Workforce

The World Health Organization is warning about the rising risk of mental health challenges healthcare workers face amid a global surge of COVID-19, The Washington Post reported March 31.

Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health is launching a medical assistant school and specialized educational programs to expand career opportunities for healthcare workers, the health system said March 29.

President Joe Biden plans to direct $100 million to a national network of volunteer health professionals to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations, NBC News reported March 25, citing administration officials.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has signed a law requiring hospitals and outpatient surgery centers that use energy-generating devices to use a smoke evacuation system during surgical procedures that are likely to produce surgical smoke, OR Today reported.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the need for hospitals and health systems to find more cost-effective, flexible staffing solutions that support clinician well-being and care quality. Considering the pandemic’s significant financial impact, it's critical to figure out staffing models that…

COVID-19 has taken a tremendous emotional and physical toll on clinicians. Throughout the pandemic, clinicians have grappled with daily changes in clinical knowledge, high volumes of patients, limited resources and anxiety about the health of their families, friends and themselves.

More than half of front-line healthcare workers, 52 percent, said they had received at least their first COVID-19 vaccine dose as of early March, a new national survey by Kaiser Family Foundation and The Washington Post found. 

The healthcare workforce declined 3.5 percent between February 2020, before the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and February 2021, according to an analysis released March 17 by nonprofit researchers Altarum.

More than 20 percent of healthcare workers experienced anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic, according to new research published March 10 in PLOS One.

Community exposure to COVID-19 appears to be a bigger source of antibody positivity for healthcare workers than exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace, according to a study published March 10 in JAMA Network Open.