Hodgson Nicole R, Kwun Richard, Gorbatkin Chad, Davies Jeanie, Fisher Jonathan
Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic Arizona, 5777 E Mayo Blvd, Phoenix, AZ, 85054, USA.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Swedish Medical Center, Issaquah, WA, USA.
Int J Emerg Med. 2024 Apr 5;17(1):51. doi: 10.1186/s12245-024-00628-y.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the nursing shortage, which is predicted to continue to worsen with significant numbers of nurses planning to retire within the next 5 years. There remains a lack of published information regarding recommended interventions for emergency departments (EDs) facing a sudden nursing shortage.
We queried emergency department leaders from the American College of Emergency Physicians to examine the impact of nursing shortages on EDs and to gather real-world interventions employed to mitigate the effects of the shortage.
Most respondents (98.5%) reported nursing shortages, with 83.3% describing prolonged shortages lasting more than 12 months, with negative impacts such as misses/near-misses (93.9%) and increasing left without being seen rates (90.9%). ED leaders reported a range of interventions, including operational flow changes, utilizing alternative staff to fill nurse roles, recruitment of new nurses, and retention strategies for existing nurses. They employed temporary and permanent pay increases as well as efforts to improve the ED work environment and techniques to hire new nurses from atypical pipelines.
We report a patchwork of solutions ED leaders utilized which may have variable efficacy among different EDs; personalization is essential when selecting interventions during a sudden nursing shortage.
新冠疫情加剧了护理人员短缺的问题，预计未来5年内大量护士计划退休，这一短缺状况将持续恶化。对于面临突发护理人员短缺的急诊科，目前仍缺乏关于推荐干预措施的公开信息。
我们向美国急诊医师学会的急诊科负责人进行询问，以研究护理人员短缺对急诊科的影响，并收集为缓解短缺影响而采取的实际干预措施。
大多数受访者（98.5%）报告存在护理人员短缺，83.3%称短缺持续时间超过12个月，造成了诸如失误/险些失误（93.9%）以及候诊未看率上升（90.9%）等负面影响。急诊科负责人报告了一系列干预措施，包括改变运营流程、利用替代人员填补护士岗位、招聘新护士以及现有护士的留用策略。他们采用了临时和永久性加薪措施，努力改善急诊科工作环境，并采用从非传统渠道招聘新护士的技巧。
我们报告了急诊科负责人采用的一系列解决方案，这些方案在不同急诊科的效果可能各异；在突发护理人员短缺期间选择干预措施时，个性化至关重要。
