ST. LOUIS — Staff turnover in hospitals statewide has hit an all-time high, and vacancies in staff nurse positions have doubled since 2019, according to a report released Wednesday by the Missouri Hospital Association.
Vacancy in registered nurse positions at hospitals hit 20% this year — the highest level in the 21 years the association has conducted the survey — and up from 10% in 2019 and 12% in 2021.
“These trends are more than unprecedented; they are unsustainable,†association President and CEO Jon D. Doolittle said in a statement.
Hospitals with the highest nursing vacancies were in the Kansas City area, at 24%, followed by southeast Missouri, at 22%. Vacancies in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region matched the state.
The statewide vacancy rate for registered respiratory therapist positions — a critical role in care for COVID-19 patients — jumped to 18% this year from 10% in 2020.
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The report comes after more than two years of a pandemic that has compounded staff shortages in health care. When COVID-19 hit, some health care workers retired early or moved to non-clinical jobs. And as time went on, many were forced to take on more risk, labor and anger from the pandemic-weary public, often without much more pay. More and more left hospitals to take jobs as short-term contractors or exited the industry altogether.
Sarah DeWilde, a union steward with National Nurses United and an intensive care unit nurse at ºüÀêÊÓƵ University Hospital, said it’s the worst staffing shortage in her 10 years in nursing.
“You see nurses leaving in droves, but there’s no one coming in,†DeWilde said.
The problem isn’t unique to Missouri. In a national survey from global consultants McKinsey & Co., released in February, nearly one-third of nurses said it was at least “somewhat likely†that they’d leave their job in the next year. The most commonly cited reason was insufficient staffing levels in their workplace, followed by pay, and feeling unheard and unsupported at work.
The data for the study released Wednesday was gathered in a survey by the Missouri Hospital Association. It includes responses from 128 hospitals in Missouri, including 33 in the greater ºüÀêÊÓƵ region. Statewide, those hospitals represent 34,000 registered nurses on staff, the largest category of workers in this report, and almost 5,000 doctors.
The report found the highest turnover rates in housekeeping and food service, at 43%.
Nursing assistants — including patient care technicians, certified nursing assistants and other workers in support roles — were close behind at 41%.
The lowest turnover rates were recorded among physician assistants and clinic-based “advance practice†registered nurses, both at 8%.
The study also shed some light on the consequences of the worst shortages. For example, nurse shortages at hospitals make it harder to arrange clinical rotations for nursing students, the report notes, and shortages of faculty prevent nursing schools from accepting more students — all further exacerbating the problems.
Union leaders here suggested better pay and less stress could help.
Patient care techs and certified nursing assistants often start at around $15 or $16 per hour, said Lenny Jones, state director for Service Employees International Union Healthcare Missouri, which represents such workers at SSM Health ºüÀêÊÓƵ University Hospital.
That means they start at a few dollars more or a few dollars less than workers at Target, Amazon and Starbucks.
“The stress is real,†Jones said, “in terms of workers just feeling overworked and underpaid, in a way we haven’t seen before.â€
DeWilde said higher nurse-to-patient ratios would help, as would better compensation, and retention bonuses to reward people who stay in their jobs for a long time. It would also help if management involved nurses more in decision making.
“Nurses are fed up with working in the conditions that they’re being put in,†DeWilde said. “We’re finally drawing the line and saying, ‘This is my limit.’â€