Current Vacancy Rates in Healthcare

Current Vacancy Rates in Healthcare

The 2018 and 2019 healthcare vacancies data indicated approximately 12.9 million vacancies of a combination of nurses, mid-level health practitioners, and other allied healthcare professionals. The data also showed allied healthcare vacancies of about 800000 in sub-Saharan Africa.  According to research by WHO, most countries around the world cannot achieve 80% of skilled child deliveries conducted by healthcare professionals. Vacancies possess a significant threat to the healthcare of many people around the globe. Aging healthcare personnel, which leads to retirements, leads to the increased vacancies (Schober, 2019 p.26). Moreover, some healthcare personnel would leave the industry to look for better-paying jobs. With increasing healthcare needs for patients, nurses, and other allied health professionals end up doing a lot of work and receiving poor salaries..

According to the 2018 and 2019 data, nurses have the highest vacancy levels worldwide. The United States, for example, currently experiences vacancies of Registered Nurses (RNs). According to researchers, the jobs could increase due to the rapid growth of increased healthcare needs in the country (Schober, 2019). The increased vacancies are also due to the struggle that nursing schools go through to expand their capacities.

Possible Solutions to Fill the Vacancies

Nursing schools, nursing organizations, and policymakers in the field should collaborate to solve the health care concern of increased vacancies. These organizations can achieve this by increasing the levels of training of healthcare personnel.  Another possible solution for this global concern is implementing laws regarding the voices, as well as the responsibilities of the health practitioners (Anderson, 2019). The rights would ensure that healthcare workers have a conducive working environment. Incentives require an implementation to maintain the pay of healthcare personnel to a level that can keep them in their profession. The incentives would reduce the rate at which healthcare workers leave the industries for better-paying jobs.

References

Anderson, B. A. (2019). Facing the nursing workforce shortage: policies and initiatives to promote a resilient healthcare system. In Caring for the Vulnerable (p. 363). Jones and Bartlett Learning, Burlington, MA.

Schober, M. (2019). An international perspective of advanced nursing practice. Advanced Practice in Healthcare: Dynamic Developments in Nursing and Allied Health Professions, 19-38.