ago.

The health system, which includes Regions Hospital in St. Paul, has launched retention strategies so fewer workers have to be replaced. One effort included the simplification of electronic medical records systems so physicians aren't inundated with computerized alerts and messages that can take hours of their day.

"We don't want clinicians being in this position of having to really work for the electronic health record, instead of having the electronic health record work for them," said Dr. Annie Ideker, who is leading HealthPartners' physician retention efforts.