Health Systems Look Internally to Promote Health Equity in Their Communities
Worth a read....
Social determinants of health?aren’t just for patients. Health systems looking to promote health equity within their communities can start internally, by looking at their own workforce.
Healthcare facilities are often the largest employers in their regions, and can employ 8%–15% of a state's workforce, according to a?Kaiser Family Foundation analysis?of 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics data...
“So much of what keeps us healthy or unfortunately makes us ill happens outside of the walls of a clinic, even a virtual one—where people live, where they work, where they play, where they pray,” Saranya Loehrer, chief health equity officer at Teladoc, told Healthcare Brew.
Workplace hazards.?Healthcare jobs, especially low-wage positions, are physically demanding, prone to injury, and highly stressful, according to Mignon Duffy, sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. These factors and others, such as excessive workloads, lack of leadership support, and harassment in the workplace, can lead to mental-health challenges such as burnout, according to?a 2022 Surgeon General’s Advisory report.
“Burnout is a distinct workplace phenomenon that primarily calls for a prioritization of systems-oriented, organizational-level solutions,” the report says.
Health systems with burnout reduction initiatives spent $11,592 per nurse per year on burnout-related turnover costs, compared to $16,736 for hospitals without such programs, per?a 2021 study?from the University of Virginia School of Nursing.
"By investing in their own employees, health systems are supporting their local workforce and addressing issues of health equity both inside their doors and beyond, according to the Healthcare Anchor Network, a collaboration of 70+ hospitals dedicated to addressing racial and economic inequities in the communities they serve."