Literature Review

Employees crave Right-to-Disconnect Law HR Daily Advisor; by Lin Grensing-Pophal; 12/12/24 The rise of telecommunications tools like email, online chat, and smart phones has meant that people can stay connected virtually wherever they are, at all times. While that interconnectedness can be a blessing in some situations, it has also led to a lot of stress and burnout among workers who feel like they can’t disconnect when it comes to work. Recent data from web tool review firm EmailTooltester helps flesh out this sentiment, based on survey responses from over 1,000 American adults. Here are some of the key data points:

Design work to prevent burnout: A new model for improving work design supports change that increases employee engagement and reduces stress MIT Sloan Management Review; by Sharon K. Parker and Carline Knight; 12/10/24... In the U.S., 67% of workers report feeling disengaged from their work, and 49% intend to leave their current job. ... In this article, we’ll introduce readers to our SMART Work Design model. This model captures and synthesizes the most important characteristics for worker well-being and performance from both the Jobs Characteristics and Job Demands-Resources models into five dimensions: stimulating work, mastery, autonomy, relational work, and tolerable demands (thus the SMART acronym). HR leaders, managers, and employees can use the model to identify aspects of work that lead to disengagement and burnout and then create a healthier work environment and improve performance. (See “A Model for Making Work Smarter.”)

The change leadership strategy that costs nothing Forbes; by Jane Sparrow; 12/5/24 ... [Often] the most successful strategies for change management are the easiest ones to implement. And one strategy, in particular, is in every leader’s gift. I’m talking, of course, about leading with kindness. I was speaking recently during my podcast to Andrew Moultrie, the CEO of BBC Studioworks, about the one thing he would advise leaders to focus on when going through change. There was no hesitation. Andrew said: “Underlined, kindness is the fundamental tenet of every emotional state that people can commit to. And if your actions are coming from a position of kindness, then your ability to manage change will be far more effective and fulfilling for those people you’re managing. ..."

Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave & Job Protection - Final Legislative Report University of Washington, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance; Lead investigator Heather D. Hill, MPP, PhD, with Tom Lindman, MPP, Diane Rucavado, MPA, and Elizabeth Ford, JD; 12/1/24 This research was funded by ESSB 5187. Additional support for data access and analyses for this research came from the UW Data Collaborative funded by the UW Population Health Initiative, UW’s Student Technology Fee program, the UW’s Provost’s office, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure grant, P2C HD042828 to the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors.

Health care workers rally at Kaiser Permanente headquarters in Pasadena as strike enters fifth week Pasadena Now, Pasadena, CA; by Eddie Rivera; 11/22/24 More than 300 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers and their supporters marched Thursday, November 21 around the healthcare giant’s regional headquarters on Walnut Street in Pasadena, marking the fifth week of a statewide strike over working conditions and patient care concerns. The Pasadena demonstration, coordinated with a similar rally in Oakland, highlighted tensions between Kaiser Permanente and its mental health professionals represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. ... “We’re tired of the working conditions that Kaiser’s providing for us,” said Marisela Calvillo, a licensed clinical social worker who led the demonstration. ... Calvillo said she was seeing patients every 30 minutes without breaks while struggling to complete required documentation during lunch periods. She said therapists are given approximately two minutes per patient for administrative tasks, affecting her caseload of 86 patients. 

In 2023, the majority of home health aides and personal care aides were women U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - TED: The Economics Daily; 11/13/24 In honor of National Home Care and Hospice Month, we are highlighting data about two of the most common occupations that provide care to people with illnesses or disabilities in a home or community-based setting—home health aides and personal care aides. In 2023, women accounted for 87 percent of all home health aides and 80 percent of personal care aides. Workers in these two occupations assist people with activities of daily living (such as feeding or bathing), though home health aides generally focus more on their patients’ health and safety, while personal care aides often assist with other tasks (such as errands and housekeeping). Across all occupations, 47 percent of workers were women. Home health aides and personal care aides were more likely to be Black or African American (30 percent and 25 percent, respectively) than were workers overall (13 percent). Forty-two percent of home health aides and 27 percent of personal care aides were foreign born, higher than the average of 19 percent for workers overall. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

National program helped 27 states develop background check processes for long-term care McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 11/11/24 A national background check program was so successful in helping states develop or enhance systems for conducting background checks of prospective long-term care employees that more than a quarter million prospective employees were disqualified from working in the sector, even after funding for the program ran out, according to a final report on the program. The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a final analysis on Thursday of the National Background Check Program for long-term care providers. The agency reported that 29 states participated in the program between 2010 and 2024 and that the program helped 27 of them develop programs to identify efficient, effective and economical procedures for conducting background checks on prospective long-term care employees. During the National Background Check Program, states disqualified at least 106,000 individuals with criminal convictions from employment. Disqualifying criminal convictions included offenses of murder, assault, battery, robbery, theft, fraud and forgery. 

Clinician staffing and quality of care in US health centersJAMA Network Open; Q. Wilton Sun, BA; Howard P. Forman, MD, MBA; Logan Stern, DNP, APRN; et alBenjamin J. Oldfield, MD, MHS; 10/24In this cross-sectional study of 791 US health centers, 5 distinct clinician staffing ratio models were identified, and models emphasizing physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician associates were positively associated with distinct sets of individual quality metrics. Clinician staffing may be associated with certain aspects of care quality, underscoring the importance of strategic, tailored staffing to optimize primary care delivery. In this cross-sectional study of health centers, physician FTE [full time equivalent] ratio was associated with higher performance in cancer screening, infant vaccinations, and HIV testing; APRN FTE ratio was associated with higher performance in preventative health assessments; and PA FTE ratio was associated with higher performance in infant vaccination.

Nurse burnout the root of decreased resident safety, medication errors, study shows McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Zahara Johnson; 11/6/24 A new study has found a direct link between nurse burnout and unfavorable patient and facility outcomes, including medication errors and a degraded safety culture. The meta-analysis of 85 studies and 288,581 nurses, compiling more than 30 years of research, concluded that nurses who suffer from burnout – emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a low sense of personal accomplishment – have a negative impact on patients.

Future-proofing healthcare: Upskilling the workforce to meet tomorrow’s challenges Healthcare Business Today; by Chris Trout; 11/4/24 A surgical technician recently told me, “We’re constantly helping people.” This simple yet powerful sentiment captures the essence of what healthcare workers ... focus on every day. However, the healthcare industry is undergoing profound changes that will shape its future over the next decade and beyond. These changes, driven by workforce shortages, AI and technological advancements, and shifting skill demands, have the potential to either enhance or burden healthcare systems. ... One of the most significant forces driving change is the shortage of healthcare workers, especially in critical areas like nursing. ...  The replacement cost for a nurse is estimated to be between $40,000 and $60,000, covering recruitment, temporary staffing and lost productivity. But these numbers don’t account for the consequences of staffing shortages: diminished patient care, declining morale and increasing mental health challenges among overworked staff. Despite these challenges, healthcare organizations have a remarkable opportunity to develop talent, especially in entry-level and middle-skill roles. [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

Asian American diversity and representation in the health care workforce, 2007 to 2022JAMA Network Open; Michelle Ko, MD, PhD; Kevin Dinh, MS; Sarah Iv, BS; Monica Hahn, MD; 10/24In this serial cross-sectional study of American Community Survey 1-year estimates from 2007 to 2022, Filipinx Americans had consistently high representation among registered nurses and nursing assistants; Indian, Pakistani, and Chinese Americans predominated among physicians, whereas Hmong and Cambodian American representation in medicine remained substantially below general population representation. Bangladeshi and Chinese American representation grew among home health aides over the study period. These findings suggest that aggregation of Asian American subgroups into a single racialized group erases substantial inequities in health workforce diversity.

4 Leadership strategies to motivate disengaged team members Forbes; by Julie Kratz; 10/30/24Disengagement often stems from a lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities, poor communication and ineffective leadership. When employees don’t understand how their work contributes to the organization’s goals, or when they feel undervalued or undercompensated, they are more likely to disengage. When a culture doesn’t prioritize respect, trust and inclusion, it can lead to feelings of isolation or alienation. Disengagement can also be exacerbated by leaders who fail to commit to decisions or who don’t model the behaviors they expect from their teams. To motivate disengaged team members, consider these strategies: ...