Old Challenges Will Never Go Away Without New Solutions
Author: Jason Banks, nVoq
Posted Date: January 31, 2023
When I was managing a post-acute agency, I was always searching for answers to all the questions and challenges related to the turnover, recruitment, and retention of our clinicians. It seemed as if my most valuable resource was increasingly experiencing frustration, exhaustion, and ultimately burnout.
In a recent issue of Nursing Clinics, Dede J McCreary pinpoints the problem:
"Before the year 2000, home health nurses were highly satisfied with their work compared with acute care nurses. However, this high level of satisfaction is waning. By 2004, home health nurses were among the most dissatisfied with their jobs. This change in job satisfaction of home health nurses is attributed to significant changes in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations that have put demands on nurses in home health to complete excessive documentation and provide care within restrictive rules and regulations. These changes have decreased job satisfaction and made it difficult for agencies to recruit and retain nurses.1"
This article helped crystalize why my recruitment, retention, and referral bonuses weren't solving the fundamental problem...
This burnout has significant downstream impacts on the ability to serve your community that includes poor quality, risk of reimbursement denials, and ultimately even leads to nurses leaving the profession altogether. The results show us that we can’t solve the burnout problem by simply throwing one-time bonus money at it – but, rather, we need to think about the future, and make investments in the business that will provide a residual payoff for our clinicians' long-term.
My previous agency had a great culture, competitive pay, and a flexible schedule but this was only masking the underlying problem: the documentation burden. I have seen other agencies searching for a solution – anything that can help them.
Many are finding nVoq. nVoq's speech recognition solution improves the clinician experience and documentation quality. It makes life better for clinicians and improves efficiency and truly helps overcome the challenges associated with documentation.
I ended up joining nVoq and their mission to bring this solution to the post-acute market because I see the impact it can make. Finding a new solution to the old problem truly changed my life and career, and we are just getting started.
References:
1. Delores (Dede) J. McCreary, DNP, RN, CNE. “Home Health Nursing Job Satisfaction and Retention Meeting the Growing Need for Nome Health Hurses.” [online]. Nursing Clinics, Vol 55, Issue 1, p121-132, December 24, 2019. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2019.11.002.