In a working environment where employees are already at a higher risk for burnout, the pandemic has pushed many healthcare workers out of medicine entirely – some have been laid off, many have quit. We asked the HERO Registry of healthcare workers if they were leaving health care or had considered it, and if so, why.
Hot Topic: Intent to Leave Health Care
The HERO Registry seeks to understand pandemic-related perspectives and problems of anyone in the U.S. who works in any type of first responder or healthcare setting, as well as the people who know them. One of the ways we do this is to ask you, our community of over 50,000 members, to answer brief surveys on topics of concern.
Twice last year, we asked the healthcare workers in the HERO registry if they intended to leave health care. From May to December, there was a 13% increase in those who were considering or planning to leave or who had already left.
That brings the total up to 57% of the nearly 1,600 healthcare workers surveyed in December who are at risk of leaving the field.
Some demographics have been more susceptible to the shift than others: nurses, middle-aged employees, and workers living in the West were all more likely to leave or consider leaving than their peers. Over two-thirds of nurses said they were leaving or had considered leaving. 61% of 30–49-year-olds and 66% of Westerners said the same.
Almost three-quarters of respondents identified burnout as a factor that made them think about leaving healthcare, by far the most frequently cited reason.
“It’s difficult to hear about the pandemic all the time,” one employee said, “At work and during personal time.”
Staffing shortages were often cited as one of the reasons employees were being overworked. As one employee noted, “I am receiving too many referrals and can’t keep up. I do not anticipate that this will get better.”
Lack of appreciation or support from their employer (50% and 36%, respectively), job-related moral injury (33%), and frustration with unvaccinated patients (30%) were the other reasons participants frequently identified as leading to them leaving or thinking about leaving. Whereas only 8.7% of employees cited frustration with employer vaccine mandates.
Despite noted frustration and challenges within the workplace, only 3% of respondents had actually left the healthcare field. Paramedics and technicians were both more likely to leave health care entirely than nurses or physicians.
More often, folks thought about it but didn’t have plans yet or switched fields in health care instead. 14% of nurses decided to move to a different field compared to the 1% who had already left; some survey respondents noted that they were taking this opportunity to go back to school.
Whether it stemmed from employer neglect or burnout, whether workers decided to leave their jobs or just fantasized about it, one common thread came through: For many in health care, the work didn’t feel worth it anymore.
“The U.S. healthcare system is collapsing,” one physician said, “And the public and the government don’t seem to care.”
Share your Experiences
If you are already a member of the HERO Registry, thank you! Anyone who works in a healthcare setting and their family and community members are invited to join the HERO Registry, a community of people who share what it is like to work and live during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Registry member, you can help identify priorities for research and possible solutions for people impacted by the pandemic.