Hospitals have increasingly relied on nurse assistants to support nurses in the provision of patient care, yet knowledge about their contributions to the patient experience in US hospitals is limited. Although registered nurses are more impactful, nurse assistants are the more underdeployed staffing category. Given their lower labor costs, further employment of nurse assistants may…
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a profound impact on the health workforce in the United States. Current issues facing the health workforce include vaccine mandates, workforce shortages, and resiliency of the workforce in the face of burnout. At the same time, while some of the changes to state and federal laws regarding the delivery…
Postgraduate residency and fellowship programs have become more common in recent years as a means of helping nurse practitioners (NPs) transition to practice. More research is needed to understand the efficacy of these programs for NPs working in primary care settings. This article describes a study that analyzed 2018 survey data to examine possible associations…
The Health Workforce Deficit Estimator is an online tool to help state and federal planners consider different strategic approaches to ensure sufficient heath workforce for COVID-19. Built off the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation demand model, the tool currently shows deficits in supply for respiratory therapists, intensivists, hospitalists, and critical care nurses in certain…
The Emergency Vaccinator Policies for COVID-19 is an interactive tool that displays temporary, emergency state policies authorizing specific professions to provide the COVID-19 vaccine. These policies expand on the types of personnel authorized to provide the COVID-19 vaccine beyond physicians, advanced practice nurses, and other traditional clinicians. It is important to note that this tool…
The Mullan Institute estimates that between now and March 20, 2021, 7% of counties in the USwill experience hospital workforce staffing strains due to COVID-19 hospitalizations. Using new county-level projections of COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU occupancy provided, it is estimated that 209 counties will need to implement crisis workforce strategies. This involves tiered staffing strategies…
Since health professionals began administering 2 FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020, the rollout has encountered several challenges and failed to meet initial targets for total vaccinations provided. The current health workforce has been identified as one possible bottleneck for distributing the vaccine, prompting a general call to authorize as many health care professionals to…
