It’s no secret at all that the healthcare industry has taken some hits over the years. Over the last two decades, more nurses have left the profession than entered it.
This has created nationwide shortages that are having a very direct impact on patient care. Emerging technologies cannot completely fix this problem, but they have made it more navigable.
In this article, we take a look at how data and technology forces are reshaping healthcare staffing leadership.
Overview
Two things are happening simultaneously in the world of healthcare data technology. First, increased analytics are exposing problems within current healthcare systems. It’s through this technology that we’re able to better see the impact of gaps, shortages, and inefficiencies. It’s also through these technologies that problems become more manageable.
Healthcare executives and nurses, consequently, have both an asset and an obligation. On the one hand, this technology makes it easier for them to address problems, even with limited resources. On the other hand, it also forces them to prioritize the development of skills that may lie outside those traditionally specific to healthcare. In certain cases, it may mean that some people who are interested in serving as healthcare professionals may consider figuring out how to become database administrators instead of nurses.
Modern analytics provide richer information on the employment sector. Where once retention-related data was essentially a glorified headcount, we’re now able to use more granular data points to extract narratives from the numbers. Through richer analytics, for example, it’s easier to tell at what point in a person’s career a nurse is most likely to turn over.
More recent employment data has indicated that approximately half of all new nurses will leave the profession entirely within five years. That’s an alarming statistic because the nurses with proven staying power are also leaving by means of retirement. But it is also a source of opportunity, allowing administrative professionals to develop strategies designed to retain newer employees.
Many hospitals are achieving this by incentivizing continuing education, creating promotion opportunities, and making schedules more flexible. Data can be empowering when it’s used the right way.
The Technology Tools Transforming Nursing Leadership
A lot of the focus on healthcare-related data has been patient-centric—wearables, remote monitoring technology, etc. These are certainly positive developments and arguably at least staffing-adjacent, in that they allow hospitals to do more with less. However, from a strict managerial perspective, data can also paint a clear picture of concerning localized behavior.
For example, it becomes easier to identify times of year when patient influx spikes. Being able to anticipate demand allows hospitals to recognize when they need to increase their supply—i.e., strengthen their staffing and modify scheduling based on historic need. The burden of actually filling those positions is still on the hospital, but having the numbers allows administrators to take a proactive rather than reactive approach to staffing.
Real-time patient monitoring technology does, as mentioned earlier, also have a place in helping hospitals better use the time of the professionals they do have on staff. For example, historically, nurses have needed to physically check in with patients constantly to keep tabs on their condition.
Certainly, this is an aspect of healthcare that will not go away, but thanks to remote monitoring technology in the form of smart hospital beds and other sensor-driven equipment, it’s possible for nurses to monitor an entire floor of patients from one centralized location.
They still make their rounds, but it’s easier to ensure that everyone is doing well using digital tools in nursing leadership. Note that the biggest constraint concerning these technologies is not necessarily technical, but organizational. The tools exist, but the number of professionals who know how to adequately use them may be relatively limited.
The Data Infrastructure That Makes It All Work
To fully take advantage of modern developments in healthcare and staffing data, it’s important to have a well-designed infrastructure in place to support organizational goals. It’s very common for businesses, including hospitals, to invest heavily in tools that are able to take data without necessarily investing in the personnel who can use it.
To actually take advantage of the numbers, it’s necessary to invest in data processing and management tools that avoid silos and support a framework for fact-driven decision-making.
What This Means for Healthcare Leadership Development
Because healthcare is becoming increasingly technologically driven, it’s more important than ever for leaders and caregivers alike to be able to demonstrate a level of data fluency. None of this is to say that every doctor, nurse, and administrator needs to double as a data scientist. They do need to know how to use the tools available to them.
There are specialized, healthcare data-specific degrees that can contribute to that end. Many hospitals are also working on trainings and systems that are designed to help everyone on staff use data in a way that is appropriate for their position and productive to their goals.
Healthcare organizations best positioned to navigate operational challenges will not necessarily require the highest amounts of funding. They’ll just need to know how to be strategic with what they have. It’s through data that this becomes possible.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that data is just a starting point. It can tell you what the problem is. It can even indicate a viable solution, but at the end of the day, executing on these ideas is still a human responsibility.
The work of becoming more data-dependent is not necessarily fast nor entirely linear. Every hospital will need to develop systems that work for them. There may be some trial and error. There may even be organizational resistance in the form of employees who don’t necessarily want to redefine their responsibilities.
These bottlenecks are normal and also surmountable. For a brighter, better future, modern healthcare organizations must, at the institutional level, prioritize making the most out of every scrap of information available to them.
